22.06.2021 – Well timed

“It was all at once”, as we normally say when we have sightings all at the same spot. Right at the beginning of our trip on board the RIBEIRA BRAVA, our spotter found a whale while he was simply looking at the ocean having his coffee. He would say…”amazing”. Not wanting to move, our “vigia” tracked the movement of the animal and positioned us there. We approached calmly and managed to identify it as a Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni). The animal was spending some time at the surface and was slowly beginning to head South, away from the coast. Some 300 meters away from us and the whale was a small group of Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), so we soon left the larger whale to take a closer look at the small pod. It seemed that both species were feeding early in the morning and by the time we arrived it was over. About an 1 hour from the start of our trip we had already encountered two species and, with both sightings being so close to the coastline, we captured the attention of other boats who soon entered the sighting area it was obvious that we had to leave. We headed further out to sea and soon received information of another group of dolphins. This time a large group of around 50 Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) approached our traditional boat, giving all on board the chance to take a closer look at several of them; adults, juveniles and even calves were swimming along the hull of the RIBEIRA BRAVA. It was a great trip that was very well timed by the crew and spotter and everyone on board was pleased with what nature had to offer on that day…

By Daniel Jardim

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bryde’s whale, Short-beaked common dolphins