23.05.2025 – Champions of the deep sea

Today we were greeted with several sightings of the champion of the deep sea, the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). The sperm whale is the largest carnivore of the world, males reaching up to 18m in length. They can dive more than 2km deep and over 2h. There in the deep sea they hunt squid, also the mighty giant squid (Architeuthis dux), from which Sperm whales get often scars on the body. Here in Madeira we see mostly females and juveniles which live in small groups.

Apart from this species, we had two dolphin species today. The more active one was the Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis). Here the guests of the Ribeira Brava on the first trip got lucky spotting the bright pink male reproductive organ of one of the Spotted dolphin, something which is rarely visible. Normally we see them jumping around the boat and surfing in the waves we create. The second dolphin species was the Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). They are more relaxed and don’t mind the boat.

By Horst Schulte

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Sperm whale

13:00 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Loggerhead sea turtle

Stenella

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Sperm whale

13:30 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Sperm whale, Loggerhead sea turtle

16:00 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Sperm whale