24.02.2022 – Dark but not gloomy

The weather is Calheta was definitely far from ideal as we set out for our morning tour on board the Stenella. West winds creased up the ocean and dark clouds along the coastline announced the imminent rainfall heading for the Southwest coast of the island. The mood on board was, nonetheless, far from gloomy and the sightings definitely helped. In between our wet and wild rides over the waves of the Atlantic, our team managed sightings with a small pod of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus). Both sightings areas were flanked by soaring Manx shearwaters (Puffinus p. puffinus) and Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris borealis).

Our spotter had also located a few Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) in the morning but the small group quickly vanished in the windy waters. Our crew faced the same dilemma during the afternoon tour, where we drove 6 miles out to search for the species only to return back to the coast to find a completely dispersed group near Ribeira Brava. This group too was surrounded by shearwaters, who helped us enormously in relocating the animals and managing a fairly close sighting for our guests. As we admired these colourful visitors in Madeira, a rainbow suddenly appeared on the coastline and just added a little more colour to the grey skies  above the island. To end the blog with a metaphor; one could say that the dolphins added a little colour too to this grey day.

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Stenella

10:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

15:00 Short-beaked common dolphins