24.07.2023 – Rewarded efforts

Our team often really has to go through a lot just to see dolphins. Often a large part of the work goes on behind the scenes with our spotter desperately scanning my the ocean for signs of cetacean activity or our captain multi-tasking, dodging waves and squinting through sea spray to follow a fast moving pod or individual. Today wasn’t a day of desperate situations but it sure wasn’t easy.

Our day started with madeiras coast guard species; a pod of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) was cruising around 3 nautical miles offshore and both our boats arrived in time to enjoy a sighting with them. Our Stenella then dashed to a group of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) hunting further offshore, but unfortunately the pod was more interested in scoring their meal than in our participants. Food always has priority in our oceans!

Our boats zig zagged from one potential sighting to another during our early afternoon tours which eventually culminated in a surprise sighting of Rough toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis), curious prehistoric looking cetaceans that are occasionally seen near oceanic islands that were also later encountered in the evening. Long searches aren’t the most fun part of our tours but sometimes our efforts are duly rewarded and today we were absolutely thrilled about this pod of dolphins!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins

13:30 Rough-toothed dolphins

17:00 Rough-toothed dolphins

Stenella

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins

14:00 Rough-toothed dolphins

17:00 Rough-toothed dolphins