25.04.2025 – Spotted is the word of the day

Today we had 5 trips scheduled and as the weather was nice we could do all of them. Like some days before the day ended up being a dolphin day, as we saw most of the dolphin species of Madeira, at least the common ones (Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis), Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba), Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), Short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis)). Still it has to be said that the star of the dolphins today was the Atlantic spotted dolphin. They are always a. Beauty to be seen and our guests love them, as they come close to the boat and like to play with it. Further they are flying acrobats impressing us land dwellers with their jumping skills. Today we had also the luck to see a big group of up to 40 individuals of these dolphins. Also on the last trip we saw some spotted dolphins, but by fare the highlight of that trip was the Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata). This whale species with a white band on the flippers are almost never seen here around Madeira, which makes the sighting much more impressive.

By Horst Schulte

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s shearwater

13:00 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s shearwater

Stenella

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Striped dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin

13:30 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Short-beaked common dolphin

16:00 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Minke whale, Short-beaked common dolphins