23.05.2026 – Shy whale
May 29, 2026
Today’s tour took place on a day the weather kept changing.
From a cloudy morning with calm waters, into a sunny afternoon and a sea that got more and more choppy during the day.
The entire day we had Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) joining our waters. They were traveling through our waters, from the coastline at Calheta upto Funchal and back.
Bottlenose dolphins are the most well-known, they are highly intelligent, have a complex social behavior and are social and playful at the surface.
But did you know;
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Dolphins sleep with half a brain; To survive in the ocean, dolphins have adapted to “unihemispheric sleep”. This allows them to shut down only one half of their brain and keep one eye open so they can watch for predators and surface to breathe.
And another interesting skill;
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Dolphins use echolocation to navigate and hunt. They make clicking noises, reading the returning echoes to form a real-time sonar map of their surroundings, including the size and distance of prey.
We also saw Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris borealis) flying over and a Loggerhead turtle on our afternoon trip.
By Gemma Stockmans
Sightings of the day
Stenella
09:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Risso’s dolphins
13:30 Bottlenose dolphins
16:30 Bottlenose dolphins
Steno
09:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Risso’s dolphins
13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Loggerhead turtle
