26.09.2024 – If squids could fly…

The harbour of Calheta from which we start our tours has an excellent position. Madeira’s prevailing winds hit the island from the northeast. With the wind comes humidity and rain, which is why, if you explore the north of the island, you’ll notice that it is very lush and green, you will find many waterfalls. It is a beautiful part of the island, not so ideal though for venturing out onto the ocean. With the winds, there will be more waves and whitecaps. It doesn’t mean there are no whales and dolphins in the north, they are just much harder to find and observe. This is the same reason why you find almost no option to go on a boat trip in the north, and this is also why Calhetas harbour counts with calm seas the majority of the time. Obviously, there is always an exception to a rule. Today, strong winds built up from the northwest. After long consultation with our spotters, we decided it was better to cancel our tours. Every tour but one in the morning. As our speedboat manages to rush through the waves (relatively) comfortably on windy days, we took a chance. Unfortunately, we did not manage to find any cetaceans, but some much more unusual creatures crossed our ways. You might have heard of Flying fish (Cheilopogon melanurus) before. Also today, some of them dashed out of the blue. They have adapted their pectoral fins and body to be stiff enough to glide for many meters out of the ocean, avoiding predators or in our case, boats. We do encounter them fairly regularly on our trips, nonetheless it is always a delightful surprise. A much bigger creature decided as well to dare a leap out of its normal ocean environment, landing directly on our boat – a squid! Our guests and crew needed a moment to digest what just had happened, as they found him lying in our boat. Our guide Pete lifted him up carefully. The squid was still alive and seemed agitated – unsurprisingly. He had released ink, which is a common defence mechanism in many cephalopods. And indeed, there are also some species of “flying squid”, which adapted in similar ways as flying fish. We sent in some images to local biologists, hoping to find the answer to the question if this individual is indeed a flying squid or just a ‘normal’ squid on an unusual flight mission.

by Sarah Kather

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Trip cancelled due to bad weather conditions

Stenella

09:30 No sightings

14:00 Trip cancelled due to bad weather conditions

17:00 Trip cancelled due to bad weather conditions