26.10.2021 – Quick wave

Our Ribeira Brava immediately set course after our spotters call this morning. Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) were foraging far offshore from our traditional boats namesake town, Ribeira Brava, and we had to time our arrival with the resurfacing of the group. Since female Sperm whales tend to remain in tropical/subtropical latitudes and remain in their matriarchal family groups which means that some animals may be at the surface while others are busy diving. At least that’s what we always hope for once we arrive in the sightings area….

Today, unfortunately, all we got was a wave of a Sperm whale fluke as the animal plunged vertically into the deep to score itself another meal. As we searched for further animals at the surface we got lucky with a little surprise sighting. A nursery group of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) happened to be in the area of the Sperm whales and was briskly heading West. The animals weren’t too curious about our boat but did cautiously swim alongside us for some time which made our guests very happy.

Bottlenose dolphins tend to prefer coastal waters but many often venture offshore for various reasons, one of which may be to socialise with other cetaceans. The species is known to do this with pilot whales and our team had already seen nursery groups socialising with Sperm whales a few times. So perhaps this w. as the situation we stumbled upon this morning or maybe the dolphins just happened to be in the area. The group of dolphins was seen again during our afternoon tour but the sperm whales were too far offshore for our traditional boat.

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Sperm whales

14:30 Bottlenose dolphins