27.04.2022 – Oh la la
May 2, 2022
29.04.2022 – Sashimi
May 6, 2022
The Atlantic Ocean is full of wonderful animals; the variety of marine life is infinitely colourful and incredible to observe. This is wonderfully represented in our winter dolphins, the Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), a very well researched but still highly underestimated species. Common dolphins can accelerate up to 60km/h when pursuing prey or avoiding danger and are incredibly elegant swimmers. They put this attribute on full display during all our tours today and their interactive nature and curiosity allowed us to appreciate this at close range.
Like most predators, the presence of common dolphins as well as their distribution largely depends on that of their prey…and here the species, in contrast to Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), is very selective. This makes them easy victims of by-catch and prey depletion due to overfishing and both are quickly forcing their populations into rapid decline.
In winter smaller hunting parties are usually encountered scattered across the southwestern waters, each pursuing its own little school of fish. As the summer draws nearer, larger schools of Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) arrive in the islands waters and attracts larger pods, made of subgroups that reassemble to feast together. The breezy conditions out at sea would have made finding smaller pods a challenge but these large gatherings, that even included a few nursery subgroups with calves, allowed us to appreciate the entire posse and to do so with ease. Apart from these gorgeous dolphins, our guests also had the pleasure of seeing a few basking Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) as well as the occasional Portuguese man o’ war (Physalis physalis) which, like the common dolphin pods, represents a wonderful assemblage of beautiful predators that add a little more colour to our wonderful ocean.
By Paula Thake
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
10:00 Short-beaked common dolphins
14:30 Short-beaked common dolphins
Stenella
10:00 Short-beaked common dolphins
15:00 Short-beaked common dolphins
