28.05.2025 – Our usual dolphin guests

Today we were greeted with our usual dolphin friends. In the morning we first had the Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis). This small and usually very active dolphin is always a pleasure to see during our trips, interacting with the ships. Also on that trip we had the Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). This species is larger than the Spotted dolphin, but normally also less active. They approach the boats out of curiosity, but don’t interact a lot with it. This species was also spotted during the second trip of both vessels, but we could add de Short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) to the roster of seen dolphins today. Behaviour wise they are in between both of the other dolphin, more active than Bottlenose dolphins, but not as much as the Spotted dolphin. The last trip brought the last of the common dolphin species, the Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba). This shy dolphin is difficult to see, as it avoids boats and stays always a distance away.

So although today there was no special sighting, we encountered our old friends the dolphins.

By Horst Schulte

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin

13:00 Bottlenose dolphin, Short-beaked common dolphin

Stenella

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin

13:30 Bottlenose dolphin, Short-beaked common dolphin, Loggerhead sea turtle

16:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Striped dolphin