27.06.2022 – A spotted agenda
July 1, 2022
29.06.2022 – Movement on glass
July 4, 2022
Another beautiful and exciting day on our Madeiran waters that showed us how special and versatile whale watching can be!
The seas were calm and we had no wind, which makes perfect conditions for ocean exploration. Already close after leaving the marina and we got accompanied by a big group or Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) including many new born calf’s. The spottiest really never let us down and make an amazing sighting, breaching next to us and bowriding the waves of our boat. Not long and we got a call from our spotter Carlos that there was two more species waiting for us, so we made a move and soon realised it must be the offshore dolphins – the striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba).. Crazy to see how different the behavior can be from species to species. Striped dolphins show as so often absolutely no attraction to boats and behave more in an evasive manner, diving and changing their direction. So we left them to it and headed towards the next surprise.
That was a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) that ended up diving as soon as we approached, which meant for us the typical waiting game in whale watching. Sperm whales as the second deepest divers of the ocean can dive up to two hours long to feed for giant squid.
We were lucky and it ended up being only around 20 minutes until the big bull appeared again. Few breaths and off for another dive. Seeing those giants fluke is truly a unique experience and with a smile in our faces we were good to return to the marina!
By Paulina Kalita
Sightings of the day
Stenella
10:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Sperm whales
15:00 Striped dolphins
