28.12.2022 – Colourful countdown

The year is almost over and lately, the difficult weather didn’t give our team the chance to go out onto the Atlantic much. So we tried to make up for most lost tours of the past days today; the weather was brilliant and the Atlantic had a lot in store for our team and guests!

The day began with a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that were discreetly swimming close to shore, followed boy a tiny pod of Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) for our Stenella. In contrast to the Bottlenose Dolphins, a species that can be encountered all year round in Madeira, common dolphins are seasonal visitors that arrive in Madeira at this time of the year to hunt. Today Halfbeaks were on the menu, a planktivorous fish that prefers to remain close to the surface which prompts the dolphins to leap during their hunts in order to catch this agile little fish.

Sightings picked up later in the afternoon and our team managed sightings with more common dolphins hunting, a pod of very curious Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) as well as two species of baleen whales. The first encountered baleen whale was a Bryde’s whale, a species that prefers tropical latitude and for whom Madeira is a very important habitat. Our Ribeira Brava then managed a sighting with a very special visitor! A young Humpback whale (Megaptera novaangliae) was leaping and frolicking in front of Calheta and engaged in several dives when our team arrived. When baleen whales come to Madeira they usually come alone and this solitude often prompts species that are otherwise known to be curious, like the Humpback whale, to be more cautious around boats. The guests aboard our traditional boat got lucky and had the whale resurface next to them while our Stenella searched far and wide, to instead manage another lovely sighting with common dolphins.

What a blissful day out on the ocean and what lovely sightings to finalise 2022!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Bottlenose Dolphins

14:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bryde’s whale, Humpback whale

Stenella

10:00 Bottlenose Dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins

13:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bryde’s whale

15:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bryde’s whale, Short-beaked common dolphins