29.03.2023 – Submerged

There’s nothing like experiencing cetaceans underwater; hearing the animals communicate and witnessing them simply doing their thing in their natural habitat is a fabulous feeling. Our Stenella left the marina for our first snorkelling tour since ages and managed to find a small pod of Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) for the activity. We had to keep the encounter rather brief due to the abundant boat activity in the area and had to return soon for our next tour, but it was nonetheless incredible. The usually shy common dolphins swam alongside our overjoyed snorkelers for the entire duration of the encounter and our participants were able to admire the dolphins gorgeous flank pattern that is characteristic for the species.

The two afternoon tours couldn’t have been more different. After scanning the ocean for what felt like ages, our spotter Silviano finally discovered a pod of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) close to the coastline. The animals were slightly timid but gently cruised alongside our speedboat, peering up at our guests at the surface. For our late afternoon tour a pod of common dolphins showed up again, this time in the presence of Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), a species they are often encountered with out in the open ocean. Silviano also managed to locate a group of Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) resting at the surface and our guests were thrilled at this sighting of the largest of all toothed predators on our planet. It was a large group and a few animals even lifted their fluke to dive into the deep, enabling our team to make some valuable identification photos that hopefully will support scientists in understanding the species site fidelity.

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Stenella

09:30 Short-beaked common dolphins (Snorkelling)

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins

16:00 Short-beaked common dolphins, Striped dolphins, Sperm whales