09.05.2023 – Seasonal beauty

You know summer is coming when sightings of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) become more frequent and lately our team has encountered enormous groups of these small seasonal cetaceans. Todays pod in the morning consisted of at least 90 animals, all sporting a different grade of spot pattern. Calves and juveniles below the age of 6/7 years are usually completely grey and the spots begin to gradually develop near their beaks before intensifying as the animals age. The spot pattern is not only useful for determining age groups; it also serves as a possible identification feature for the species and is one of the characteristics that makes spotted dolphins a favourite amongst dolphin researchers.

May and June are also the months that see the leave of our winter dolphins, the Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), a species that comes to the islands waters to hunt in the colder months of the year. Like the spotted dolphins the common dolphins arrive in Madeira in large pods that typically fragment into smaller subgroups once they reach the safety of the archipelagos waters. As the summer approaches sightings of common dolphins decrease and only a handful of the species are seen. This makes them more difficult to find or approach but encounters with these gorgeous cetaceans, like the one we had in the afternoon, never fail to delight our crew and guests.

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins

13:30 Short-beaked common dolphins

Stenella 

13:30 Short-beaked common dolphins