11.11.2023 – Whale whisperers

I wouldn’t ever assume that anyone in our team has any sort of superpower…but there is something undeniably magical about finding cetaceans, particularly evasive whales. While our spotter manages the incredible task of finding the animals from the coastline, our captains do their best to read the animals behaviour and approach them carefully.

Understanding the movement of the animals, their habits and how they rely on their senses is crucial when approaching them. While we can’t tell you what a whale is thinking, we can tell you that their perspective on their environment is completely different from ours. Humans are largely visual animals while cetaceans mainly rely on their acoustics. Whales are constantly emitting sound waves to communicate, forage, navigate, attract mates and hunt. We can’t hear all their sounds but we can record them using a hydrophone, and hear those within our hearing range.

Thanks to our hydrophone wiz Sasha, our guests were able to hear Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) communicating below the surface in the company of some bottlenose dolphins. Thanks to the sharp eyes of our spotter, our team was also able to manage a snorkeling activity with Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) far offshore after meeting a few resting pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins. In the afternoon, he even managed to track down two Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalis) that were briskly travelling west in company of two curious bottlenose dolphins. Thanks to the careful maneuvres of our captains we were able to experience all these sightings at close range

The true whale whisperers of the day were in fact the bottlenose dolphins, who were involved in all sightings today. Their incredibly intelligent and social nature allows them to interact with a variety of cetaceans, adding another exciting note to our sightings and further underlining how intelligent life in our ocean is!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Fin whales, Short-finned pilot whales

Stenella

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Fin whales, Short-finned pilot whales