28.11.2023 – Safe havens of the high seas

It’s such an incredible pleasure to conduct whale-watching on an oceanic island like Madeira! Oceanic islands are the safe havens of the high seas, attracting different marine species from across the oceans and across the seasons, to rest and feed in their secure waters. The deep waters and the submarine topology surrounding these diversity hotspots are largely to blame for this, with deep water channels and canyons funnelling currents into several directions and feeling the upwelling of nutrients near the coastline. Marine life near oceanic islands not only finds plenty to eat, it also finds it close to the safety of the coastline.

Today’s tours were filled with dolphins of all shapes and sizes, another taste of the diversity to expect of Madeira but also of the incredibly variable dolphin family! Today’s dolphin encounters included sightings of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), two very different species with a very similar occurrence pattern in the island’s waters. In the morning, our team also managed a sighting with a large pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) that contained tiny little calves that flashed their pink bellies as they leapt at the surface. Calves aren’t a rarity in this safe haven so this pod of our summer dolphins is probably feeding in these waters with the little ones to strengthen them for their journey south for the winter.

What joy there is in experiencing variety and how lucky we are to have it!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Stenella

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

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales