18.08.2024 – Ocean nomads

It is only since May this year that I can call Madeira my home. Some people may call me a nomad, as I have been constantly changing homes since about 11 years now. Over these years I roamed through Latin America, Antarctica, and drifted eventually towards Portuguese Islands. As long as there is ocean and marine life around me, life is good. Over the years, the inspiration for new places to discover often came from cetacean species which I hadn’t seen before. Believe me, whales and dolphins can be addictive! In the same way, only after a couple of months of moving to Madeira, I can call myself lucky to have got to know already a few new species that I had never or rarely seen before. One of them are the wonderful Rough-toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis) which also dashed around our boats this morning. They are very unusual looking, skittish, but even though often acting curious around our boats, so badly studied yet. In my opinion, this makes it even more interesting to observe their behaviour in the wild. During the morning trips, some of our guests were also fortunate enough to have encountered the biggest of all toothed whales – Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). As I have spent the last years in the Azores, I managed to see these amazing animals almost on a daily basis. I dedicated years of studies to the masters of deep diving, trying to understand how they communicate. You must know, Sperm whales are extremely social animals, coordinating their whole lives. As we don’t see them in Madeira every day, every sighting becomes even more special and exciting. To me, it feels like meeting old friends again – and who knows, some days I may recognize an individual from the Azores again in Madeiran waters? After all, Sperm whales are also kind of nomads, roaming the oceans.

By Sarah Kather

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Striped dolphin, Rough-toothed dolphins

13:30 Striped dolphins, Loggerhead Sea turtle

Stenella

09:30 Sperm whales, Rough-toothed dolphins

14:00 Striped dolphins

17:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Loggerhead Sea turtle