05.05.2025 – Summer is near

Today the ocean was finally calm again, so obviously we went out again. Summer is near and one of our frequent species we see in summer is the Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). Today we were blessed by sightings of those. On the first two trips of both boats and the last of Stenella, we had them, although on the second trips we were blessed by a bigger group. To balance it out though, the first trip got a different species too. This was the Blainville’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris). Calheta is one of the best places worldwide to see them. Like all beaked whales, Blainville’s beaked whale are deep diving animals, able to dive deeper than 1km. Seeing so many Spotted dolphins is a good sign, that the summer is near.

By Horst Schulte

Sightings of the day

Stenella

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Blainville’s beaked whale, Portuguese man-o-war

13:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Portuguese man-o-war, Loggerhead sea turtle

16:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bottlenose dolphin

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Blainville’s beaked whale, Portuguese man-o-war

13:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins