30.08.2025 – Adventures in the west

Today we went west. Even tough, the Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were present for all trips, we had very different experiences throughout the day. The first Stenella trip treated our guests with increasingly exciting sightings. We started off with inspecting zooplankton that is rarely as visible in our waters, followed by a brief Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) encounter and two groups of bottlenose dolphins. Finally, we encountered a Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) before we headed back into the marina.

The second Stenella trip started off with bottlenose dolphins in the west before we got information on Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris). As we arrived in the area, our captain Daniel turned off the engine and we didn’t have to wait long until the animals found us. This is incredibly special. Usually, beaked whales are very shy animals that we have to be patient with and a good encounter often includes only a brief glance at these deep-diving animals before they disappear out of sight. These two females trusted us completely and swam around our boat, curiously checking us out for quite a while. Even Daniel and myself were struggling to precess how incredibly rare this encounter was. The Ribeira Brava arrived at the site as well to have a nice sighting with the animals before they eventually dove away. Truly special!

The final trip of the day was different entirely. As it often happens when we go west, we have a lot more influence of the wind cutting past the island. Towards late afternoon, the wind was stronger which we could definitely feel aboard. As we were zigzagging in and out of the wind to search for cetaceans, our guests felt the adrenaline of a bumpy ride with quite some spray. The conditions were tricky for our spotter too. Especially, with a strong glare on the water, Carlos’ visibility was limited, until a cloud allowed him to give us the position of the Bottlenose and we finally managed to find them.

By Hannah Carstens

Sightings of the Day

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Bottlenose dolphins

13:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Blainville’s beaked whales

Stenella

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Sperm whale, Loggerhead sea turtle

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Blainville’s beaked whales

16:30 Bottlenose dolphins