18.05.2026 – Dolphin mass tourism
May 24, 2026
Today in the morning and afternoon, we were out with Steno and Stenalla, our boats.
We went out into the ocean for about 5 miles from Punto do Sol, where a big school of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins (Stenella frontalis) was joining our boats.
The dolphins were curious, as always, and swam along our boats, showing our guests their amazing speed and acrobatic tricks and jumps. The dolphins joined us for a while and enjoyed some bow rides on our waves we made with our fast Zodiacs.
After spending some time with the dolphins, we got a call from our spotter, Silviano, that there were Pygmy Killer Whales (Feresa attenuata). These toothed whales are very rarely seen, and we had the pleasure of seeing them out in the blue waters. We could recognize them by their melon-shaped head, and we could confirm the species after we had a clear picture of their head, on which we could see their white lips.
What an amazing sighting, and what luck we were there to witness it!!!
Another great call came in from our spotter; he saw Blainville’s Beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris). Our Steno arrived a bit earlier, and they saw these beaked whales for a little moment. After this, the Blainville’s Beaked whales dove off to the depth, and after 20 minutes of waiting, we had to give up on spotting them as we had to head back to the harbor.
On the afternoon we had the luck to see more dolphins. The short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and the common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) were present in the afternoon!
What a great day out at the water it was….
By Gemma Stockmans
Sightings of the day
Steno
09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Blainville’s beaked whales, Pygmy killer whale
13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins
Stenella
09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Blainville’s beaked whales, Pygmy killer whale
13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins
