23.10.2017- Bottlenose inspection

Lately we don’t have to search far to find Bottlenose dolphins, much to the delight of our crew and guests. Both the large, curious oceanic type and the smaller,careful offshore type occur around the waters of the Portugese archipelago and often both types can be encountered within the same group. The larger animals tend to approach the bow of the boat while our resident coastal Bottlenose tend to keep a fair distance, occasionally leaping at the surface to inspect people on board the boat.

We encountered such groups in the morning on both our zodiac and on our traditional boat along with a group of juvenile Atlantic spotted dolphins and two Bryde’s whales in the company of their calves. During the afternoon tours, both vessels once again had a sighting with a mixed group of very surface-active Bottlenose dolphins that charmed our guests for a good hour of the trip.

by Paula Thake

Sightings

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bryde’s whale

14:30 Bottlenose dolphins

Stenella

10:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bryde’s whales

15:00 Bottlenose dolphins