04.10.2019 – Deep sea visitors

It was a lively day today at sea, with several different dolphin species showing up to make an appearance, we are always happy so see our regular species make an appearance, and this morning a group of Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) passed by, giving our guests a good look at these large dark members of the dolphin family, we often find these groups quite spread out as diving down as they travel to find a tasty squid for a snack, even though they are know for their extremely short dives, usually under 20 minutes, it is still hard to tell exactly how many individuals were in the group.

Another species we see often in the summer is the Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) almost a regular on our trips this summer, but well loved for the friendly and playful behaviour.

The main surprise today was a group of Rough toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis), they were seen both in the morning and afternoon, but are not seen as much as any of the other species we saw today. Rough toothed dolphins are mostly found in deep waters, and are therefore hard to find and study, they do come by Madeira from time to time, but we were still quite lucky to see them today, as we can consider them a rare sighting.  The Rough toothed dolphin is often seen swimming in a tight formation, swimming in line with it’s group members, they enjoy bow-riding are very curious, often attracted to splashes, given their deep sea habitat they may not see as many humans and therefore like to come have a look at our guests, to do a little human watching safari.

The fourth species of the day was the famous Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) seen close to shore sometimes, probably much more familiar with humans, they often travel along the Madeira coast, and groups tend to differ in behaviour, with some showing up to check us out and other groups swimming along minding their own business, but when they do, our guests are often awestruck by their size, as a 3-4m Bottlenose is much larger than people often think.

These four species combined made it an incredible day out on the water, and we look forward to the next.

By Scott Dorssers

Sightings of the day

Ribeira brava

10:00 Short finned pilot whale, Atlantic spotted dolphin, Rough toothed dolphin

14:30 Rough toothed dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin

Stenella

10:00  Rough toothed dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin, Short finned pilot whale, Atlantic spotted dolphin