04.09.2020 – Careful approach, gentle encounter

The sea this morning was a blue mirror, very beautiful. Quite close to the coast we encountered a school of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). With these marine mammals, patience and a careful approach pays off. Almost as if they wanted to test us. If we show them the necessary respect, unique experiences can arise. Today this encounter was gentle and tender and wonderful. Our captain did a great job and everyone had hopefully an unforgettable experience.

In the afternoon we had extremely shy Blainville beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) that didn’t want to show anything more than their dorsal fin. But the Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) were more sociable afterwards. They approached the boat with curiosity and otherwise displayed a large repertoire of behavior. Mating behavior, socializing, milling, a number of jumps and bow wave riding could be observed. Such a colorful mixture from the life of the Spotted dolphins.

P.S. Sometimes “Shit happens!” (you can see it clearly on one of our pictures) 😉 … and this means this dolphin found prey before this event ;).

By Fatima Kutzschbach

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Bottlenose dolphins

14:30 Blainville´s Beaked whales, Atlantic Spotted dolphins

Stenella

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins

15:00 Blainville´s Beaked whales, Atlantic Spotted dolphins