12.12.2018 – Calm & choppy

This morning our traditional boat found itself gliding on a flat ocean with the suns rays warming its deck, so much so that the majority of our lovely guests found themselves wearing our charming „sombreros“. Our spotter soon directed us to a group of logging Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhnychus), gently drifting at the waters surface. The group seemed to be dispersed over a larger area and consisted mainly of juveniles, who mislead us briefly into thinking they were Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) due to their dorsal fins having a more falcate shape than those of their older peers. We soon met an actual group of oceanic Bottlenose dolphins, that contrasted the behaviour of the pilot whales with their active surface behaviour and their spontaneous approaches to our bow.

After middy the wind gradually picked up leading the Stenella captain and our spotter to discuss whether it made sense to go ahead with the afternoon trip. Carlos’s eagle eyes, however, soon located the enormous heads of pilot whales breaking the surface as they were travelling east. We geared up our guests in waterproof clothing and sped to the location right away in a zig-zag maneuveur to avoid the whole boat from getting soaked. Pilot whales are generally more active in choppy waters, swimming much faster and lifting their heads high above the surface. The animals do this in order to breathe properly and avoid water from entering their blowhole during respiration.

While the sighting this morning with the logging pilot whales was longer with the animals dorsal side being continuously visible at the surface, the pilots exposed many of their facial features during the comparitively brief sighting in the afternoon.

This just grows to show that every single tour is unique and that trips can be completely different even if they are just hours apart!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

Stenella

15:00 Short-finned pilot whales