17.05.2024 – Welcome

There was a real star in the morning. Portuguese man-o-war (Physalia physalis) are beautiful. They are also dangerous. You have to look at them with respect. Portuguese man-o-war look like the Opera House in Sydney. They are actually a community of different life forms. They are masterpieces of nature. Today we were lucky enough to admire one of these marine beauties in the best ocean conditions. The light played along and there are a few special photos that bring back memories. The Portuguese man o’ war is not a single animal, but an association of four different polyp colonies that work together as a single unit. These colonies specialise in different tasks such as locomotion, feeding, digestion and reproduction. The most striking structure of the Portuguese man o’ war is its gas-filled, balloon-like structure, also known as a sail. This sail, which can rise up to 30 centimetres above the surface of the water, helps it to move across the sea surface with the help of the wind. Below the sail are the tentacles and the various polyps.

Of course we also had dolphins, in this case Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) and Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

At midday it took a while before we had a sighting. There are days when we don’t have any marine mammals. After all, we are not moving around in a zoo, but in the wild. But luckily, luckily we still saw Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and Bottlenose dolphins. Of course, we prefer to bring our guests back with a sighting, with a nice encounter.

Today Sarah started as a new guide in our company. We wish her a good time at Lobosonda.

By Fatima Kutzschbach

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins

Stenella

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins

13:30 Common dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins

16:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Common dolphins, Striped dolphins