20.08.2022 – Good and bad findings from the sea

Today we found a lot in the sea! Many good surprises and a few bad surprises. Lets start with the good news: In the morning we were able to observe our long summer dolphins – the Atlantic Spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) in a tour shared with a very friendly pod of Bottlebose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and a even friendlier pod of Rough-Toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis), a little Loggerhead Tutrle (Caretta caretta) and a few flying fish.. How exciting does a tour get ?!

In the afternoon we were even able to see two members of the Baleen Whale or Mysticeti Suborder – the Bryde’s Whales (Balaenoptera edeni).
The bad news is: We found a lot of trash in the sea including plastic bags, bottles microplastic .. One Bottlenose dolphin was playing with a blue piece of plastic.. The sad thing is that even though Marine Mammals and Turtles are very intelligent, sometimes they can mistake a piece of plastic for the prey. So turtles and seabirds often end up feeding on plastic that accumulates in their stomach and they unfortunately die..
Another threat for our pristine wildlife are fishing nets left behind in the sea, one of which we found on our last tour of the day. The risk is for Marine life to get entangled in those nets and drown, but of course also a danger to boats and their engines.

May we see those findings as a reminder to ourselves to be a little better in our daily, with the choice of what we consume and how we treat our waste.

The best way is to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as we can!

by Paulina Kalita

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Bottlenose Dolphins, Rough-Tooted Dolphins

15:00 Bryde’s Whale

Stenella

10:00 Atlantic Spotted Dolphin, Rough Toothed Dolphins, Bryde’s Whale , Loggerhead Turtle

14:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Bryde’s Whale

17:00 Bryde’s Whale