21.05.2024 – Blackfish and their smaller cousins

One of our company’s philosophies is not to guarantee nature, and instead to take the sightings as they come. I am fairly new to Lobosonda and the companies’ values are the main reason why I chose to work here. Nevertheless, I do often imagine to encounter particular species and find myself joking around with my colleagues about my “wish list” of species for the day. While I am aware that these are foolish jokes and indeed enjoy anything we meet out in the ocean, there are days when big surprises await us.

We started the morning tour with small groups of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). We counted a total of 3 scattered pods of about 5 – 10 animals each. Typical for the species, they curiously inspected our boats. The sea conditions were perfect, so we could observe the dolphins swimming beside us even underneath the water. Our hearts fulfilled with joy, we could have turned around, if it wasn’t for a special call from Carlos, our spotter on land. Without knowing what was awaiting me, I could see excitement in the eyes of my colleagues on board which received the news. After initially wanting to be surprised, I couldn’t wait and asked them after a few minutes which species we are hoping to find. I did not believe their answer. Even when I saw the massive black dorsal fins rising up at the horizon, I needed some moments to realise and announce what was happening. Orcas.

In the past, I had the chance to meet these incredible creatures from distance in various occasions, but todays encounter was from a different kind. After announcing what we were looking at and cautiously approaching the largest member of the dolphin family, we waited patiently as they just had gone for an extended dive. It was a massive adult male that emerged just beside our boat a few minutes later. Orcas (Orcinus orca) live in stable family pods, led by the oldest female, the matriarch. The potential leader of this group soon surfaced with a calf. We counted a total of 6 individuals, 2 of which where impressively large adult males. They inspected our boat from a close distance for several minutes while even the most experienced of our whale watchers, myself included, had trouble to find the right words for these magic moments. Orcas are so rarely sighted in the North Atlantic, that we still know barely anything about them. The pictures from our tour will be very valuable to understand more about these wonderful animals.

Or afternoon tours encountered other smaller dolphin species, the Short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and again Atlantic spotted dolphins.

No matter if big or small, we feel privileged to observe these animals in their natural habitat, swimming wild and free.

By Sarah Kather

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins

13:30 Common dolphins, Loggerhead sea turtle 

Stenella

09:30  Atlantic spotted dolphins, Orcas

13:30 Common dolphins

16:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins