22.06.2018- Marine Encounters

Actually we had everything going for us this afternoon; we had a wonderful, enthusiastic group of guests, the sun was shining and we even had two guides working on the tour instead of one. Unfortunately the wind picked up at midday, making it very hard for our team to locate marine mammals out at sea and this lead to the eventual return to the marina without a sighting.

We did, however, encounter five Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) basking at the water’s surface in the sunshine despite the gusty conditions. One of the animals was particularly curious and swam carefully towards our traditional boat. We also weren´t short of marine bird sightings today and encountered large groups of rafting Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris borealis) as well as several Bulwer’s petrels (Bulweria bulwerii), some also rafting in small numbers. The most characteristic features of the Bulwer’s petrel are its pointed wing tips and its dark color. The specie is in fact known as Alma negra in Madeira, which is black soul in Portuguese. Like Corys, these birds belong to the Tubenose seabird family (Procellariiformes) but, unlike shearwaters, beat their wings very fast during flight instead of gliding. They are also rather small in size and occur as solitary individuals or raft in very small groups. The population around the Madeiran archipelago is estimated to be well over 10,000 strong with a positive population trend on the Desertas and Selvagens islands Nature reserves.

As we approached the marina, we were surprised by several flying fish (Cheilopogon melanurus) that shot out of the water near our boat. Very often these fish mistake our boat for a large predator and propel themselves out of the water using their enlarged pectoral fins and “fly” considerable distances above the ocean’s surface.

So although we didn’t find any cetaceans out at sea, we still managed to enjoy some of the Atlantic’s treasures. Of course our main goal at Lobosonda is to provide our guests with cetacean sightings, but in actual fact every marine encounter is a gift and we hope our guests also appreciate these smaller, special sightings.