25.08.2018 – Exchange business

It was a colourful, eventful Saturday. In the morning there were Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and Risso´s dolphins (Grampus griseus). On this tour, the beautiful Risso´s dolphins with their white bodies in the bright blue sea impressed our guests. It is now believed that the Risso´s dolphins can be assigned to the relationship of Pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhyncus). In the lower jaw they have only two to seven teeth, the teeth of the upper jaw are only rudimentary pronounced. This is not uncommon for marine mammals who specialize in hunting for squid.

In the afternoon, there were interactive Striped dolphins that were in a perfect mood to ride the bow wave. Striped dolphins are extremely active and very acrobatic but usually not very sociable with the boats. Such situations as today are so rare, so special, so wonderful. Beautiful animals, which give us only rarely the opportunity for close observation. Take a look at the photos and enjoy! Their Latin name Stenella coeruleoalba is composed of “coeruleus” for sky blue and “albus” for white.

After this sighting, we went back on the search, the eyes wandered over the sea when there was suddenly a huge splash on the horizon … several times we saw the big splash … a Sperm whale had jumped … we did not want to miss this opportunity, of course we headed out. On our way to the gentle giants, a group of Atlantic Spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) crossed our path. Since we wanted to go for the big one, it was a short “Hello” but unfortunately we did not see the Sperm whale anymore. It was exciting anyway!

Funny was a small ocean sequence in which a small tern made an intermediate stop on a Loggerhead turtle. Often we are asked in the shop if the picture at the entrance (Loggerhead turtle with tern) is real … today the guests could experience it for themselves. And here comes the exchange business. The little tern has a place to rest and maybe pokes some parasites and algae off the sea turtle’s carapace. Cleaning work for a pleasant resting place. But if you calculate it exactly, the tern has twice the profit. 🙂

By Fatima Kutzschbach

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Risso´s dolphins, Striped dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins

15.00 Striped dolphins

Stenella

09:00 Risso´s dolphins, Striped dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins

15.30 Striped dolphins, Atlantic Spotted dolphins