azwhales
Finally, the wind was dropping down today and there were no more white caps but still some swell. The water surface was covered with Portuguese man o war floating in a current line unfortunately with quite a lot of plastic bits. The Portuguese man o war are a delight for the loggerhead turtles which we came across during our morning tour.
Portuguese man o war
We found plenty of different wildlife in our tour. Apart from the usual birds such as Cory’s shearwaters, yellow-legged seagulls and common terns, there were salps and flying fishes.
Seagull
But of course we put our focus on the cetaceans and there they were: bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins and short-finned pilot whales.
Baby Common dolphin
Bottlenose dolphin belly
We could nicely enjoy the differences of the three species like size, colouration and behaviour. All of them had calves in the group and especially some of the younger ones came closer to the boat. Some common dolphins showed us their skills like repeated breaches.
We managed to take some great underwater pictures of the common dolphins!
The pilot whales surprised us with their presence as it was the first sighting of this year.
In the afternoon the sea was wonderful! Almost without waves ? We started our trip with the pilot whales we spotted in the morning, but now they were calmer and approaching our boat.
In the afternoon the sea was wonderful! Almost without waves ? We started our trip with the pilot whales we spotted in the morning, but now they were calmer and approaching our boat.
Watching pilot whales
The bottlenose dolphins were not too far from the area and were very spread out and active. Lots of socialization between them and lots of jumps for us.
Happy bottlenose dolphins
We received an alert from our lookout who had seen a whale blow. We drove
to the lookout area but no luck. The sighting is not always guaranteed after
our lookout finds the animals. These animals spend a lot of time underwater and
sometimes the time to get to the area is enough for the animals to dive. In
nature the sightings depend exclusively on the luck and also on the mood of these
animals.
to the lookout area but no luck. The sighting is not always guaranteed after
our lookout finds the animals. These animals spend a lot of time underwater and
sometimes the time to get to the area is enough for the animals to dive. In
nature the sightings depend exclusively on the luck and also on the mood of these
animals.
How will it be tomorrow? Fingers crossed ?
azwhales
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
