Futurismo Biologists TeamJune is finished, but great memories were made and kept in our hearts!
In this pandemic time, we’re all living, between restrictions and the demand to go forward into a “new normality”, slowly our trips started to get more and more composed.
We have been going on our journeys to the sea, every time we can and the sea conditions allow us. In June, there were a few days we’ve had to cancel. Stormy days invited us to stay inland, save and sound, getting ready for the days of aftermath.
In our tours there are many concerns: starting with our guests, making sure everyone is safe, enjoying the experience and getting home a bit more knowledge. Every day is unpredictable and full of treasures to be shared. The problematic issue if marine litter is, many times, boarded on board. Since it is possible, the crews, sometimes helped by some guests, pick the garbage (we find mainly plastic from common objects and fishing gear). But to give our contribution to raise awareness of the use of plastic, our team organize several activities in land in which is spent a morning or afternoon picking as much waste as we can. Almost all these activities are open to everyone who wants to help us out, locals and those that are visiting us. It has been done mostly in the coastline, but the goal is to go further into land, understanding that the majority of the plastic that exists in the oceans comes directly from land!
In this month of June 2021, we went to sea for 24 days, accounting for a total of 38 journeys. In total, we counted twelve species, one of them being a beaked whale in which we were unable to identify the species.
The most sighted species of the month were bottlenose dolphins, having been present on 23 of the 24 days we had the opportunity to go to sea. The species that followed were sperm whales. Our mythical resident whale joined us for 20 days, followed by the common dolphins with 18 days of sightings. The Risso’s dolphins had 2 more days of sighting than the seasonal species that excites us so much, the Atlantic spotted dolphins, which, in turn, accompanied us for 7 days. The super fast and with uncertain navigation direction, the striped dolphins, showed the air of their grace for 5 days, followed by humpback whales and sei whales, both with 3 days of sightings!
At the end of the scale, with only one day of sighting, the impressive false killer whales and Sowerby beaked whales. Although, last but not the least.
Nature always congratulates us with its magic, in the gift of unforgettable experiences, touching the heart of each one of us!
Written by Maria Inês Pavão
Futurismo Biologists Team
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
