Striped Dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) porpoising close to our boat today.

Hello everyone,

Today we had fantastic tours filled with joy, sun and 4 different cetacean species!

We started the morning with a family of Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus). We didn’t know where to look first, because we saw blows all around. First we encountered a couple of juveniles, socializing at the surface. Our attention quickly changed when we suddenly saw the mother jumping further away. It felt like this was a wake-up call, because as soon as the mother started jumping, the juveniles moved towards her. What an amazing spectacle!

 

 

On our way towards an other species we were lucky to witness one more display. We came across an adult Sperm Whale that was moving very fast. He/she looked a little bit troublous, because it was changing direction a lot of times and struggled on the water surface. Soon enough we found out what was going on. When we saw a giant squid very close to our boat we realized that the whale was most likely hunting for breakfast. The squid probably got the chance to escape after being caught and was ‘running’ for his life.

Because we didn’t want to disturb the whale in this feeding spectacle, we moved on to a group of Risso’s Dolphins (Grampus griseus). It was a pod of about 10 to 30 individuals with one mother-calf pair swimming gracefully next to each other. It’s so beautiful to get the chance to see their different colouration.

 

Risso’s Dolphin (Grampus griseus) mother with calf – Photo credits: Paulina Kalita

 

At the end of the tour we encountered a very big group of Common Dolphins (Delphinis delphis) interacting with Striped Dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba). This last species rarely mingles with other dolphins, but occasionally with Common Dolphins. Today was the perfect timing 🙂

Also in the afternoon tour we saw them together.

Jessie Ocket

About Jessie Ocket

Jessie has a strong passion for the ocean and wildlife. Joined the TERRA AZUL team as Volunteer Marine Wildlife Guide in 2019, enjoying out at sea with wildlife, accompanying and informing visitors, and collecting field imagery and data for local Cetaceans and Sea Turtles Research & Conservation projects.

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