Flat sea, sun, a light northern breeze and …marine wildlife! lots of it! What more could we ask for?!
The day started with flats seas, sunny skies and loooots of dolphins! 😀 It was the perfect trip to understand how different species of dolphins behave so differently from each other: from the shy Risso’s dolphins, to the “indifferent” Common dolphins and extremely curious Atlantic Spotted dolphins 😀
The afternoon started with a great Group of Atlantic Spotted dolphins. They were very relaxed and near to the boat. It would have been the perfect time to swim with them! 😉 there were many small babies in the Group so we call this a “nursery Group” After staying quit a long time with the dolphins, we moved out further to find 2 baleen whales! They were a bit hard to identify from distance, but we know for sure that one of them was a Sei whale. We use several measures to identify species, such a head ridges, dorsal fin position, size, coloration and which parts of their body are simultaneously visible on the surface.
Juvenile Atlantic spotted dolphin showing few pseudo-stalked barnacles hanging from the flipper and the tip of the dorsal fin
Taking all this information into account, we have decided that the second baleen whale (of the 2 that were together) has been either a Fin whale, or another Sei whale 🙂
And when we thought it was over for today, the best was yet to come! We got a last minute notice that our fantastic lookouts found a group of Sperm whales! When arrived to the actual “whale zone”, it turned out to be 5 Sperm whales. They were resting on the surface like big floating trees 🙂 🙂 Then showed their head a few times while “spy-hopping”. And not only that, but in the middle of the Sperm whales appeared another Sei whale! The Sei whale was circling around our boats like it had a plan.
Group of Sperm whales including young individuals
Sei whale showing a narrow notch on the trailing edge of its dorsal fin
This was not a common sight to see baleen whales and toothed whales mixed together, but sometimes we have to be Lucky, and this was it!
To finish off in a high note, we went back to see some more dolphins and Sperm whales in our late afternoon tour 🙂 It is so beautiful at this time of the year with the sun setting and the amazing orange hues in the ocean!
Sperm whales with Santa Maria in the background
Sperm whales in smooth oceans
Join us soon! 😀
