No matter how skilled the team may be, whale-watching burns down to sheer luck. There are days when finding animals is harder and there are days when we don’t find any at all. It is a voyage into the unknown…which also makes the whole thing way more exciting and the sightings so much more rewarding. Our team was feeling confident heading out onto a slightly choppy ocean on this sunny day but we soon learnt that we’d be in for a long one when Carlos called saying he hadn’t spotted anything yet. Carlos is a champion of a spotter; he is disciplined in his work and has eyes as sharp as knives so w ..read more

Todays rain forecast left our team anticipating a rather grey day but things turned out to be quite the opposite. The partially cloudy sky soon opened up to let in some warm sunshine, lifting the spirits of both our team and our excited guests. Our zodiac left the marina shortly after 10’ o clock and sped west to find a group of dolphins that our spotter had located just 3 nautical miles outside Paul do Mar, at the edge of the underwater plateau framing the Southwestern tip of the island. At first, Carlos assumed they were Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) but the speed and swim ..read more

It took a while and a little patience was necessary, but in the end we had a nice, close encounter with a group of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Reluctantly at first, they then decided to take a look at us and accompany us for quite a while. I would divide our encounter into three different episodes. At the beginning these powerful dolphins moved east with little interest in us, then they stopped and changed direction again and again in the closer environment, and finally they move together with us towards the west and the port. What does the scientific name of Bottlenose dolphin a ..read more

The sea is always exciting. Associations and friendships can also raise many questions. We had such a situation today too. While we looked at the Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea) resting on the surface, a Portuguese- man- of -war (Physalia physalis) sailed calmly past us. Some may think that this is a jellyfish. But it is a beautiful, highly dangerous community of different, interdependent polyps. At one point in evolution they got together and shared out the tasks (food intake, defense, reproduction and travel center). In the meantime the individuals can no longer be separated. Howev ..read more

Our Stenella didn’t have to drive too far offshore to find cetaceans on todays morning trip. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were on the prowl in the murky waters between Madalena do Mar and Ponta do Sol. The lack of visibility doesn’t bother the dolphins because, like all toothed whales, they possess an acute sonar which helps them track down their prey through sound rather than eyesight. Like all other dolphins they also have rows of teeth aligning their upper and lower jaws, which in the case of this species usually range between 72/104 teeth. The cone-shaped teeth don’t only benef ..read more

The severe storm on Saturday brought torrential rain and floods to the island of Madeira and has left the coastal waters of Madeira brown with sediment. More rain was on its way as we sped out onto the Atlantic onboard the Stenella. As the rainclouds advanced past Calheta, they left a curtain of drizzle that obscured our spotters view on the waters far off the coastline so Carlos was forced to search the first few miles while our crew at sea drove further out to expand the search area. Our long search bore no fruit and, just as we were about to give up, Carlos found a lone Bottlenose dolphin ..read more

After long two weeks of not being at sea I spent my drive to work contemplating on what could await us out on the Atlantic today. On the few trips we had due to the pandemic in the last month we had encountered some groups of Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). As I arrived in Calheta, for some inexplicable reason, I thought of Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). How fantastic would that be? Sperm whales are, of course, one of the most majestic animals you could ever meet. They break several of the finest records in the animal kingd ..read more

Behavioural patterns of different species must always be considered when entering an observation area and often define the proximity and time spent with them. On the afternoon trip with Stenella we first had a sighting of Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) that displayed a very tolerant behaviour towards our vessel while a small group of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), that were also in a hunting mode for flying fish, were consistently swimming further away from us. By Daniel Jardim Sightings of the day Stenella 15:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-beaked common do ..read more

As we set out on our zodiac this morning our spotter called and directed our team to a group of hunting Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) that were hunting 2 nautical miles outside Calheta. The location of the pod was marked by a group of Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris borealis), a bird species with a special relationship to the archipelago. Corys are estival breeders here in Madeira, which means that large groups of these birds, known as colonies, return to breed during the summer months. The season begins in May but many individuals journey here a little earlier to rest, scout ..read more

Our trip aboard the Stenella this morning took place on a rather windy ocean.. which is never ideal for finding cetaceans at sea. Our zodiac carefully patrolled the waters 4 nautical miles off the coastline and drove towards the sun, while our spotter Carlos searched further east and closer to shore to compliment our search area. As we passed around 4 nautical miles outside Madalena do Mar we suddenly saw a dorsal fin emerge at the surface among the white caps of the waves. Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) were dashing through the choppy waters and keeping their distance in their usual ..read more