03.05.2019 – Spectres
During our trips today we encountered two species of dolphin who are both famous for their characteristic decorative markings: the Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and the Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba). Both species generally show very different behaviour towards boats…
02.05.2019 – Typically striped
Today we had a very natural sunscreen on our tour, a thick, gray cloud cover. A small group of Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) behaved typically “striped”, every now and then a change of direction, like keeping a distance. In addition,…
30.04.2019 – The Beauty and the Beast
What do you write on a day like this? Where do you start? What gets priority? Not without reason is today’s blog title: Beauty and the Beast! But let’s start with the BEAUTY: NATURE! This morning, the guests of our…
26.04.2019 – Short & sweet
This morning both our boats enjoyed sightings with two very different but equally beautiful species of dolphin; the shy Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) and the curious Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), that were also sighted during the afternoon trip. All…
15.04.2019 – Identifying feature
Swell, swell and swell were waiting for us today. A little preparation for what should come in the next few days. But especially on such ondulating days, an encounter with marine mammals can be intense and special, like today! A…
13.04.2019 – A percentile
Our Ribeira Brava cruised 3 nautical miles off the Southwest coast of Madeira today to meet a herd of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that kept their distance but surprised us with a few high leaps as they pursued their prey…
11.04.2019 – Otto and company
Our Stenella sped off on to a placid ocean this afternoon to meet a delightful group of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) with an equally delightful pleasant group of guests. As the dolphins leapt along side our speedboat one juvenile animal…
08.04.2019 – What is this?
What’s this? A girl called Ria that can lure dolphins? Two guys who are passionate about the whole thing? A group of super nice guests? Two different types of dolphin? What is that? Yes, that’s an amazing unforgettable tour. As…
05.03.2019 – Birds, birds and more birds
I always tell our guests that we try to keep a sharp lookout for birds circling an area when looking for cetaceans, a little trick that is especially useful for our crew on choppy days like today. The Stenella set…
01.03.2019 – Shiny start
Things went fairly back to normal for us today at Lobosonda as we kicked off the month of March with our freshly-painted Ribeira Brava back on salty water. Our „old gal“ went through hours of maintenance at the hands of…