On our boat trip two days ago we had the delight to see the Orcas - for the first time this year! Just 4 km away from the Spanish coast we saw approx. 17 Orcas in two groups moving towards the Atlantic Ocean. Already in the last few days we had realized that most of the other animals had disappeared from the area and could not be found anymore. Therefore we had suspected that the arrival of the Orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar was the cause for the disconcertment among the animals - but up to now nobody had seen them.

Each year the Orcas come back into the Strait of Gibraltar to steal the tunas from the fishing lines of the local fishermen - for the whale watcher’s delight but the fishermen’s discontent… The season is short and after 6 - 8 weeks they will disappear again to come back the following year - on time for the tuna-fishing.

After the great experience of observing them unexpectedly on the 17th July, our first planned trip to the Orcas took place on the 18th July. Like in the previous years, the people’s interest in seeing Orcas was huge. Besides the whale watching boats there was also a film team in the area to take pictures of this unique spectacle.

Picture above: Moroccan fishermen who are after the tunas. To pull up a tuna of a weight of ca. 200 - 300 kg from a depth of 150 - 200 meters with the own bare hands is hard work.
Somewhat less hard it is for the Spanish fishermen (picture below) with their motor-driven winches, which do most of the work. Nevertheless, the frustration among the fishermen after an Orca has eaten the catch is the same… (Picture: KH)

Picture above: The orcas are not only of interest for the local people. Also a German film team producing a documentary does not miss this chance. (Picture: KH)

Picture above: In the group we also find old acquaintances like this older female (on the right) next to the young male, which could be observed here in the last few years (Picture: KH)

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Yesterday on our trips between 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm we had the chance to see two sperm whales mating in the Strait of Gibraltar, a spectacle which lasted over 3 hours! Such an event had never been observed here before. It was always thought that sperm whales came here into the Strait of Gibraltar only to feed. Now we are curious, if there might be offspring showing up in the Strait next year. With a gestation period of about 14 - 17 months, it is within the realms of possibility for the next year to see a sperm whale calf. One of the two sperm whales is almost an old acquaintance whom we saw quite often this season. His name is Lunares, he can easily be distinguished from the others at his white spots close to his dorsal fin. Unfortunately we could not find out which part he/she played in that mating scene.

Photo above: Lunares diving down. The white spots behind the dorsal fin are not accidental light reflections (Photo: KH)

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We had the rare pleasure of having almost no wind or waves in the Strait of Gibraltar on our boat trip yesterday from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. These perfect conditions allowed us to see for miles and discover animals even from a great distance away.

These factors and the fact that all of the Sperm Whales appeared within a radius of approximately 2.5 kilometres led to the sightings of 10 of these giants - as many as have never before been seen on a single boat trip.

photo above: a Sperm Whale diving in front of the new colossal harbour in Morocco (photo: KH)

Photos above: different Sperm Whales, one of which is pictured swimming towards the little firmm boat and diving under. (photos: KH)

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