http://www.firmm.org/en Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:54:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Franz Feldmann, Ex-Volunteer, Photographer Once in Tarifa - forever whale watching! After being a volunteer here two years ago, I was drawn again to the Strait of Gibraltar for three days. An experience I will never forget! During our last excursion (there were four altogether) there was nothing to watch for ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/06/28/a-sperm-whales-ballet/ Christine / firmm Those of you who have had the pleasure of vacationing in Tarifa have certainly met "Levante". He is omnipresent and responsible for many things -- when we can't take the boats out to sea, or even when locals are a bit confused or distracted. ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/06/21/two-old-friends-poniente-and-levante/ Katharina Heyer / firmm Soon after receiving the sad news about Curro's injury, we made an interesting observation. A few hours later, one of the biggest Pilot Whales observed in the Strait of Gibraltar approached the boat with his family - 2 juveniles and 2 females. The juveniles amused themselves at ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/06/06/a-whale-at-the-boat/ Jörn Selling / firmm On May 23rd we made a sad discovery. We sighted a large male Pilot Whale that had an incision across his ridge in front of the dorsal fin. The incision was 15cm deep and probably stopped just before the spine, the fringes (skin and adipose tissue) were ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/06/06/curro-a-recently-injured-pilot-whale/ After an extensive search we found 200 Bottlenose Dolphins that moved westwards and took their time to enjoy themselves around our boat. What a show with Spyhopping and Tailslapping, giant jumps in the distance and in front of the boat as well - and all this with a unique sunset! ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/06/03/the-high-point-of-our-first-sundowner-tour-on-31st-may-2008-200-bottlenose-dolphins-and-2-fin-whales/ Today we saw a lot of mothers with their new born babies! We met all 3 kinds of dolphins and the pilot whale mother on one single trip and all of them had their new born babies with them! Photo 1 + 2: bottlenose dolphin Photo 3: pilot whale, photo 4: ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/06/03/babyboom-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar-24th-may-2008/ Text: Katharina Heyer / firmm I have never seen a marine mammal with such a strange "ulcer". First it made me think of "pocks" like we know them from the humpback whales and the grey whales. However, from the photos we understand that it is something more or less soft, like ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/06/03/the-bottlenose-dolphin-called-pokemon-24th-may-2008/ Text: Jörn / firmm We left the port and turned towards Tanger. However, just before we reached the position where we normally meet the pilot whales and the bottlenose dolphins, I saw the blow of a sperm whale from the corner of my eye. He was about one mile from our ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/05/25/boat-trip-on-14th-may-2008-at-11-a-m/ Text: Katharina Heyer If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it. When I was walking to the castle today between 10.00 and 10.30 a.m. I had my field-glasses with me (unfortunately I´d forgotten my camera) to check the waves after the strong Levante, because the next ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/05/08/manoeuvre-of-the-spanish-military-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar-on-may-8th-2008/ Text: Katharina H. / firmm On the day between two days of the usual winds, the Poniente (westerly) and Levante (east wind), we had fantastic weather with ideal conditions to go out for a trip. And we really had wonderful sightings: It started with a family of Pilot Whales, which came up ... http://www.firmm.org/en/2008/05/03/may-1st-2008-unique-encounters-that-got-under-our-skin/