What a trip on World Ocean Day!!

The third trip of the day started on slightly strange note. A guest who claimed to be a lifeguard refused to put on the obligatory life jacket. It was hazy and the sea was rough. When we arrived at the southern sea lane, a blow appeared easterly at a distance of approx. 2 nautical miles and to the left of it another one. This meant for us that we had to increase our speed and cruise against the wind and the waves. The people in the bow were bouncing in their seats as the ship jumped across the waves. The second blow disappeared but we still could observe one of the Sperm Whales breathing and plunging.

Suddenly the suspicious blow reappeared again, beside it, another Sperm Whale. We didn't quite manage to reach it before he started diving under.

Half a mile away, some Bottlenose Dolphins were jumping and we thought that perhaps these splashes were the cause of the suspicious blow of before.

It was a bit odd though, that each time it appeared further east. Suddenly it appeared again and now we could see it clearly, a mighty Fin Whale, accompanied by four Bottlenose Dolphins that surfaced and dived with him. This group had been heading to the Mediterranean all along, while coincidentally, one Sperm Whale after another emerged in their lane.

After escorting the Fin Whale for about half an hour in an easterly direction, we had to turn around and decided to look out for some Pilot Whales. The sun was already low and illuminated the damp horizon. A big, dark cargo ship was moving towards our position from about two miles away, when we spotted another blow right in front of its bow. In fact the animal was hardly reachable against the currents but off we went. This time at least we were traveling with the currents so the people were not bouncing off their seats. After about half a mile, we spotted a big group of Pilot Whales and decided to stop.

The Pilot Whales were obviously in a good mood and some of them approached the boat, others jumped or splashed water in the air with their tail fin. After this very lovely ending we wanted to head back to Tarifa, when a Sperm Whale emerged about 200 metres away. The Pilot Whales started swimming towards him and we followed - why not watch a Sperm Whale before heading home?

On our way back we encountered another group of Striped Dolphins - what a trip!

It is unfortunate, but there are always people who are not satisfied. We had no time to stop to look at the Striped Dolphins so one guest was not able to take photos, but with such strong seas in the location the dolphins were swimming they would have probably not turned out anyway.

After such a wonderful experience it is difficult to imagine that anyone could be upset. Alas, the more a man has, the more he wants.

-Jörn-