Extraordinary sightings in the Bay of Gibraltar

by firmm Team

Text: Marion and David Belz, volunteers at firmm
Photos: fin whales Jörn Selling and firmm

Because of the strong wind blowing already for days in Tarifa, we had to move our whale watching trips to the sheltered bay of Algeciras. In Algeciras on both days we had dull, gray weather. The Rock of Gibraltar was draped in clouds. It almost seemed as if it would start to rain at any minute. Would it be possible for us to see animals under these weather conditions?

On the 14th of may we were able to see three common dolphins in the bay. Luckily the whale watchers starting from Gibraltar did not see these animals in their hurry. So we had all the time to watch them and let them swim around our boat. On our search for more animals we left the bay a little bit later. But nobody was expecting the things to come:

Right in front of the Rock of Gibraltar three fin whales were passing by!

Finnwale

Finnwale

Finnwale

This left our guests on board speechless, because they have been told that it is nearly impossible to see whales in the bay. And then something so special happened. These animals, which can grow up to 22 meters in length, were even longer than our boat. Even our marine biologist Jörn was astonished, it was the first time he had seen so many fin whales near Algeciras. We could not believe our luck, when Diego, our captain, was calculating the route of the fin whales correctly and, the second largest animal in the world, surfaced once more just a few meters in front of our boat. The blow, which can already be seen from far away, makes a huge impression observed from this distance. We were able to hear them breathe and to see the water running over their huge mouth.Diego succeeded in bringing even more unforgettable sightings to our guests. After approximately 20 minutes the whale watch organisation from Gibraltar noticed that we had found animals and they were coming nearer at high speed. Jörn said, that now it would be time to go back, because he was not willing to see how the Whale Watcher hunt these graceful animals in a disrespectful way. From the distance we saw nonetheless, how they were harassing the animals just to be able to show them to their guests as close as possible. The fin whales dived and we did not see them again.

On may 16th we were once more on our search for the common and striped dolphins, which are the only marine mammals living all year round in the bay of Algeciras.

Großer TümmlerOn board we had 12 new course participants, who were looking very much forward to their first sightings. The excitement grew bigger and bigger. But not a single small dolphin showed up. The hope to see animals was fading slowly. After approximately one hour we almost gave up all our hopes, and it was exactly in this moment that all of a sudden a group of 16!! Bottlenose dolphins surfaced out of nowhere. They swam as if they had exactly their destination in mind, right into the bay. The animals came very close to our boat and pleased our guests with their playful behaviour. They stayed for a long time, so we had enough time to watch them and take snapshots.

Katharina said, that in the last 13 years she never saw so many bottlenose dolphins in the bay of Algeciras.

Very happy and impressed due to the unforgettable, or rather rare and special sightings, we returned on these two days back to the harbour of Algeciras. Once again the animals surprised us and showed us once more why it is worth to make an effort for them every single day.

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