Baby Day
by firmm Team
Text:Edeltraud Konradt;Photos: firmm
On today's first trip at ten o'clock we spotted a school of striped dolphins near the Spanish coast. They can reach a size of between 1.8 and 2.5 metres. It delights the heart when you see the ease and speed with which they slide through the water. In doing so they can reach a speed of up to 65 km/h. How they seem to fly above the water and perform two-to-three-metre long jumps through the air before diving back into the water.
There were many babies in the school; they have a birth size of about one meter and look particularly tiny next to their mothers. They keep close to their mothers, but have difficulty keeping up with their speed.
In the light of the sun, you could see their beautiful stripe pattern. While we watched the small dolphins enthusiastically, Katharina sighted a blow in the distance. All passengers looked around, but at first nothing could be seen. It took a little while until the blow became visible for a second time. No, there are two blows - a big and a small one, announced Katharina. Yes, and then we saw them: a fin whale with a baby.
Oh happy day, oh happy day it sounded in my head. How lucky, a fin whale. You need to know that their sightings are rather rare. It is not easy spotting them because a fin whale appears, takes 3-4 times air and dives down again. And then it's time to wait and look, wait and look. When he finally reappears, you can see him nicely. This was our privilege today. The calf often came to the surface and so we had the pleasure to see them several times.
It didn’t take us long until Katharina sighted a small school of pilot whales. In the group she also discovered an animal available for adoption: Fernando. Pilot whales grow up to 6-8 meters. Babies are born with a size of 1.7 - 2 meters and
The calm and peaceful manner, in which pilot whales swim through the water, pleases me every time anew.
In that way this trip came to an end.