Mondrino Part 2

firmm-course from the  6th – 10^th of June 2011

Excursion from Thursday, 9th of June 2011, 13.00-15.00

During very good weather conditions accompanied by Poniente-wind, we went in direction of the underwater mountains on the Moroccan side. There was  heavy traffic with big container ships and it seemed to me that we were surrounded by these huge cargos. Suddenly Jörn noticed a number of Bottlenose Dolphins far from us on the right side of the boat (Spanish side). We followed parallel to them but were not able to be closer because in front of us a big cargo ship was coming in our direction. This way we could observe how the Bottlenose Dolphins approached it from the front and then surfed and jumped in the waves of the bug.

When the cargo ship passed, Jörn called that he had seen the blow of two Sperm Whales further on. From the left I saw the competition’s boat  driving towards the Sperm Whales, and from behind a small private boat passed us and approached the animals at high speed. Meanwhile, we saw that three animals were involved. Jörn assumed that it was Pigmento/Mondrino with her 2 calves. To protect the whales he didn’t want to go closer to the animals and decided to observe the whole thing from a distance. What happened then was unbelievable. Suddenly the two young whales appeared on the right side of the firmm Spirit. The Bottlenose Dolphins circled and jumped over them again and again. It was as if the Sperm Whale mother had seeked shelter for her youngsters near the dolphins and beside our boat so that she was able to deflect the two intrusive observer boats. Both of the young whales dived after some time, one after the other, so that we were able to see their fluke very nicely.

Suddenly Pigmento/Mondrino came near us from behind and for the first time I saw a Sperm Whale putting his head out of the water and watching us, and then he appeared directly at the rear of the firmm Spirit. We could have almost touched him! I got goose-pimples! Everybody was silent and amazed.

Mondrino

Finally he just let himself sink and must have been diving below our boat. We were waiting for about 10 more minutes and were hoping that the whales would reappear, but soon realized that it was useless. Overwhelmed by the happenings we went back to the port of Tarifa. This event and also the tours of the whole week with sightings of Bottlenose Dolphins, Striped and Common Dolphins, Pilot Whales, two Fin Whales and the Sperm Whale family will be a long lasting memory for us, the Steiner-Students.

Koppigen, 18th of June 2011/Claudia Steiner-Behrens