Mondrino/Pigmento shows her two calfs!

Text: Katharina, Photos: firmm

8th June 2011, the day of the first Sperm whale sighting!

It was the 10 – 12 am tour, Poniente wind with force 3, accumulating water and already the first “vasiante” waves which made observing the animals even harder. First we found Striped Dolphins and just a little later a blow in distance. Was that a blow of a Sperm whale or again a Minke whale which we lately meant to be a young Fin whale?

As we came closer, we discovered a second blow close from the other. There were two younger Sperm Whales, exactly in the course of an approaching cargo ship. The first of them, about 8 – 10m, dove immediately and showed his tidy little fluke. We lost the other one from sight due to preparing the passengers for the coming waves. Astonishingly, there were eight Bottlenose Dolphins surfing in those big waves and one did not know where to look first. First of all, everybody had to hold on to their children and cameras until the big waves, coming from the cargo ship, were gone.

Just a little later, we again spotted the other Sperm whale, about 12 – 14m, that was reeling in the waves. And then there was the surprise: as a year ago, (see News 2010 "Extraordinary Sperm Whale Sighting") suddenly Mondrino/Pigmento was lying about 50m to our right. Nobody saw her surfacing as we were all concentrating on the young Sperm whale on the other side. Mondrino/Pigmento showed us her hump with the little fin again and again. There we could see a lot of the patches which gave her the name Pigmento.

I realized just now that Mondrino/Pigmento came to show off her calfs. 2007 she was already accompanied by a little Sperm whale which seemed to be 2-3 years old. As we had already assumed, there was another calf born in the winter of 2010, which we spotted for the first time today. Mondrino/Pigmento followed her youngsters quite a while later and disappeared in the ocean. I was speechless, simultaneously deeply touched and endlessly thankful for the trust which Mondrino/Pigmento showed us!