My impressions of a whale watching week in Tarifa

by Passenger

Text, pictures and video: Valentin Diethelm

I came to Tarifa with the aim of observing all the different aspects of a small fishermen’s town and to take a course on cetaceans. On one hand I could see the immense engagement of Katharina Heyer, always present during my week course, being that her employees were always available to help me. Katharina, during the high season, is confronted daily with loads of people and I think it’s splendid the way she handles them being so open and spontaneous.

During our boat trips we saw dolphins and pilot whales. During one of the trips, dolphins were eager to give us a show with jumps, splashing the water and making people wet, showing their tails. As we could not go out to sea every day due to weather conditions, we attended cetacean talks with great power point presentations where we learned about the biology of dolphins and made excursions with biological information during that course week. Especially fascinating were the social bounds between the Orca population and the sonar system of the toothed whales, which they use for hunting, communicating and orientation. The fact that these animals used a sonar system was already known but what I did not know is how far these sounds can travel as well as all the range of other functions of this amazing system.

All this was explained very interestingly by the biologist, Jörn Selling, who speaks perfect Spanish, German and English. He has great knowledge in marine biology and about the global ecological relationships which affect him a great deal, as he loves nature and animals. Besides his enthusiasm for marine life he is not happy with all the threads that affect the oceans nowadays.

On the other hand, during my free time I spend time exploring the town and its surroundings. Tarifa has typical cute little white Spanish houses which give it an enchanting look. Even though the big wall and the castle of Guzman el Bueno looks very attractive, one noticed the bad shape it is in as well as the beautiful Castle of Santa Catalina that shows first signs of decay. It is obvious that the Spanish economic crisis has something to do with it all, not having enough money to maintain these cultural treasures.

During my long walks on the beach and its always present Levante wind I was amazed that the waves looked as though they wanted to attack me and yet when they got to shore they did not even get me wet. This was a special way to experience nature. During low tides I could observe the rocks and thanks to the Sun shining on them I could clearly see the intense fluoresce green algae.

I also could see the kite surfers and their amazing jumps out of the water at the beach of Los Lances. In seconds they were able to jump as high as 10 meters above water.

As images speak louder than words I have put a video on YouTube, to show the diversity of Tarifa and its surroundings.

Valentin Diethelm, Staad/Switzerland

My favorite pictures of the week- together with those marvelous pictures of cetaceans- shown below:

Felsige Küste von Playa Chica mit Sicht auf die Isla de las Palomas Der Blick oben beim Schlösschen Santa Catalina auf die Isla de las Palomas  Ein Kitesurfer an der Playa de los Lances: voll im Wind

If the YouTube link does not work click here

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