Review sponsored animals 2021

Text: Katharina Heyer Photos: firmm

This year the season lasted from the 18th of June to the 31st of October 2021. Not yet like before Corona, but at least 4 ½ months. Thanks to little wind, except for a 10-day Levante period in October, we were able to enjoy many sight-seeing trips. We were very pleased to see right at the beginning that there were numerous Pilot Whale families with a lot of calves. Always a reassuring sign.

Bottlenose Dolphins

Lolly is still very easy to identify because of the fungus on her fin. She moved in smaller groups. It was surprising that she stayed further away from the firmm boat then she used to in previous years. We saw her for the first time on the 22nd of June, and then on and off, also in groups of 10-20 animals.

Every year we name the first baby Bottlenose Dolphin of the season Baby Leila. This year we saw this year's Leila not until July. A cute, lively baby Bottlenose Dolphin!

Puzzle is usually found in the larger groups of Bottlenose Dolphins. Her slightly toothed dorsal fin is quite visible. We saw her for the first time on the 21st of July.

Cutty we did not see consciously. She was probably away from the boat.

We saw White Cap very often. She always swims side by side with her young and also dives at the side of the boat. She was easy to see from the underwater window.

Salto surprised us again and again this summer with unexpected jumps. That is why he is not easy to photograph. We have also seen him jumping once more in the bow of large freighters.

Pilot Whales

We saw Gorro for the first time on the 22nd of June. You can recognize him from a distance by his straight dorsal fin. He is a large, very imposing male and was seen alternately in various families.

We already saw Ponce on the 21st of June. He was also always seen in the company of Sierra this summer. As a big male he is easy to recognize with his high fin.

We saw Sierra for the first time this summer on the 18th of June. She is a rather small female and is easily recognized by her toothed dorsal fin. She was most often out and about with Ponce.

Baby Hook and her whole family are probably the ones we have known for the longest time. She has always been together with Triángula and her baby since 2019, often close to the boat. She is probably Triángula's mother and the baby's grandmother. She is usually accompanied by Edu and Pedro. First sighting was on the 18th of June and then we saw the whole family more than 20 times.

Edu as a magnificent male, also likes to show himself without shyness close to the firmm boat. All the animals in this group seem to have survived the long time well.

Pedro the second male in this inseparable family, also likes to dive under the firmm boat. Surprisingly, he only reappeared with his usual family on the 20th of July.

Fernando also appeared right away on one of the first trips of the season on the 20th of June. It was surprising that Dientes was missing from his group this year. He was always accompanied by the same two, equally impressive Pilot Whales.

Surprisingly, Dientes was only seen 3 times this year. One of the sightings was at an extraordinary "Pilot Whale gathering" on 21.08, where we encountered over 80 animals together!

As every year, we named the first newborn Pilot Whale Baby Toni. He was sighted for the first time on the 23rd of June. In the course of the summer, however, the youngster has become quite cheeky and approached the boat curiously.

We recognize Franzfin by the conspicuous small tip on his fin. He has a new slight scrape on his dorsal fin, which could be easily seen from a distance. We have seen him regularly throughout the season.

We haven't seen Johnny much this summer. He has only been observed on the 11th of August, he was in the large Pilot Whale gatherings. He seems to change his family every now and then.

Nina and Oliver are still swimming in the same family of 6-7 Pilot Whales. We were able to observe them regularly from the 18th of June onwards.

Nina can be easily identified by her characteristic fin with the little hook. We often saw them near the firmm boat.

Oliver is one of the largest Pilot Whales and looks after his group. He can be spotted from a distance by his unusually shaped dorsal fin, even in high waves.

Vicenta with her deep scars on her back is still easily recognizable. We saw her surprisingly often, although she still keeps a good distance from the firmm boat.

We first saw Willy with his striking notches in his dorsal fin on the 5th of July. He is easily distinguishable, although he is more of a small male. He was present at the Pilot Whale gathering in August and in 5 more sightings.

We saw Pomares for the first time this summer on the 29th of June. He is still in the same group with about 6 animals. His many abrasions on his back have healed but are still clearly visible.

We have known Sonja since 2019. She has conspicuous notches or old injuries in her dorsal fin and is therefore easy to identify. She is always with Dani, a new, stately male.

We saw Rikki right away in June. As a slightly older female, she is usually seen with her large family. She is easy to spot because of the injury she has behind her dorsal fin. It seems to have healed quite well.

We've also been watching Dracula since 2019, and we saw him again on the 23rd of June. He has a particularly strikingly shaped fin that resembles two canine teeth, and therefore was spontaneously named Dracula by our crew.

Sperm Whale

Unfortunately we did not see the trusting Sperm Whale Observador this season. We only started our trips at the end of June, which is after the time when most Sperm Whale sightings normally take place.

Orcas

We've known Baby Wilson since 2014, so he's a teenager and probably one of those adventurous youngsters who like to have fun in the back of the engine. We wouldn't be surprised if he was among the "attackers" of the sailboats.

We only saw Camorro on the first Orca trip, on the 8th of July. He was accompanied by a young boy and stayed a little further away from the fishermen. He seemed to be catching fish on his own.

Lucía has become a mother again. She has a newborn baby who was only about 2-3 months old and was spontaneously named Manuela by our crew. Her 3-year-old, Estrella, was also always close to her mother. You can recognize her very well by her slightly rounded dorsal fin.

Young macho - José: for the first time we noticed a growing young male. His dorsal fin is straight, like a triangle, and should stretch out over the next few years.