Text: Katharina, photos: firmm

In the last weeks we had some days with many Sperm Whale sightings. We would like to tell you about three in particular. The amazing photos speak for themselves.

April 25th

On the first two trips on April 25th, we had seen 2-3 Sperm Whales each. So we knew they were in the area and of course kept an eye out accordingly. On the 3rd trip of the day, however, it was a very special moment of joy that we were given:

Observador surprised us. From a distance, we could not yet tell that it was really Observador. The Sperm Whale was swimming towards the Atlantic and began to turn very slowly when he heard us. Then he looked in our direction and began to approach us leisurely. He breathed deeply and his big blowhole widened impressively. Very slowly he came closer and closer. It was Observador, the Sperm Whale we knew! We held our breath and expected him to dive. But Observador turned and swam parallel just 5 metres away, along the side wall of our boat. We could admire him in his entire length of about 16 metres. He calmly passed us, slowly moved away from the bow of the boat and finally dived down.

May 12th

The 3rd trip on May 12th turned out to be one of the most spectacular trips ever. Simply incredible!

It started already in a special way: a Sperm Whale, not far away, surrounded by more than 20 Pilot Whales, who harassed him very much. The Sperm Whale obviously felt disturbed, because he turned and rolled from side to side, his big tail slapping the water loudly again and again. It splashed up each time. This was his way of scaring away the Pilot Whales that were annoying him. This spectacle lasted for a long time until he finally managed to get rid of them. In the meantime, however, we had already seen a second and immediately afterwards a third Sperm Whale, but we only saw these two diving very far away.

When we accompanied a Pilot Whale family together with Bottlenose Dolphins, we saw a 4th and a 5th Sperm Whale far away. A 6th then appeared very close. We were able to reach him in time and watch him again in the midst of 30 Pilot Whales. What an exciting trip full of amazing sightings! But that should not be all. On the way back, not far from Tarifa, two Fin Whales jumped into the air out of nowhere and splashed back into the water with huge bursts! Together with the boat crew we all screamed at the same time and rushed back to the fly deck, from where we could see that there were actually three Fin Whales swimming towards the west. They jumped a few more times and we were able to follow them for a while. It is imposing to see three giants blowing out the air and emitting big high spouts. What a fantastic, great trip!

May 25th

May 25^th was another Sperm Whale day! Already on the first trip there were 5 whales at the surface at the same time and on the third trip there were even 7. We could go from one to the other and watch them each diving down. Amongst them was also Observer, who finally turned around, annoyed by so many Pilot Whales, and then came to our boat. He exhaled deeply, started to descend and passed under our boat. This almost takes your breath away!