Start of the season 2008
by firmm Team
After a four and a half month pause, the season started again on March 15th. Thanks to the good weather we were able to go out with the boat on the first day. So we studied the tide table and made our way towards Pueblo Blanco, south of Tarifa.
I must admit that I was quite excited: would we find whales and dolphins? If so, what kind? Had their behaviour changed during the winter?
We were delighted when we spotted them: 15 Pilot Whales, among them two calves and one newborn!
Nr. 117 was among them too, together with a calf. We are going to observe these two. I think that nr. 117 is his mother which enables us to classify its gender.
Foto: Katharina Heyer, firmm
A giant freighter with about a dozen Bottlenose Dolphins jumping in the huge bow wave passed by. Secretly I wished that the dolphins would swim towards us, and unbelieveably, after a short time, the Bottlenose Dolphins really joined us, greeting us with their jumps, their spyhoppping and tailslapping which was great fun to watch.
On our journey home towards the harbor we sighted a school of Striped Dolphins. We saw that they are all still here: the playful Bottlenose Dolphins, the Striped Dolphins and the Pilot Whale Families with their calves.
Fotos: firmm