The new season 2018 begins with sightings of Pilot whales, Bottlenose dolphins and Sperm whales

Text: Barbara Lindenberg, employee of firmm Photos: firmm

Today is a spectacular day, very sunny and calm. I've been waiting for a day like this to join a dolphin and whale watching trip. Especially after all the storms we’ve had!
I have chosen this extraordinary day to get with great joy and hope on the boat and to see the whales of the Strait of Gibraltar - particularly my favourites, the Pilot Whales.

I missed them a lot because the last time I saw them was last year. After about half an hour Katharina, trying to spot them from the roof of the boat, informed us that pilot whales were in sight. Soon we saw their black bodies lying on the surface and shining in the sun. Impressive! There weren't only two or three pilot whales, but several families together, very relaxed and close to the boat, accompanied by Bottlenose Dolphins, which greeted us with their acrobatic jumps.

(Comment firmm research: There were about 80 pilot whales; 70 adult animals and ten calves, among them two new-borns with clearly visible birth marks, plus 30 bottlenose dolphins. Among the pilot whales we spotted many animals that can be adopted, including Johnny, Ponce, Sierra, Dientes, Oliver and Fernando. Also Lolly, a bottlenose dolphin we know very well, was there.)

   

Full of joy and energy they enjoyed their life in freedom - not like in a dolphinarium - and greeted us with their tail and pectoral fins. Everyone on board was thrilled by the presence of these wonderful mammals. It seemed as if all the animals had come to delight us and welcome us to this new season of whale and dolphin watching.

  

After enjoying the company of pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins for a while, we heard that a sperm whale blow was sighted.

Quickly the ship headed for the blow. The Sperm Whale however was already diving down when we reached him, so he showed us his beautiful tail fluke.

Only five minutes had passed until we sighted another sperm whale. This time it was a big animal lying calmly on the water surface. We could enjoy the sight of his huge body, which looked like a rock in the sea, until he finally dived down and showed us his big fluke. How nice!
(Note firmm research: The animal has a large white spot on its back. It could be a fungus. We will continue to observe the animal. It is very easy to identify because of this peculiarity).

  

Now the boat had to return to the port of Tarifa. The two hours passed incredibly fast and every minute of this beautiful ride was fun.

It is incredible how many whales there are in the Strait of Gibraltar

This shows us that we need to protect them much more so that these wonderful mammals can live in peace without drowning in the immense amount of plastic and garbage that is dumped into the sea every day by us humans and therefore reaches the ocean and the animals. Many of them die because of the garbage. We must be aware that all waste that we throw into nature and which is washed into the sea will sooner or later return to us through the food chain.We have to take care of our planet. I am grateful that I was able to participate in this excursion. It was impressive!