Turmoil in the strait

Text: Christine, photos: firmm

We didn't encounter any orcas on the 1st of July, but the second trip of the day was truly extraordinary from start to finish.
We had barely left the harbour when we came across two turtles behind the island of Las Palomas! The first was a little smaller and dived quickly, but the second was a considerable size and swam on the surface for several minutes, giving us the opportunity to observe it closely.

But that were only the first few minutes of this trip. We took the usual route, but travelled east for quite a long time before we spotted the first pilot whales. They were also much further north than usual, quite close to the Spanish coast.When we reached the pilot whales, they were a remarkably large group of around 30 animals that moved extremely quickly, jumping on the surface without any recognisable course. Their movements reminded me more of the porpoising of common and striped dolphins, but not at all of the pilot whales that are normally so unhurried during the day.

We watched in amazement for a while as the whales moved in circles, changing course abruptly every now and then, only to dash off in a completely different direction shortly after.

A short time later, we spotted the next group approaching from the west. They also showed the same strange behaviour.
And more and more animals were joining them, scampering around us in various groups. In total, we counted around 200 of them, including a newborn and many of the animals of our adoption program, such as Baby Hook, Edu, Nina, Oliver, Fernando, Dientes, Willy, Johnny and Franzfin.

Katharina and the crew finally started talking: They had already been told that morning that the orcas had been spotted near Gibraltar. As pilot whales and orcas are not exactly best friends, their strange behaviour suggests that the orcas had returned from Gibraltar along the Moroccan coast towards the Atlantic in the early afternoon, driving the pilot whales so close to the Spanish coast.

We watched for a while as the pilot whales jumped, stuck their heads out of the water (spyhopping), breached and even did a "headstand"! There was also the loud whistling of the whales, which I'm sure they used to communicate excitedly with each other as they chased tirelessly through the foaming water.

The time had passed far too quickly and we had to return to Tarifa. The high season had started sensationally, which gives us high hopes for an interesting summer!