firmm Blog

Overwhelming first encounter with Orcas

I always wanted to see Orcas. They fascinate me because of their intelligence and unbelievable hunting techniques. And as I knew I was going to Tarifa to work as a volunteer for firmm, I also knew there was a chance for me to see them...

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Invasive Research - Part 2

Second chapter about invasive research in the Strait of Gibraltar, by Eleonore Op de Beeck.

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Invasive Research - Part 1

First chapter about invasive research in the Strait of Gibraltar, by Jörn Selling.

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Orca-Adventures

It has almost been a week without seeing Orcas. The fishermen had not seen any either. But then on Wednesday evening we received a call from the tuna fishermen that Orcas had been with their boats during the day! So we had to change our plans and headout to look for Orcas. And what surprising days we were going to have….

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Between Orcas, Sperm whales and Fin whales

Everything is happening at the same time! Here we write about the exciting sightings of the last days and weeks.

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Of fishermen and ocean giants that „saved“ our trips

On Saturday the 14th of July we went looking for Orcas and other whales and dolphins with our two boats firmm Spirit and firmm Fly Blue full of passengers.

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Tuna above the water

Since two weeks we are observing the tuna on the water surface which is quite unusual. We can recognize them from far away by looking how the water moves: There are a lot of waves and splashing of the water and a lot of foam as well; sometimes a fin might come out of the water or we see shiny sparkles when they swim on their sides. When swimming very fast the tuna create a lot of waves and foam making people believe they are about to see dolphins instead of tuna.

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What a sperm whale day!!

Four boat trips were planned. From one trip to the next we could not be sure that next boat trip would take place, as the Levante wind was blowing through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Jörn was on the morning trips and Katharina on those in the afternoon.

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