On Monday 23rd October, I arrived in Madeira
Island just as the sun was setting. The following morning, before sunrise, I
walked from my hotel to the
Funchal marina, a 5km return walk that I would walk each day. I
knew several whale and dolphin boats operated from the Funchal
marina but had not booked anything in advance of arriving as I wanted to
find an environmentally-friendly operator.
On arrival at the marina,
I saw numerous kiosks offering whale and dolphin sightings.
Operators offering "swimming with dolphins" experiences were immediately
ruled-out as were operators offering whale and dolphin sightings together
with "big game fishing".
If coming to Madeira,
I strongly recommend using Magic Dolphin as they are
environmentally-friendly and also have a guaranteed sighting policy - if you
don't see any cetaceans on a trip, you get another trip for just ten Euros. Magic Dolphin have three boats
- Magic Dolphin Celebrity, Magic Dolphin Eco and Magic Dolphin Sea Safaris. More information about Magic Dolphin can be found
here.
I
initially booked a trip on Magic Dolphin Eco, a 2022 catamaran with hybrid
engines which switch to quiet electric running on approaching cetaceans.
Aboard Magic Dolphin Eco, the knowledgeable and friendly crew provided a
very welcoming experience and importantly, on each trip, explained that
whales and dolphins are wild animals and that there are rules to be followed
for the welfare of these animals - maximum ten minute stay, maximum of two
boats within viewing area, any additional boats to wait 400m away until
their ten-minute turn, etc. The captain was always very respectful of the
cetaceans carefully bringing the catamaran alongside them.
A
selection of photographs from my eighteen trips out with Magic Dolphin follow.
I have
been fortunate to see Short-finned Pilot
Whales several times previously. This species is resident around Madeira and
the nearby Canary Islands. Short-finned Pilot Whales are oceanic dolphins.
Short-finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala Macrorhynchus) Family:
Delphinidae Sightings during holiday: 14 More information:
wikipedia
The second resident species, which can be seen around Madeira Island, is Bottlenose
Dolphins. I don't know how many times I have seen Bottlenose Dolphins
previously, certainly hundreds of times, as these can be seen most days near
home in the Moray Firth, Scotland. Back home we have Northern Bottlenose
Dolphins which can grow up to 4.5m unlike the Bottlenose Dolphins in Maderia
Island which are a bit smaller.
Despite seeing Bottlenose Dolphins on six occasions during the holiday, I did
not take many photographs as I already have literally thousands of photos of
Bottlenose Dolphins.
Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) Family:
Delphinidae Sightings during holiday: 6 More information:
wikipedia
The first cetacean species seen on my first trip was Blainville's Beaked
Whales. I had not even heard of this species so it was exciting to see a new
species right from the outset. During the holiday, I saw Blainville's Beaked
Whales on
two occasions; the first sighting was a small group of males and the second
sighting a small group of females. They are easily distinguished as the males have tusks.
Blainville's Beaked Whales (Mesoplodon Densirostris)
Family: Ziphiidae Sightings during holiday: 2 More information:
wikipedia
Male Blainville's Beaked Whale:
The next photo shows the tusks with some barnacles on them.
Male
Blainville's Beaked Whale:
Male Blainville's Beaked Whale:
My second sighting was a much closer encounter.
Female
Blainville's Beaked Whale:
Female Blainville's Beaked Whale:
Female Blainville's Beaked Whale:
Female Blainville's Beaked Whale:
The next new species I encountered was a baleen whale. During this
sighting, I thought we were watching a single Bryde's Whale however on
checking my photos back at the hotel I could see there were two different dorsal fins, one
with barnacles and one without.
Bryde's Whales (Balaenoptera Brydei) Family: Balaenopteridae Sightings during
holiday: 1
More information:
wikipedia
A
second Bryde's Whale (note the two barnacles near the tip of the dorsal
fin):
During the holiday, my first sighting of a Sperm Whale was from 2km
distant. I was out on the Magic Dolphin Sea Safaris RIB when we saw the Sperm
Whale breach twice but it subsequently went for a deep dive and was not seen
again.
Sperm Whales are the largest toothed animal on the planet. Growing to 16m, and weighing 45 tonnes, these titans can dive to a depth of 2250m and stay under water
for up to 2hrs. They can live to 70+ years of age and have the largest brain of all animals.
The whale featured in Herman Melville's Moby Dick is a Sperm Whale.
Personally, I don't like the name Sperm Whale. The name comes from the
colour of the oil (spermaceti) obtained from these beautiful creatures which
were a prime target of whaling. Instead, I much prefer the name Cachalot. Sperm
Whales are still considered vulnerable thanks to whaling. If you want to see
whales and dolphins, please avoid Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and
Japan. In fact, please just avoid these countries completely unless they are
willing to take action to stop whaling. Whaling must end worldwide.
Seeing
Sperm Whales show their backs and then their flukes (tails) as they go for a deep
dive is an incredible experience.
During the holiday, I had hoped to
see Sperm Whales but I really did not expect to see them six times.
Here follows a small selection
of the >500 photos taken of Sperm Whales.
Sperm Whales
[Cachalot] (Physeter Macrocephalus)
Family: Physeteridae Sightings during holiday: 6 More information:
wikipedia
45
degree forward-facing blow:
Three Sperm Whales:
Four Sperm Whales:
Mother and baby Sperm Whales blowing simultaneously:
Half a fluke:
Showing its back before deep dive:
Going for a deep dive. Wow:
Another showing its back before deep dive:
Wow again
:
Two Sperm Whales,
a head and tip of lower jaw of another:
Sperm Whale head:
Two
Sperm Whales, one showing its head and the other its back:
Sperm Whale head:
Spy-hopping Sperm Whales:
Mother and baby Sperm Whales:
The next species of cetacean seen was initially thought to be a Bryde's
Whale. However this cetacean was HUGE in comparison.
The Fin Whale is the second largest animal on the planet, growing to a
length of up to 27m. Only the Blue Whale is larger.
I have been
fortunate to see Fin Whales several times previously off Tiumpan Head, Lewis
and also once off my local coast at Portknockie.
Fin
Whales have powerful tall blows and grey chevron
markings on their sides. Their dorsal fins are fairly straight and swept
back rather than sickle-shaped/curved.
Fin Whale (Balaenoptera Physalus) Family: Balaenopteridae Sightings during
holiday: 1
More information:
wikipedia
The Fin Whale
approached the boat so close it was nearly impossible to
take photos using my 400m lens.
Fin Whale dorsal fin (not cropped):
The seventh species that I was extremely fortunate to see was by far the rarest
sighting.
Fraser's Dolphins are oceanic dolphins seen very infrequently in the
North Atlantic but frequently in the Pacific. To give an idea of how rare this sighting was, in sixteen years of
operating whale and dolphin trips (c.5000 trips) this was the crew's
first sighting of this species!
The passionate crew were very
excited to see this species for the first time.
Fraser's Dolphins (Lagenodelphis Hosei) Family: Delphinidae Sightings during
holiday: 1
More information:
wikipedia
... and finally, on my last full day in Madeira Island I had the
privilege of seeing a large pod of False Killer Whales!
I have
seen Killer Whales (Orca) on more than 20 occasions in Scotland, I had not
however previously seen False Killer Whales (False Orca). These were incredible to watch
as they behave similarly to Orca; a powerful species working together to
tackle their prey.
The False
Killer Whales were initially powering through the water at considerable speed but on
encountering a large ball of mackerel stopped right in front of us to feed.
After watching the pod for ten minutes, we left them to continue feeding on
the mackerel but around twenty minutes later we saw them again as they had
either followed us, or coincidentally travelled in the same direction as us,
catching-up with the catamaran!
False Killer Whales (Pseudorca Crassidens) Family: Delphinidae Sightings during
holiday: 1 More information:
wikipedia
My cetacean trip to Madeira Island surpassed all expectations, thanks to
Magic Dolphin.
To Umut and Utku, thank you so much, I am going to
miss you both. To Francisco (Captain), Fabio, Fabio, Leonardo [di Caprio]
and Toni (Crew), thank you all so much.
Magic Dolphin Eco (photo courtesy of Magic Dolphin website):
If you want to see Whales and Dolphins from Madeira Island, please use
Magic Dolphin.