All about feelings

Another great day for dolphin watching! About 100 common dolphins and I-don't-even-know how many gannets (Morus bassanus) together in a feast, diving and jumping to the sound of the Southeast swell. Maybe small fish are coming with the currents, maybe common dolphins are still nursing, maybe shearwaters are gone, maybe adult gannets are arriving from a distant migration, maybe we should go West...Always follow your feelings, always.

And for a change...

...bottlenose dolphins! Yesterday we had a special visit. About 30 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) followed us from Lagos to Portimão and back, with an incursion to Arade river mouth. This species is known by its coastal habits and what makes them one of the most sensitive and threatened. Pollution, touristic pressure, loss of habitat and accidental fishing, for example. Anyhow, this group is apparently healthy, swimming and playing along with their babies. We suspect that this might be a resident population. Now that sardines are gone, we stay with the residents or occasional migratory species. Waiting for fishermen leftovers was also the great shearwater (alone again) and an unidentified shearwater (maybe balearic...). And two days ago, the magnificent great skua (Stercorarius skua). I call it luck. Information about bottlenose dolphins here. It was a pleasure so observe them again, FREE!

Hello birdwatchers!

With a little help from our friends, our newsletter number 3 is ready to go, dedicated to seabirds. Seabirds have always been an important part of our trips as they constitute one of our favorite clues to spot dolphins. Being so, we can't help noticing them. Yesterday, on our way back, leaving a group of common dolphins, we observed a great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) just standing on the top of Ponta da Piedade. It's not everyday, trust me. Bring your binoculars and jump onboard! And welcome Autumn.

(click on it to read)

Take action

As we happily sit and admire these enchanting creatures named dolphins, thousands of other marine top predators are being slaughtered. The truth about sharks, dolphins and blue tuna are shown on the big screen today as never before! Really makes me wonder, what can we do? Yesterday I watched this touching documentary about sharks and I can hardly wait for "The Cove" and "The End of the Line", after a week spent observing common dolphins and harbor porpoises, swinging with the SE swell. If you hear the little sea shepherd voice inside your heart, watch it. Then, take action!

Wilson's storm petrel

We haven't seen a petrel since the end of May...good news: they're back! The small black bird was close enough for a picture and identification. It was a Wilson's petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) and we had a group of around 30 last week. Probably on their migration route (here you can see more about this seabird). They were actually one of the actors of another exciting boat trip. Common dolphins of course, gannets, Cory shearwaters and again one lonely great shearwater all together on a typical open ocean action scene. If you stay onshore, definitely you are going to miss it...