Pilot whales, Spotted dolphins,Bottlenose dolphins, Common dolphins, Loggerhead turtles
We have recently seen the following whale and dolphin species on our whale watching tours off La Gomera:
- Pilot whales (Indian pilot whales)
- Spotted dolphins
- Bottlenose dolphins
- Common dolphin
- Loggerhead turtles
July started with many turtle sightings and pilot whale babies!
We observed several different groups of pilot whales in our sightings. We wonder if they had arranged a big meeting to greet all the newborns? Most of the time, the bottlenose dolphins were also travelling close to the pilot whales or directly integrated into the groups.
One day we saw a single common dolphin. He was swimming calmly and had a lot of barnacles hanging from his fin. As we normally see them in groups and swimming fast, this was a very pleasant encounter.
During these days we encountered an amazing number of loggerhead turtles. In one day we saw at least seven. We were pleased with that alone, but even better was the fact that none of them were entangled in rubbish, even though many of them were floating in the sea like a huge ball of rope!
We saw a turtle trying to swallow a golf ball. It probably thought it was a jellyfish. We approached carefully and picked up the ball.
After a while, algae grows on the rubbish floating in the sea and many small animals such as crabs, krill, fish and other organisms accumulate, which in turn attract larger marine animals. In an attempt to get hold of the small morsels, sharks, turtles, fish and marine mammals become entangled and drown, swallow pieces of plastic or are seriously injured and die.
The sighting rate for this period was 93%!
Fotos: Noel Covián, OCEANO Archiv