Alboran Sea, Mediterranean, June/July 2019
We are in the Alboran Sea, which is the most westerly part of the Mediterranean Sea, positioned between Morocco/Algeria and Spain.
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Here our aim is to film more dolphins for our ongoing film project. The recent beautiful weather conditions have allowed us to spend a good week out at sea without getting back to land.
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At night time we drift. Even during some of the days we keep drifting, waiting for the marine life to come to us…
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Especially after sunset, the dolphins seem very curious about this slowly, drifting sailboat, giving us repetitive visits all night long...
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Not one day passes without several sightings of big dolphin groups. The Alboran Sea truly is a paradise for dolphin enthusiasts!Some individuals come to say hello when we are drifting, while others prefer to swim along when the boat is on the move.
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Being a transition zone between ocean and sea, the Alboran Sea contains of a mix of both Mediterranean and Atlantic species.The Alboran Sea is one of the richest biodiversity points in the Mediterranean, but is also one of the busiest shipping routes…
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We encounter huge groups of highly active and curious Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba)...
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... the bigger Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) also give us several playful visits...
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... so does the beautiful Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis).
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In further distance, we also observe a group of Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus) and a Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris).
Yet, we haven't seen a single fin of the species we currently are looking for, the Pilot whales.
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After many days and nights out on this diversity rich body of water…
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… they suddenly appear, curiously approaching our yacht!
Starting up with some few animals, more and more pilot whales appear. These are long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), a species considered to be resident species in the Alboran Sea.
These curious, highly social and very talkative dolphins are well known for their eagerness in approaching and interacting with boats.
Unfortunately their behaviour cause their loss in the Faroe Islands where they annually are slaughtered in huge numbers.
Fortunately all cetaceans are protected in the Mediterranean and I really hope our curious pilot whale friends won’t get the idea of leaving their blue-watered Mediterranean basin for northerly latitudes.
During our time in the Alboran Sea, we got several encounters with another, very special looking, sea creature...
More about this in the next blog post!
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