Dolphin Diaries Ponta do Ouro Mozambique

M&M with her shark scar & Gilly with her newbie

Gilly (left) with her newbie

Synchronized whale watching day found 18 sightings of whales in total. Sea state worsened during the day making it more difficult to spot the great ones. Needless to say by the time it was over i had round eye from gazing through the binoes the whole day! Mental note - next year no off-day for volunteers:-)

After being land based for a couple of days, it was refreshing to head out to sea yesterday morning. A great bunch of people accompanied by wonderful conditions was all we needed to have a good dolphin time!

We managed to get a little bit of data after the the SA dolphin boat had finished with the pod and I was overjoyed to have seen Gilly with a newborn nestled snugly between her and female M&M. At this stage the dollies were cruising across the border so the sighting was short to say the least. None the less my heart warmed to have seen Gilly - a longtime dolfriend that I have shared three of her offspring with. I wish her all the strength and protection in order to see this little one survive.

As luck would have it - pre-weeked blues hit and we lost the helm on our steering which resulted in some disappointed pees as we had no choice but to head home, curtting the second launch short. On closer inspection Mitch saw that the helm had corroded right through! Disaster management perused as he had to quickly arrange a spare which would take some 24hrs to get here which means no launching today!

Beautiful conditions and super flats seas are welcoming tourists who are flocking to Ponta do Ouro - Mozambique this weekend. Its a SA public holiday and we are expecting the crowds. 

My early morning scout from Dolphins Deck found humpback whales galore. Three different groups were spouting their way up north:-) Too beautiful for words. Derik from the next bay called in a pod of dolphins that were heading our way and at 07:50 I spotted the pod slowly ambling towards PDO with some splashing and play. They then disappeared and were spotted having turned around moving north and offshore.

Although we do not have a tour this weekend, I look forward to the next couple of days at sea, a time that we will use to check-up on the Dolphins of Ponta. Lets hope the weather holds and our wonderful tourists respect our finned friends when venturing to sea.