Dolphin Diary 2020

JANUARY

At Kuda Huraa, during a total of 15 guest excursions, we recorded 325 Spinner dolphins swimming in pods of between 10-75 individuals in encounters lasting from 5-44 minutes. We were also lucky to sight a pod of 10 pilot whales this month.

At Landaa, 380 Spinners plus 10 Bottlenose dolphins were sighted during 12 excursions in encounters lasting from 1-45 minutes. 7 new Spinners were added to the database, and there was 1 confirmed resighting (Rudolph SL0015).

FEBRUARY

At Kuda Huraa, we recorded sightings of 350 Spinners, in pods of 20-75 individuals, over 16 dolphin cruise excursions, with encounter times ranging from 13-40 minutes. The seas tended to be choppy, with white capped waves making it more difficult to spot cetaceans, so we were very lucky to spot a pod of 10 Pilot whales too this month.

At Landaa, we recorded sightings of 1520 Spinners and 53 Bottlenose dolphins this month, during 12 guest excursions, in encounters lasting between 1 to 45 minutes. From our photo sets, we were able to confirm re-sightings of 3 named individuals (Norhen, Laserstone, Steffi) and positively identify 10 new Spinners to add to our database.

MARCH

At Kuda Huraa, we recorded 110 Spinners, sighted during 8 dolphin cruises, in pods of 15-50 individuals and in encounters lasting from 10-37 minutes. Calves were spotted on every occasion. We also encountered 2 pods of Pilot whales and 1 pod of Bottlenose dolphins (both species are rarely seen at Kuda Huraa, so this was exciting for the guests and for our team.)
24 quality ID photos were taken (representing all 3 species), and our current database of Spinners now totals 145 uniquely identified individuals.

At Landaa, we recorded 705 Spinners, sighted during 8 excursions, with encounter times varying from 25-40 minutes. From our ID photos, we were able to add 2 new Spinners to our database, and we confirmed re-sightings of 3 individuals (Barty, Hobnob, Pikachu).
Our database now totals 105 Spinners and 78 Bottlenose dolphins.

APRIL – MAY

Quiet, due to travel restrictions in place during the global pandemic.

JUNE

During June, we held one sunset excursion at Landaa Giraavaru, and sighted a pod of approximately 15 Spinner dolphins close to the island of Voavah. The encounter time was an enjoyable 20 minutes, with good weather and calm ocean.
From the photos taken during this trip, we were able to uniquely identify 2 new Spinner dolphin individuals, bringing our database totals to 107 Spinners plus 78 Bottlenose.

JULY

At Kuda Huraa, we arranged 1 dolphin cruise for 8 guests. We were all delighted to watch a medium-sized pod of 50 Spinners, swimming, jumping and playing behind our boat for an enjoyable 45 minutes.

At Landaa Giraavaru, we held 3 excursions but only managed to sight 2 elusive Spinners. The ocean was choppy and variable, making it tricky to spot (and photograph) any cetaceans nearby.

AUGUST

At Kuda Huraa, we held 6 separate dolphin-spotting trips for a total of 26 guests, and sighted 330 Spinners plus 10 Bottlenose dolphins in encounters lasting between 15 to 60 minutes.

At Landaa, we held 9 excursions (for a total of 31 guests) and sighted 194 Spinners in encounters lasting from 10 to 45 minutes.

From the photographs taken on our trips, we were able to uniquely identify 26 new Spinners to add to our database, and confirm resightings of a further 18 named individuals.

SEPTEMBER

At Kuda Huraa this month, we held 5 excursions and recorded sightings of 370 Spinners. The dolphins were observed for periods of between 12 to 45 minutes, in pods varying from approximately 60 to 100 individuals, with calves sighted in each pod.

At Landaa, we recorded 185 Spinners across 5 excursions, with encounter times of 25-30 minutes.

From our dolphin identification photographs, we were able to uniquely identify 5 new Spinners to add to the database, and confirmed resightings of 6 named individuals: Diana, Giuly, Gaetan, Doge, Norhen [x2].

OCTOBER

At Kuda Huraa, 760 Spinners were sighted during 8 Dolphin Cruises, enjoyed by a total of 34 resort guests. Dolphin pod sizes varied from 50 to 150 individuals, in encounter times lasting between 8 and 40 minutes. Calves were sighted swimming with most of the pods, and the sea was generally calm.

At Landaa, we recorded 230 Spinners during 7 excursions, in encounters lasting from 15 to 70 minutes.
We failed to capture any good quality photographs this month, in part due to cloudy weather resulting in lower light levels.

NOVEMBER

At Kuda Huraa, approximately 1100 Spinners were recorded, swimming in pods of between 50-300 individuals (including calves). Encounters lasted from 6-49 minutes, during 9 separate guest excursions (totalling 49 guests).
We were also lucky to spot 2 separate pods of Shortfin Pilot whales (4-5 individuals in each pod).
From the photographs taken this month, we were able to uniquely identify 45 Spinners plus 3 Pilot whales, all new to our identification database.

At Landaa, we sighted 610 Spinners plus 16 Bottlenoses during 8 separate guest excursions, in encounters lasting from 2-45 minutes.
From our ID photography, we added 23 new Spinners to the database (and confirmed 32 resightings) plus 2 new Bottlenoses (with 2 resightings).

DECEMBER

At Kuda Huraa this month, we sighted 3 Bottlenose and 550 Spinners across 10 excursions (totalling 56 guests), during encounters lasting 25 to 56 minutes. From our ID photographs, we were able to successfully identify 7 new Spinner individuals, plus resightings of 17 dolphins already entered in our database. Our year-end database totals now stand at 152 uniquely identified Spinners, using a total of 364 ID photographs.

At Landaa, we sighted 615 Spinners plus 35 Bottlenose dolphins across 13 excursions, during encounters lasting from 2 to 60 minutes. This month, we identified 27 new Spinner individuals, and confirmed an impressive 38 resightings, to bring our year-end database totals to 81 Bottlenose and 185 Spinners.

Dolphin Diary 2021

The Dolphin ID Project is making good progress, with large numbers of new individuals being added to the system. To ensure quality and accuracy, it is important that we spend additional time reviewing all our existing data (photos, matches, identifications).  We dedicate time to periodically review our ID photos, to create templates of each ‘damage category’ (fin patterns) used by the Darwin ID software to reinforce the main matching areas. We also archive the low-quality images and identifications to improve database integrity.

JANUARY

At Kuda Huraa during January, we held 12 guest excursions and recorded: 670 Spinners, 25 Bottlenose and 12 Pilot whales (Globiocephala macrorhynchus). The Spinner dolphins were observed for periods of 9-46 minutes, in pods of 20-150 individuals.
From our dolphin ID photographs, we successfully identified 26 Spinners (9 new individuals, 17 resightings), bringing the total of uniquely identified Spinners to 161 individuals (from a total of 391 database photos). We also positively identified 10 Pilot whales (7 new individuals plus 3 resightings), increasing our database total to 18 individuals (from 21 photos).

At Landaa this month, we sighted 445 Spinners plus 2 Bottlenose dolphins during 5 excursions, in encounters lasting between 15-70 minutes. From our photographs, we successfully identified:
– 20 Spinners (14 new individuals plus 6 resightings);
– 12 Bottlenose (7 new individuals plus 5 resightings);

This brings our database totals to 87 Bottlenose and 199 Spinners.

FEBRUARY

At Kuda Huraa during February, we held 8 Dolphin Cruises and recorded sightings of a total of 310 Spinners, during encounters lasting from 6-35 minutes. In addition, we were excited to observe 2 separate pods of the rarely-seen Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus) totalling 35 individuals, plus one as-yet unidentified large whale species.

From our ID photos, we uniquely identified 5 Spinners (plus 5 confirmed resightings), plus 5 Risso’s (thereby doubling our database of Risso’s to 10 individuals).

At Landaa this month, during 9 guest excursions, we sighted 510 Spinners plus 9 Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), in encounters of 15-45 minutes. The seasonal good weather and calm oceans enabled us to successfully capture hundreds of quality identification photographs, leading to the identification of 3 new Bottlenoses and 44 new Spinners (plus 67 re-sightings).

MARCH

At Kuda Huraa during March, we sighted 740 Spinner dolphins across 18 Dolphin Cruise trips, enjoyed by a total of 98 guests. Encounters ranged from 9-56 minutes duration, in pod sizes from 10-150 individuals (usually with calves present). Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus) were recorded 3 times this month, in pods of 7-15 individuals.
From our ID photos, we uniquely identified 2 Spinner individuals and resighted a total of 10 Spinners already present in our database. Database totals now stand at 168 Spinners (413 photos), and 13 Risso’s (15 photos).

At Landaa, we recorded 137 Spinners and 40 Bottlenose dolphins across 8 excursions, in encounters lasting 15-45 minutes. The sea state was calm for most trips, with good weather conditions. From our ID photos, we uniquely identified 4 new Spinners and confirmed 9 resightings, bringing our database totals to 249 Spinners plus 94 Bottlenose dolphins.

APRIL

At Kuda Huraa we recorded 245 Spinners and 4 Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus) during encounters lasting from 22-32 minutes, in pod sizes up to 60 individuals across 5 dolphin cruise trips (enjoyed by 37 guests). From our ID photographs, we uniquely identified 1 Spinner dolphin to bring the database total to 169 individuals.
We were also lucky to sight a pod of 4 False killer whales during a staff excursion (database now totals 10 individuals).

At Landaa, we sighted 170 Spinners and 25 Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), during 6 separate guest excursions, in encounters lasting from 30-40 minutes. From our photographs, we were able to uniquely identify 14 Bottlenose [below] (plus 11 resightings) and 2 Spinners (plus 1 resighting) to bring our database totals to 108 Bottlenose and 251 Spinners.

MAY

At Kuda Huraa, 200 Spinners were sighted across four Dolphin Cruise trips (total 17 guests), in encounters lasting from 27 to 36 minutes, and in pods of 20 to 80 individuals (with calves usually present).
We resighted five known individuals, and uniquely identified five new Spinners, bringing our database total to 174 individuals (comprising 424 identification photos).

At Landaa, we recorded 260 Spinners and six Bottlenose dolphins, across seven excursions in encounters lasting from 5 to 45 minutes. From our ID photographs, we were able to uniquely identify 12 new Spinners, and confirmed resightings of 24 Spinners plus 3 Bottlenose.

During May, the entire database was reviewed; low quality photographs were deleted, and categories were reassigned based on a standardised scheme (correcting any mistakes). The total individuals in our database now stands at: 108 Bottlenose plus 252 Spinners.
As the Dolphin ID project is moving forward, we want to analyse our identification records to better understand the local cetacean population dynamics and habitat use. Once we have built up the database, we can make a more substantial analysis of which cetaceans we are regularly sighting.

JUNE

At Kuda Huraa, across four Dolphin Cruises (21 guests total) we sighted 140 Spinners, 20 Bottlenose and 10 Pilot whales (Globiocephala macrorhynchus). The Spinner pods of 30 to 60 individuals were observed for periods of 32 to 42 minutes, and calves were usually present. From our ID photos, we successfully identified two new Spinners (and confirmed one resighting), plus four new Pilots, bringing our database totals to 176 individual Spinners (428 photos) plus 22 individual Pilots (22 photos).

At Landaa, we recorded 165 Spinners across three guest excursions, in encounters lasting from 20 to 40 minutes. From our ID photos, we added nine new Spinners to our database (and confirmed 13 resightings) bringing our database totals to 261 Spinners (plus 108 Bottlenose).

JULY

At Kuda Huraa, across nine Dolphin Cruises we sighted 30 Bottlenose (in a single pod) plus 520 Spinners (in encounters lasting from 7 to 75 minutes, in pods of 30 to 80 individuals).

At Landaa, 400 Spinners and three Bottlenose were recorded during five Dolphin Cruises (in encounters lasting from 10 to 30 minutes), plus a bonus pod of 50 Spinners were sighted from the Resort jetty!
From our ID photos, we added eight new Spinner dolphin individuals to the database and confirmed 22 resightings, plus one Bottlenose resighting (‘Flipflop’). Database totals now stand at 108 Bottlenose and 269 Spinners.

AUGUST

At Kuda Huraa, we sighted 410 Spinners across 11 Dolphin Cruise trips, enjoyed by a total of 66 guests; we averaged 31 minutes per encounter, and the pods varied in size between 20 to 80 individuals (always with calves).

From our dolphin ID photographs, we were able to identify nine new individuals and confirm an impressive 34 resightings, bringing our database totals to 217 Spinners.

At Landaa, we recorded 255 Spinners and 3 Bottlenose dolphins, across six separate guest excursions, in encounters lasting from five to 30 minutes. We identified 21 new individual Spinners and confirmed 24 resightings, bringing our database total to 290 Spinners.

SEPTEMBER

At Kuda Huraa, we enjoyed 10 dolphin-spotting trips this month, and recorded:
– 25 Bottlenose, in 10-minute encounters.
– 460 Spinners, in pods of 10 to 70 individuals, in encounters lasting 32 minutes on average.
From our ID photographs, we added one new Spinner and five Bottlenose to our database, and confirmed resightings of eight known Spinners. Our database now totals 218 Spinners and 22 Bottlenose.

At Landaa, we sighted 10 Bottlenose and 150 Spinners during seven Dolphin Cruises, plus 150 Spinners during a snorkelling excursion. Encounters lasted from 15 to 30 minutes, as the animals were seen playing, jumping, cruising, and bow-riding.
From analysis of our ID photos, we added 19 new Spinners to the database, and confirmed resightings of 11 Spinners plus eight Bottlenose. Database totals now stand at 108 Bottlenose and 308 Spinner dolphins.

This month, we spotted a Spinner snagged on a fishing hook, and a Bottlenose with plastic around its fluke, both poignant reminders of the negative human impacts on our marine environment.

OCTOBER

At Kuda Huraa, 520 Spinner dolphins were sighted across nine trips, in pods of 10 to 70 individuals, in encounters averaging 30 minutes. From our identification photographs this month, we uniquely identified 12 new Spinners, and confirmed resightings of 12 individuals. Our database now totals 237 Spinners (with 515 photos).

At Landaa, we recorded 577 Spinners (including many calves) plus seven Bottlenose, during seven excursions, in encounters lasting 15 to 30 minutes. From our ID photos, we were able to uniquely identify seven new Spinners, and confirm resightings of 21 known individuals. Our database totals are now: 315 Spinners plus 108 Bottlenose dolphins.

NOVEMBER

At Kuda Huraa, we recorded 530 Spinners (including calves) across 11 trips, swimming in pods of between 30 to 100 individuals, in encounters lasting an average of 44 minutes.
From our photographs, we were able to uniquely identify 7 new individuals (and confirm 18 resightings), bringing our database totals to 244 Spinners (using 541 photos).

At Landaa, we sighted 15 Bottlenose plus 708 Spinners (including many calves), across 8 excursions, in encounters lasting 5 to 35 minutes. From our dolphin ID photos, we added 21 new Spinner individuals to our database, and confirmed 74 resightings, giving new database totals of 108 Bottlenose and 336 Spinner dolphins.

DECEMBER

At Kuda Huraa, we recorded 578 Spinners (including calves) across 14 trips, swimming in pods of between 10 to 60 individuals, in encounters lasting an average of 37 minutes. We also recorded a single pod of eight Bottlenose dolphins.
From our photographs, we were able to confirm one resighting this month; our database total remains at 245 uniquely identified Spinners (using 545 ID photos).

 At Landaa, we sighted 515 Spinners (including many calves), across nine excursions, in encounters lasting 15 to 40 minutes. From our dolphin ID photos, we added four new individual Spinners to our database, and confirmed 22 resightings. Our end-of-year database totals are 120 Bottlenose and 340 Spinner dolphins.