Whale and dolphins watching with the Sea Sheperds

With the Sea Shepherds we went on a whale and dolphin watching and immediately we found dolphins. Shortly after departure, several dolphins have accompanied us to the sea and a little later came short-finned pilot whales to it. Between Tenerife and La Gomera there are only 40km, but the sea gets up to 3000m deep and here the whales feel quite comfortable.

Tenerife has several animal parks and the biggest one is Loro Park. Since it has in the Loro Park also Orka whales, we had inquired in advance how animal-friendly the keeping of whales is and became not 100% clear from it. From the Sea Shepherds we then learned details about the keeping of whales and dolphins in prison, which made us – and especially our big one – cross the Loro Park off the list. The whales live in chlorinated water in the parks. To endure the chlorinated water, the animals have to take extra medicine. In order to be able to tolerate the medicine better, the whales need more medicine – a stupid cycle. Another fact I didn’t know before is that dolphins often commit suicide in captivity (probably Flipper did too). Since dolphins have to breathe consciously, they can also consciously stop breathing to take their own lives – pretty sad story.

In any case, the trip with the Sea Shepherds was a great thing and whales as well as dolphins were also there: with due distance and in freedom 🙂