So few dolphins in the Med these days.

[mocruising]

There was once a time when it was a daily occurrence to see a pod of dolphins. We just spent a month crossing the Aegean from W to E but did not see a single dolphin, very sad.

 

[jordanbasset]

We were just commenting about this the other day. We did see quire a few dolphins until we got to Greece then have not seen any in the last year. Maybe we were lust unlucky, have seen plenty of turtles though

 

[vyv_cox]

Maybe the time of year? We saw many in the north Aegean in July two years ago.

 

[grafozz]

dolphins ?

we see very few here now , the odd one around the fish farms,
there is just not enough for them to eat !

 

[OldBawley]

Last week saw two in the west entrance of the Poros lake. One had a red back fin or was wounded there. Probably by one of the many many 30 knot + ferry´s.

 

[VADROUILLE]

really

back over here in the western med there are plenty of dolphins!

Maybe they are swimming away from greece.......

 

[sailorman]

They are all now in the North Sea

 

[gavin_lacey]

Large pod regularly seen off Messolonghi last autumn. Don't know about this year.

 

[ribrage]

where ? ?

They are all now in the North Sea

Id beg to differ Ive been in the North sea for the last eight months on a seismic survey ship , we have two dedicated Marine mammal observers on board and a passive acoustic monitoring system on board that will pick up whale song etc ....zip- nada - nil

no fishing boats , no dolphins, no whales , theres more life in the shara desert !

 

[charles_reed]

In my one week trip from Messolonghi to Kalamata and back to Cephalonia, I came across two pods about 24 and 8. One was that in Kolpos Patrai on 26/04/12 the other @ N37°26.53' E21°01.79' on my way up from the Strofades on 03/05/12.
There may have been more but those two swam with me for 12-15".
I suspect sightings have more to do with being able to not motor and keeping one's eyes open. We all know that watches on non single-handed vessels tend to be sporadic.
;-)

 

[sailorman]

Id beg to differ Ive been in the North sea for the last eight months on a seismic survey ship , we have two dedicated Marine mammal observers on board and a passive acoustic monitoring system on board that will pick up whale song etc ....zip- nada - nil

no fishing boats , no dolphins, no whales , theres more life in the shara desert !

in the past 10 yrs we have seen Dolphin 4 times

 

[RichardS]

We saw a small pod of dolphins in the Adriatic near Vis last August.

This was our first sighting in 4 years and by the time I'd got the camera ready I got a fin and a splash! Pathetic (me, not the dolphins!)

Richard

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Id beg to differ Ive been in the North sea for the last eight months on a seismic survey ship , we have two dedicated Marine mammal observers on board and a passive acoustic monitoring system on board that will pick up whale song etc ....zip- nada - nil

no fishing boats , no dolphins, no whales , theres more life in the shara desert !

What do you expect when you're letting off bangs that make the whole ship jump every minute or so? I did time on a seismic vessel in the1970s; I'm not in the least surprised you didn't see any marine mammals.

Also, when I was on the seismic vessels, you didn't have time to look at the sea, except to make sure you weren't going to be washed down the stern shute while recovering or deploying the streamer.

There is significant evidence that seismic surveys DO drive away cetaceans.

 

[jordanbasset]

In my one week trip from Messolonghi to Kalamata and back to Cephalonia, I came across two pods about 24 and 8. One was that in Kolpos Patrai on 26/04/12 the other @ N37°26.53' E21°01.79' on my way up from the Strofades on 03/05/12.
There may have been more but those two swam with me for 12-15".
I suspect sightings have more to do with being able to not motor and keeping one's eyes open. We all know that watches on non single-handed vessels tend to be sporadic.
;-)

You may be right but it is strange that our watch keeping abilities have degraded so far from when we were in the western med, where we regularly saw large pods of dolphins. Also we seem to be able to spot turtles on a regular basis, which I think are harder to spot than dolphins.
This is of course not scientific and in our year in Greece it may just be that we have been unlucky not to have any close to us. As your own observations point out there are some still in Greek waters.

 

[TQA]

Same here in the Windward and Leeward islands. I was out here in the 90s and saw dolphins fairly often on passage, usually around the north end of the islands. This time 2 pods in 3 years.

Whales are rare too.

 

[Chuteman]

€€€ warning sign

Maybe the Dolphins know more about the impending financial meltdown.
They rather stick with the euro vs dracma so they are headed west

Saw a lot before getting to Greece last fall but then the conditions were not
great coming thru Greece, they are smarter than sailors

 

[noelex]

I saw some about 10 mins ago near the north end of Chios. I am sailing between Arki and Limnos so they were a nice distraction.

 

[VADROUILLE]

You have to go to sea

You do know that most dolphins (stand fast Sea World) are in thier natural habitat the sea. Therefore, you wont se dolphins tied up alongside........

So its simple, go to sea, and you will see some dolphins......eventually

I seen some this morning as well yesterday and last week sometime, all down the costa brava and sol.

But then i was at sea you see, so i would see some dolphins in the sea....

Im starting to get confused myself



P.S, sundowners in an anchorage near Marina Del Este, beats work any day of the week.......

 

[bjvarley]

Yes generally agree.. haven't seen large pods playing with us for a while.. but have seen the odd 1 or 2 individuals over the last couple of weeks..(Kas to Marmaris)..Did see a monk seal in a bay off Gocek though!

 

[bjvarley]

Id beg to differ Ive been in the North sea for the last eight months on a seismic survey ship , we have two dedicated Marine mammal observers on board and a passive acoustic monitoring system on board that will pick up whale song etc ....zip- nada - nil

no fishing boats , no dolphins, no whales , theres more life in the shara desert !

Have you ever been in the Sahara?