Love Me Some Whales

Another adventure we had while visiting Tenerife was whale-watching.  We set out on a bus to travel to the marina of Los Cristianos.  The morning was warm, mid 70's and the sky was clear blue. Once we boarded the catamaran, we set sail to find pilot whales.  About 40 minutes out.......what to our wondering eyes appeared but 20 pilot whales.  It was the most amazing sight to see these beautiful creatures in the bluest water I've ever seen!!! There are more than 500 pilot whales living off the coast of Tenerife.  Before these islands where inhabited by humans, these animals were already living in the area, especially in the warmer waters of the southern region.  They feed off the squid of the deep waters and remain there year round.  If you want to know more about pilot whales, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_whale.

Once all the photo opts were complete, we set sail further out and spotted about 20 bottle nosed dolphins.  It was like being at Sea World...only better.  The dolphins performed for us..leaping through the air, playing with the jet stream of water coming from the catamaran, chasing along beside us and under us!!!  It was a breathtaking site.  As the dolphins left, some of them made a formation one last time and leaped through the air as if choreographed by an unseen source!!!

We continued to sail along the coast, taking in the panoramic view of the coastline of Tenerife and a view of Mount Tiede that was awesome!!  We even stopped for a short dip at Spaghetti Bay.  Then, 4 hours later, it was time to return to the marina.  Our adventure was a success...lots of whale watching and dolphin watching!!!  It was spectacular and well worth the time!!!