A group of 15 orcas were spotted off the coast of Olhão during a dolphin watching boat tour held by local company Passeios Ria Formosa on Saturday (August 17).
The massive mammals were sighted for several minutes by the holidaymakers and crew onboard the tourist boat around two miles from the coast, facing Barra Nova beach in Fuzeta.
“During our tours, we often see dolphins – in fact, we achieve an approximate success rate of 95%. But spotting orcas, while not completely unusual, is much rarer and tourists feel completely ecstatic,” says Ricardo Badálo, CEO of Ria Formosa Tours.
“Even for us, who are used to finding wildlife in our water, it’s very exciting,” he adds.
Orcas are known to travel along the Algarve coast as they follow the annual tuna migration between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
As the company explains, “the orca is often mistakenly called the killer whale even though it is not part of the whale family, which have no teeth”.
“In fact, with its sharp teeth, the orca is … a dolphin! Scientifically, the orca is the largest dolphin species on the planet,” the company says.
“Its diet includes fish, molluscs, birds, turtles, seals, sharks and larger animals – such as whales – when hunting in groups. The largest specimens can reach nine tons.”
