We made good progress and arrived at Santa Cruz in Tenerife, early on Sunday morning.

My quest today was to try and spot whales and/or dolphins.

We drove around to the South of the island, boarded a catamaran, and set sail.

After only ten or fifteen minutes a pod of bottlenose dolphins came by.

I tried to photograph one jumping (or “porpoising”), but you have to be quick, they are fast movers:

But what’s ahead?

It was a pod of pilot whales, a large group, 9 or more, with infants among them.

They were slowly and gracefully travelling together along a straight path..

Gradually the captain steered around them and into their path but they were unperturbed and simply dived beneath the catamaran to continue their journey.

Pilot whales have teeth and their main diet it giant squid. We could see damage on the whales skin caused by sharp hooked teeth on the squid’s tentacles.

Later some more dolphins appeared.

Three jet skiers were approaching the area but a police patrol boat soon appeared and they quickly departed.

Tenerife was our last port of call before heading back to England. It will take four more days at sea to travel the remaining 1,770 miles.