Where the Trade Winds Blow

A long way offshore in Suriname, the Trade Winds blow incessantly and there is little to see but white water and skies filled with rain clouds. Fortunately, we set off from Trinidad and saw a lot of marine life on the transit down to Suriname. We met a group of well worn bottlenose dolphins, including one with so many scars that it looked almost pinky-white!

001---Bottlenose-dolphin---Baines&Reichelt---MM7 2600   001---Bottlenose-dolphin---Baines&Reichelt---MM7 2604

Shearwaters have provided our main entertainment: Cory's (below left) dominated at first, but then large numbers of great shearwaters (below right) turned up. 

Cory's-shearwater---MM7 2890 1   Great-shearwater---MEB 7466

Cory's shearwater shearing the water:

Cory's-shearwater-cutting-through-the-water---MEB 7457

Rafts of Sargassum - a pelagic floating seaweed - provide shelter for smaller fish, creating good hunting grounds for the shearwaters. A take-off with a full belly can look a little clumsy...

Great-shearwater-with-fish---MEB 7491   Great-shearwater-taking-off----MEB 7502

Since our last blog we've been able to put some new pages up on this site:

Saca de las Yeguas - Photos from the annual round-up of the wild horses from around Coto Doñana.

Kenya 2008 detailed diary - Detailed daily diaries and lots of photos for our time in Nakuru, Samburu, the Masai Mara and Amboseli. Tsavo East & West and Nairobi are yet to come.


We are about to set off into the jungles of Guyana and we'll post photos of our adventure as soon as we can.


 All photos and content © Maren Reichelt & Mick Baines