Finding one of the world's rarest dolphins

Credit: Projeto Toninhas / UNIVILLE

Another day and on the trail of another new species - This is Sao Francisco City in Brazil: very pretty and quite old and the entrance to Babitonga Bay.

Hundreds of cormorants roosting like black weird fruit - more of them later.

One of many small islands in the Bay

A tiny distant fin - a sighting of one of the 50 or go genetically -distinct frnaciscana
dolphins that live in the Bay

Two individuals - possibly a mother and calf

A passing tourist boat - seemingly oblivious to the dolphins

A low flying line of cormorants stretching across the bay.

A dolphin of a different kind!

Sotalia

Dr Marta Cramer - leading authority on the frnaciscana and yours truly

Our boat

A Brazilian lap wing

Back to port

Two leading ladies of Brazilian dolphin research - left, Dra Camila Domit and right, Dra Marta Cremer
(also my host on this wonder boat trip and the kind supplier of the excellent franciscana images below and at the top of the blog, which were taken by her team during our trip)

Credit Projeto Toninhas / UNIVILLE

Credit: Projeto Toninhas / UNIVILLE

On the Trail of the Guiana dolphin.

Pristine mangroves

It is winter here in southern Brazil, warm and cloudy and I have been invited to join an expedition to go and look for dolphins off the coast of Pontal do Parana. So we head out to sea around the local islands within the Paranagua  Estuarine Complex. Here are some views.

Local fisherman and egret friend. An oil platform in construction behind.

My host Dr Camila Domit - in the background Mel (Honey) island one of the
numerous small islands lush in tropical vegetation.

Ilho do Mel with a lighthouse which used to guide vessels into the port of Parana
before a new channel was made.

Happy fishermen using a local ferry for their weekend recreation

Nossa Senhora Dos Prazeres Fort on 'Honey Island'

Brown boobies flying low over the wonderfully calm water

More brown boobies in formation

A distant small triangular fin - the Guiana dolphin

onboard team going into action

A local fisherman offloading his nets.

Ilha das Pecas

Black vultures - watched by an almost equally large gull - pick at something in the shallows.

An vulture passes overhead

After passing along the islands with their white sand beaches, small villages and pretty boats we head inland again, passed the mangroves and to the local major port.

In silhouette a frigate bird (left) and eagle

Jet skis hurtling out of port

The jet skis pass a major cargo vessel

Huge container vessels in a line being loaded and unloaded in Paranagua Port Area

A small light gray body against the hull of a massive container vessel
(The Guinana dolphin is a little less than 2 m long and mothers with calves were feeding in this busy port)

Lara, Liana, Pedro, Adriana and Camila

We leave the dolphins and go back to port passed mangroves, an oil platform in construction, and some handsome small marinas.