Dolphins Encounter
Encountering dolphins in our seas is fairly easy, but it’s one thing to spot them while sailing or see them leaping in the distance, and quite another to find them “playing under the boat“, almost touching them. For us, August 15th has become a regular event. The video really was actually taken on August 16th, about 7-8 miles off the Livorno coast, and this summer of 2025, we managed to film them in the water without disturbing them or causing them to flee for almost an hour.
These sightings aren’t exceptional, since we’re practically in the center of the cetacean sanctuary, that marine area encompassing northern Sardinia, the coasts of the upper Tyrrhenian Sea, the Ligurian Sea, Corsica, and the coasts of France, such as Provence, practically all the way to Toulon. This area has always been a natural habitat for numerous cetaceans, including dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, striped dolphins, sperm whales, and even the queen of the seas, the blue whale.
The Cetacean Sanctuary covers a total marine area of approximately 87,500 km² and is estimated to be home to around a thousand whales, including 30,000-40,000 striped dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, and common dolphins. It is also occasionally visited by Risso’s dolphins, Cuvier’s beaked whales, and pilot whales, as well as occasional minke whales, which find these waters ideal for both food and reproduction. (Wikipedia)
In our case, we likely encountered bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), but the beauty of this encounter was primarily due to the weather conditions: calm seas with virtually no waves and crystal-clear water. In these cases, obviously, the desire to dive in for a close encounter is strong, but we must remember that often in cases like this we are practically dealing with the entire pack, male explorers, mothers and cubs, so it is always best to keep a certain distance and respect their privacy.
Gallery
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