Almost 500 Whales Live in the Channel Between Tenerife and La Gomera. Year-Round.

When we take our guests out to sea for whale watching, the first question is almost always the same: "Are you sure they'll be there?" And every time someone asks, we're already smiling, because within twenty minutes of the coast, the answer arrives on its own.

The waters between Tenerife and La Gomera are not a migration route. They're a home. In the channel separating the two islands, the seabed drops to over 2,000 metres just a few kilometres from shore. That depth brings cold water, current and an enormous amount of food (squid, pelagic fish) that doesn't vary with the seasons. The pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins that live here don't go anywhere because they have no reason to.

The numbers are precise: around 500 resident pilot whales and approximately 250 bottlenose dolphins. It's one of the densest resident populations in Europe, with the highest guaranteed sighting rate we know of: in 99% of outings, you see something. That's not marketing. It's biology applied to the geography of this island.

We depart from Puerto Colón, in Costa Adeje. The journey to the channel takes about twenty minutes, but even in that stretch you can see the colour of the sea change, from the light blue of the coast to the near-black blue that marks where the bottom drops sharply. Pilot whales are easy to recognise: that rounded, bulging forehead, that unhurried swim that looks like nothing else in the sea. They move without urgency.

Something we always explain before departure: Canary Islands law prohibits approaching within 60 metres, cutting across the animals' path, and absolutely forbids entering the water with them. This isn't bureaucracy. It's the concrete reason these populations are still here after decades of marine tourism. We are strict about this, and proud of it.

What still strikes us today, after hundreds of outings, is the silence. The open sea is a completely different place from how you imagine it from the shore. And when you manage to stay still and quiet for a few minutes, you understand why these animals chose to stay here.

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