It all started 17 ago: I had been invited to a sailing cruise here on the Canaries on board a beautiful wooden sailing boat. I fell in love with this boat and the dolphins and whales. The following 15 years have been full of sightings of cetaceans and many enthusiastic guests – our Oceanic Week programme has been running stable ever since.

14 years later – OCEANO is born. OCEANO – the word implies for me the vastness of the ocean, just imagine the reflections of the sun on the surface, sparkling... and then the fin of a dolphin comes into sight. It’s wonderful as well that OCEANO is understood in almost every language.

Important to me and the whole OCEANO Team is the way we meet and approach the dolphins and whales out there.

Respectful Whale Watching is a must for us. We also place great value on providing information about cetaceans and the ocean and how to be careful with the resources of ourselves and the planet as well as to make sure our guests can enjoy their holidays to a maximum.

On your journey through our OCEANO website you will come to know more about OCEANO and the OCEANO Team.

I look forward to welcoming you on La Gomera or at one of our other exciting destinations and wish you lots of fun clicking though our homepage.

Wherever you travel with us, we have already been there ourselves or have excellent contacts.

And do look forward with us to the coming years as every year we will be planning a new journey to a very special WW-destination.

Canary Islands Whale Watching Regulations

In 1996 the Canaries Government released regulations for the growing whale watching tourism. These regulations were revised in 2002. Following is the text of Annex I of the 2002 regulations, representing the Code of Conduct which is effective to date:

ANNEX I: Code of Conduct

A) Basic obligations:
- do not intercept the trajectory of the animals.
- do not separate or disperse the groups of animals being observed, especially when a mother and calf are involved
- avoid the simultaneous presence of more than 3 vessels at a distance less than 200 meters from a cetacean or group of cetaceans
- Maintain a distance of at least 60 meters from the animals except in situations of emergency or under express authorization
- Do not swim or dive deliberately in the proximity of the animals, without express permission
- Do not throw food or waste in the proximity of the animals

B) Methods of approach:
- When a vessel is within 300 meters of cetaceans it must move at a slow speed, not more rapidly that the slowest moving animal of the group.
- Approaches to cetaceans must be made gently, converging in the direction that the animals themselves are following.
- Approaches must never be made head on, always allowing for the movement of the cetaceans in any direction.
- During the observation a parallel trajectory to the animal, must always be attempted to be maintained.
- Avoid in all cases abrupt changes in direction or velocity.
- Put the motor on idle, at least one minute before turning it off if the vessels stops in order to observe cetaceans. The same is to be done if an animal approaches the vessel.
- Do not start the motor, or increase speed, if an animal is found within 60 meters of the boat.

C) Behaviour with Cetaceans:
Abandon the zone if any sign of alarm, change or stress such as abrupt changes in direction or speed, successive dives or exhaling air under water is shown by the animals.
Avoid noises that could bother the animals, as well as emitting sounds to attract them.
Advise authorities of your location in the case of an accidental injury to a cetacean. Do the same in the event of observing a dead floating cetacean.
If two or more vessels approach the same individual or groups, they must communicate amongst themselves in order to coordinate the approaches and manoeuvres in a way to minimise repercussions to the animals.

Source: CARLSON, C. (2004): A review of whale-watching regulations around the world – version 2004. Yarmouth Port.

On application