This year the focus of our Science trip was local wildlife and we went out to sea in order to look at dolphins. We later ascended a mountain by cable car to see a bird display featuring some very impressive birds of prey including griffin vultures, golden eagles and eagle owls, all of which can be found flying in the skies of Málaga province and throughout Spain.
These particular activities are weather-dependent and our first group of students (Year 7) enjoyed ideal conditions for going to sea and were fortunate enough to come across a large number of common dolphins and a couple of striped dolphins.
Our second outing with the Year 8 students took place in more blustery weather and conditions were a little “lumpy.” To everyone´s delight, the dolphins put in an appearance but the conditions proved to be too windy for the cable car and so we resorted to “Plan B” and visited the Botanical Gardens in Málaga for a guided tour.
The third and final outing with the Year 9 students took place under ideal conditions and the normal teleférico service to the mountaintop at Benalmádena resumed. Unfortunately, the dolphins that had been present in good numbers during our two previous outings were nowhere to be seen! The crew of the Alborán Explorer did everything they could to find them but it wasn´t to be. This was a shame but of course, the dolphins are wild animals and their behaviour is not going to be entirely predictable. Some consolation for the disappointed Year 9 students might come from the lyrics from one of Meatloaf´s songs: “Don´t be sad, cause two out of three ain´t bad!”
