Guests aboard Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ fleet made more than 4,400 wildlife sightings with the help of marine wildlife charity ORCA in 2022.

It came as part of ORCA’s Cruise Conservationist programme, hosted aboard the Fred. Olsen fleet.

The most frequent wildlife spotted was the common dolphin, sighted 296 times – with the total number of individual dolphins spotted being 1,996. Other sightings included humpback whales, orca, a blue whale and even the deepest diving animal known, the elusive Cuvier’s beaked whale, which can dive to depths of nearly 3,000m.

The ORCA Cruise Conservationist programme is a unique whale and dolphin monitoring project, which uses the data collected during these cruises to identify and monitor whale and dolphin populations around the world.

James Moss, Journey Experience Co-ordinator at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said:

“Spotting native wildlife is something that makes a holiday truly special, and we have a really unique opportunity as a cruise line to be able to offer guests the chance to have this experience directly from the deck as they sail between destinations.

“It has been a real privilege to work with ORCA this year, with their team of Ocean Conservationists helping our guests not only to spot marine mammals, but to learn more about the wildlife they spot and to play a part in capturing important data too.

“We’re looking forward to another successful year working together in 2023.”

Steve Jones, Director of Fundraising & Operations at ORCA, said:

“These sightings show the absolutely phenomenal range of habitats that our Ocean Conservationists can study aboard Fred. Olsen itineraries, monitoring areas that it would be otherwise impossible to reach.

“The data we’ve collected in 2022 will help give us important insights into the lives of these whales, dolphins and porpoises, and we can understand better than ever the protections they need to safeguard them for future generations.

“A huge thank you to everyone at Fred. Olsen for welcoming our teams on board, and also to the thousands of guests who lent us their eyes during our time at sea in 2022 – I’m sure we will see many of you in 2023 and beyond!”