Today started out really good. The clouds disappeared when we left the marina and we soon spotted our first dolphins. They were common dolphins. Not much later we found our first whale. It was a fin whale, the second largest animal in the world! At first we could only spot one fin whale, but as it turned out, there were two of them. We saw them surfacing a couple of times before we headed out to the next whale. In the distance we could see a lot of splashing. It turned out to be a breaching sperm whale! Unfortunately when we came closer, the whale dove a couple of times. Later on we could see that she was teaming up with two other sperm whales. So we saw three sperm whales in total!
When we headed back in the direction of the marina our skipper noticed something surfacing. They were beaked whales. It was hard to tell what species it was, so we took photo´s and we will sent those photo´s to a specialist. She might tell us what the exact species is.
Beaked whales are quite rare to see here in the Azores, as they spent little time at the surface (only 8% of their time). Also they tend to be very shy.
We ended the morning tour with a great show from the bottlenose dolphins.
In the afternoon we encountered fewer species, but the tour was just as great. Once again fin whales dominated the tour. We started with two individuals not far from Ponta Delgada. Just a bit further out we encountered another 3-4 fin whales together with bottlenose dolphins. The bottlenose dolphins were playfully leaping around the whales until they had enough of this game. We followed the fin whales for a while until we ended up with the first whale nearer to Ponta Delgada. We ended the tour with yet another fin whale before enjoying a nice coastal trip back to the marina.
In the afternoon we encountered fewer species, but the tour was just as great. Once again fin whales dominated the tour. We started with two individuals not far from Ponta Delgada. Just a bit further out we encountered another 3-4 fin whales together with bottlenose dolphins. The bottlenose dolphins were playfully leaping around the whales until they had enough of this game. We followed the fin whales for a while until we ended up with the first whale nearer to Ponta Delgada. We ended the tour with yet another fin whale before enjoying a nice coastal trip back to the marina.
Photos from the morning:
Fin whale
Fin whale
Fin whale making a rainbow blow
Common dolphin surfacing
Common dolphin in front of our boat
Fin whale before diving
4 sperm whales
Young sperm whale
Beaked whale sp.
Bottlenose dolphins
Our catamaran Cetus
Photos from the afternoon:
4 comments:
Do you accept interns during the summer months?
Hi Marry Anne,
Sometimes we have space for an extra one or two, but at the moment we are full because we already have a couple of extras.
Hi there :)
So there's new biologists on board?
Yes, we have a couple of new biologists at the moment.
Post a Comment