Dolphin watching in a choppy ocean

Today the ocean was a bit choppy, but nevertheless we had some great dolphin encounters. In total we watched 3 different species throughout the morning:  common dolphin, bottlenose dolphin and Atlantic spotted dolphin, all of them close to shore. The waves just make watching dolphins all the more fun as they love to leap out of the waves! Aboard our catamaran we also passed by the beautiful islet of Vila Franca. During the morning the conditions picked up, so we couldn't return to the ocean in the afternoon, so were were lucky to get out in the morning.

Photos from this morning:

Juvenile gull hovering over a bottlenose dolphin, looking for food scraps

Bottlenose dolphins

Two of our boats

Watching bottlenose dolphins

Watching Atlantic spotted dolphins

Our catamaran approaching Vila Franca Islet

Watching Vila Franca Islet

Watching and swimming with wild dolphins

Today was another beautiful summer's day in São Miguel, Azores, and we had some beautiful dolphin sightings to make the day even better. In the morning we had some encounters with Atlantic spotted dolphin, common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. Our swimmers this morning had a great swimming experience with the bottlenose dolphins. Our catamaran also had an extra adventure at the end of the morning. Just before heading back to the marina we received a call from a fishing boat that had a net stuck in its propeller and needed to be towed back to the marina. Luckily they were very close to the marina already, but this problem reminded us of the big problem that abandoned fishing nets (referred to as ghost nets) cause in the oceans, for marine life and boats alike.

In the afternoon we re-encountered  common dolphins, this time together with striped dolphins, as well as bottlenose dolphins. Our encounter with the bottlenose dolphins was particularly memorable as the group was very close to shore with a nice behaviour for observation (we got to see some fantastic high jumps) and we also observed some very small babies in the group. Once again we were reminded of ocean conservation issues as we noticed one of the bottlenose dolphins had a plastic bag on its fin. Lucky the bag was not stuck, but it is still sad to see this and to know that every day plastic pollution does kill dolphins, whales, turtles and seabirds. Right at the end of the day on a third tour of swimming some Atlantic spotted dolphins were also encountered.

Photos from the morning:

One of our zodiac boats with bottlenose dolphins

Another one of our boats "Song of Whales"

Swimming with bottlenose dolphins

Our catamaran "Cetus"

A beautiful view of Ponta Delgada with Sete Cidades volcanic complex in the background

Photos from the afternoon:

Common dolphins

Striped dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins close to São Miguel Island

Dolphin with plastic on its dorasal fin

Bottlenose dolphin leaping

Spot the baby bottlenose dolphin

Playful bottlenose dolphins

Enjoying our catamaran "Cetus"

A perfect summers day

Dolphins and a turtle in rain

Today was a dolphin day. Both whale watchers and Full Day whale watchers left the marina this morning to go out on a sea that was a little bit rough. But we encounter large and playful groups of both common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. With the bottlenose dolphin we got to see some tailslapping and mating behaviour and a few smaller full body jumps. The group of common dolphins was majority made out of new born babies jumping high and crazy out of the water. It was a really good show. And one of our boats also got to see a loggerhead turtle. So it was a really good morning despite some rain and a grey sky.

Photos from the morning:

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphins

Common dolphins - everybody that was aboard our catamaran Cetus today got to enjoy high-jumping new born dolphins just like this one here

Watching bottlenose dolphin bowride

Northern bottlenose whales to the east!

Today we have enjoyed the company of some Azorean dolphins again. In the morning we all encountered common dolphins and a small group of Atlantic spotted dolphins. Some of us also encountered the larger bottlenose dolphins. This time of the year many people are enjoying swimming with dolphins also and we had two boats out there doing this in the morning and another 3 in the afternoon. During the afternoon the catamaran also returned to sea and encountered a group of about 10 northern bottlenose whales. It is the first time this year that we encountered this rare species here in São Miguel, so it was a lucky sighting. Our vigia had already spotted them several times over the course of the past week, but they were always too far away for us to reach them. This afternoon they were still a bit far, right at the eastern end of the island, but still we made it! We saw them really well on the surface for a few minutes before they went on a dive of 28 minutes and then came up again about 2 miles from where they dived! Beaked whales, like these northern bottlenose whales, are almost always very difficult to watch because of their shy and elusive nature and the very small amount of time they spend at the surface. We consider ourselves to be very lucky this afternoon!

Photos from the today:

Our swimming boat with common dolphins

Watching dolphins from the catamaran

Common dolphins accompanying our catamaran

Passing Vila Franca Islet aboard our catamaran

Northern bottlenose whales

Magnificent dolphin day

Today is another magnificent summer's day in São Miguel Island and we have made the most the nice weather again by enjoying the ocean and wildlife within it. In the morning we encountered a nice group of common dolphins near Ponta Delgada. As almost always they were very interested in our boats and came right to us to bowride and check us out. We also encountered a friendly group of bottlenose dolphins just a bit further out. Our swimmers had some nice underwater encounters with these bottlenose dolphins while the rest of us enjoyed the group of about 30 from above water. In the afternoon we resighted common dolphins and a wonderfully playful group of bottlenose dolphins and on our way back we enjoyed the beautiful coastline were we can see traces of the volcanic activity.

Photo from today:

A wild and free bottlenose dolphin jumping by its own will - the only way we should see these animals

 Baby dolphin