Risso's and rainbows

Today is a day of rainbows in São Miguel, Azores. Throughout the day we have seen rainbows everywhere! Starting from early this morning when we were preparing our boats to go out to sea, continuing during our departure from Ponta Delgada and then all throughout our morning tour. Several times we saw double rainbows, some very bright and some even arching all the way down to the ocean right in front of us. And under these rainbows we found dolphins. We started with a small group of common dolphins, but they were not so interested in us. The real pot of gold under the rainbows today was a nice group of about 10-15 Risso's dolphins. These beautiful dolphins seemed to enjoy looking at us just as much as us at them and they even let us have a good look at some of the new young babies in their group. 

Rainbow over Ponta Delgada during our departure

One of our skippers and marine biologist Albert aboard Cetus, 

helping preparing the boat in the morning - rainbows!

Rainbow watching from aboard our catamaran "Cetus"

Risso's dolphins under a rainbow

Mother (white) and calf (dark) pair of Risso's dolphins

Surfing dolphins

Today the bottlenose dolphins were surfing like pros in the waves. It was a fun time for them playing around like the waves were nothing, while we were getting a little bit wet even aboard the big boat. One thing is certain - no one can surf like a dolphin. Sometimes it is an amazing thought that these mammals, so similar to us in many ways, can swim so elegantly and fast with minimum movement. We also encountered common dolphins but they were not very interested in us as they seemed more interested in food, but our swimmers swam with both species. 

Photos from today:

Back on the sea after bad weather and sperm whales

We are back on the sea after three days on land and the sperm whales were out there waiting for us. The sea was still a bit rough after the storm but good enough for a lovely tour with whales, common dolphins and loggerhead turtles. Due to the waves we didn't get any photos of the whales and the dolphins today, but at least a photo from our catamaran Cetus. We hope you all enjoyed the tours today, the crew sure did enjoy being back on the sea. Today also marks the final day that Vila Franca Islet is open to the public for this year's season. So this afternoon we had our final Full Day tour in which the whale watching experience is followed by a lunch in Vila Franca and then snorkeling inside the crater lagoon of the islet. Our last day on the islet is a sign that winter is slowly arriving, but we are hoping to enjoy a great autumn first.

Vila Franca Islet

Snorkeling inside the crater lagoon of Vila Franca islet

Goldlines in the islet

Whales and salt

This morning the sperm whales were around, not to far away but in a rough sea making it difficult to watch them, but we had at least 3 on the surface and one of them breaching. Our swimming boat started with common dolphins but as the sea was rough so they switched to whale watching and came and saw the sperm whales with our other boats. On our way back we encountered a loggerhead turtle and a small group of common dolphins having the time of their lives in the waves, surfacing and playing. We had to cancel the afternoon tour due to the wind and rain. 

Photos from today:

Sperm whale logging at the surface

Common dolphin

Loggerhead turtle

Dolphins, turtles and tuna

Today we had whale watching, Full Day and swimming with dolphins in the morning. We were facing some rain in the morning but the day turned nicer out on the sea with both common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. Our swimmers were lucky to swim with both common dolphins and tuna, and the whale watchers spend the second part of the tour with a large group of bottlenose dolphins surfing the waves like pro-surfers. Well, they are! Even a new born baby was surfing just as well as the adults. And we got to see a loggerhead turtle on the way back.

Photos from today:

Watching bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins - notice the paler juvenile surfacing high out of the water

Photographing bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphin

Enjoying the view from our catamaran

Getting wet is part of the adventure

Today in the morning our three boats left Ponta Delgada under the rain. We found a good group of common dolphins right away and we all could enjoy their company, despite the wind and the waves. Then we left the area looking for another species and suddenly we were driving in the middle of the rain. We had to go towards the eastern part of the island where we found a group of another one of our resident species, the bottlenose dolphin, which looked like they were actually doing human watching. We all got wet but we all enjoyed the company of our dolphins.

 Common dolphin approaching

 Common dolphin

Common dolphins surfacing

 Bottlenose dophin on the eastern part of the island

 Our boat Song of Whales ready to go to the Vilafranca islet

 Our clients aboard our catamaran Cetus  

Our clients aboard our catamaran Cetus

 The nice eastern part of the island

A newborn baby whale

Today was a day of many sperm whales. In both the morning and afternoon we enjoyed the company of these whales that are resident to the Azores. The group was made up of at least 9 individuals - 8 adult females (some of which were very large) and a very small newborn baby whale. We first spotted the whale when we were near an adult whale that was going on a shallow dive. We were surprised by this baby whale as it suddenly surfaced next to our catamaran. We gave it some space since it was alone at the surface and after a while the adults of the group came up to the surface so the baby whale was not alone anymore. It looked to be newborn, only about 4 m long and with the dorsal fin still a bit folded over from being inside the womb. Today we also encountered two of our resident dolphin species: common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins.

Photos from today:

4 adult sperm whales at the surface together

More sperm whales join the group - all socialising at the surface

Spot the tiny head of the baby sperm whale between the adults

Sperm whale calf surfacing next to an adult female

Swimming with dolphins leaving early

Two bottlenose dolphins checking out who is going to swim with them

Swimming with bottlenose dolphins

Ready to swim with bottlenose dolphins

Breaching sperm whales and lots of dolphins

Today we had a nice group of sperm whales spyhopping, playing around the boats and most amazing: we got to see some breachings! Our whale watchers got an amazing time with the whales, bottlenose dolphins and spotted dolphins. Our morning swimming boats swam with a group of 40 bottlenose dolphins and the swimmers came out of the water time after time after seeing 20-30 dolphins a few meter away. We also got to enjoy common dolphin company on the way out and the way back. We also had a group for Full Day that are on their way back right now from Vila Franca do Campo after a day of whales, snorkeling and sunshine.

Photo from today:

Curious sperm whale paying us a visit

Our swimming boat leaving in the morning

Swimming with bottlenose dolphins

Sunset