Beautiful dolphins

This morning we had a pleasant trip out on the ocean. Although we still had some swell from recent strong winds, we had a fun ride over the rolling waves and the sun was out to warm our faces. Throughout the morning we encountered several groups of common dolphins spread along the south coast of São Miguel island. The largest group was made up of about 30 dolphins, including some juveniles. As they often are these dolphins were very curious and playful around our boat. At one point they were also feeding on a school of fish beneath the surface. One of our crew members also spotted a loggerhead turtle and as usual there were also many seabirds (including great skuas that migrate to the Azores for the winter) out there for us to see. All in all we got to see a lot out there on this lovely winter's day.

Leaping common dolphins

Great skua (a winter sighting)

Yellow legged gull (a common sighting in the Azores)

An early Christmas surprise: Fin whales!

This morning our whale watching clients got an early Christmas present - Fin whales!

Our coastal lookout spotted the blows of at least 10 whales out there and we were lucky to spend our time with a mother and juvenile pair not too far from Ponta Delgada. It was a wonderful surprise to be able to spend the first part of the morning with the second largest animal in the word. They have returned to our waters recently after spending the summer months feeding up in the cooler waters of the north Atlantic. Now in the winter time is when they give birth and raise their young to be big and strong for the next big migration to the Arctic. After our fin whale encounter we went closer to shore where we encountered a nice group of around 20-30 common dolphins. As they almost always are, these dolphins were very curious and seemed to enjoy swimming around the front of our boat. 

As a final note, the Futurismo team wishes you all a Merry Christmas.

The morning light made for some really beautiful blows from the fin whales

Fin whale juvenile surfacing next to its mother

Adult and juvenile fin whales side by side

Common dolphin

Watching the common dolphins bowriding

A beautiful day in São Miguel island - it looks just like summer!

Great skua - a winter bird sighting

Bottlenose dolphins

Today was a bottlenose dolphin day. We always enjoy the company of bottlenose dolphins, especially the group we had today. We encountered a group of about 30 dolphins, including some smaller juveniles. We got to see some cool behaviours including what looked to be feeding at the surface, some high jumps and bowriding right in front of our boat. Although we didn't see any other species this morning we sure did enjoy the playful bottlenose dolphins

Winter whale watching in the Azores

The Azores is one of the few places in the world where you can go whale and dolphin watching year-round. Even in the winter we have several species that we can see here, and just like other times of the year we never really know what to expect from a tour. The crew were expecting to see some fin whales that our lookout had spotted out on the horizon off the coast of Ponta Delgada. However on our way out there we came across a group of pilot whales and in the meantime the fin whales disappeared in the distant rain. The pilot whales were a nice surprise though, especially since we haven't seen them as often as usual this year. The pilot whales were diving, probably to feed, so after a while we left them and spent the second part of the morning with two of our resident dolphin species. We started with some bottlenose dolphins with the idea of going to the common dolphins after. However, the common dolphins came to us, so we had the lovely experience of seeing the two species interacting together. 

Pilot whales

Bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphin (background) and common dolphin (foreground) together

Fun time on the sea

A wonderful morning with both bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins. The sea was like a silver mirror, and the dolphins calm and curious. We started with large group of bottlenose dolphin, maybe about 50 dolphins spread out in the area, and our swimmers had a great time in the water with them. The whale watchers left the bottlenose dolphin to search for other species and we encountered two groups of common dolphins, one with lots of small babies and another more in the mood of making babies. It was a group of juveniles and young adults "having fun". We ended our tour with a look at Vila Franca Islet and we followed the coastline on the way back.

Bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphin

Common dolphins

A common dolphin in silver sea

Aboard the whale watching zodiac

Aboard the whale watching zodiac

Aboard the whale watching zodiac

Our swimming boat

Baby bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins, a species that knows how to make humans smile, that knows how to gracefully make the day a good day. We encountered a group of about 15-20 dolphins with some very young babies, no more then a month old, that curiously investigated our boat (and us). As they had babies around they were a little bit more shy and protective but still showing of their creations (the babies) to us. Lovely!

Who is watching who?

Bottlenose dolphins, mother with calf