Azores marine diversity

Today we have a big list of different types of marine life that we encountered. In both the morning and afternoon we went out on the ocean and had plenty to see. The cetaceans for the day were bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins. We had some wonderful encounters with them on both tours, never far from the coastline. The bottlenose dolphins were especially close today, staying near to Ponta Delgada throughout the day. Other species we spotted today were 2 loggerhead turtles in the afternoon, jellyfish, many seabirds including several great skuas and two northern gannets in the afternoon. On our way back along the coastline in the afternoon we also spotted our first Cory's shearwater of the year!

Photos from the morning:

Bottlenose dolphins outside Ponta Delgada marina

Photos from the afternoon:

A perfect ID photo. 

You can see the natural marking that allows us to tell one dolphin from another.

Common dolphin

This afternoon the common dolphins enjoyed bowriding with our catamaran

Aboard Cetus

Loggerhead turtle

Great skua

Northern gannet

Giveaway | Passatempo - Swimming with Dolphins experience!

Giveaway - En

We are getting closer to S. Valentines Day and to celebrate we are offering a Swimming with Dolphins experience for 2 adventurous people.

To participate you need to:

- Like our facebook page;

- share the giveaway on your wall (with the option “public” selected) OR follow this blog;

- Create a slogan of up to 15 words, including the following words:

Futurismo      |      Experience     |    Wild   |   Azores 

- send the slogan to the email: geral@futurismo.pt - by 13th February at 12 pm.

Conditions:

- 3 slogans per person/email is the limit;

- The phrase will be analysed and the winner announced on the 14th February at 15 pm (Azores time);

- The voucher has a lifelong validity;

- To enjoy the voucher we recommend to book first by email or by phone;

Good Luck!

Passatempo - Pt

Estamos a aproximar-nos do Dia dos Namorados, para celebrar estamos a oferecer uma experiência de Natação com Golfinhos para 2 pessoas.

Para participar:

- Fazer like na nossa página de facebook;

- Partilhar o passatempo no mural OU seguir o nosso blog;

- Criar um slogan com, até 15 palavras, incluindo as seguintes:

Futurismo      |      Experiência     |    Açores   |   Selvagem

- O email com o slogan deverá ser enviado até dia 13 de Fevereiro às 12h00 da tarde para: geral@futurismo.pt

Regulamento:

- 3 slogans por pessoa/email é o limite;

- A frase será analisada e o vencedor anunciado no dia 14 de Fevereiro às 15 horas (Hora dos Açores);

- O voucher tem uma validade vitalícia;

- Para usufruir da experiência, aconselhamos a marcar com antecedência, junto das nossas instalações, por telefone ou por email;

Boa sorte!

Surfing dolphins, turtle and a fish friend

Today we went out on a rough sea, but a sea that was full of common dolphins. We started with the first group just outside the marina and we continued with dolphins almost to the west point of the island. The surf was great in the swell both for the dolphins playing and jumping around but also for us to get a fun ride. Not so good for photos thou, so I'm sorry they are not so good today. The highlight for many of us today was a loggerhead turtle with a fish friend. Plus the ride back on the swell! Woohooo that was fun!

Common dolphin

The loggerhead turtle

Loggerhead turtle and the fish

The "fish-friend" is in the red circle, can you see it?

A mystery male

This morning we had an adventurous ride out on the ocean which turned out to be well worth it. Our lookout guided us to an area where we were lucky to encounter a very big male sperm whale. The encounter was just as we hoped: spending a few good minutes with the whale at the surface and then watching his huge tail slowly rising up as he went down on a deep dive. Despite the large size of this sperm whale his flukes (tail) were not well marked at all, so we could not match the individual to our fluke catalogue. He will remain a mystery male sperm whale.

Before this wonderful sperm whale encounter we also spent some time close inshore with two groups of dolphins. First was a group of bottlenose dolphins who were not so keen to spend time with us, so we left them to see a more playful group of common dolphins. 

A morning with dolphins

We had just left the marina and we already had a group of bottlenose dolphins around us. It was a large group but very spread out. They were bowriding and playful. Later on we met a group of common dolphins that were more hungry then curious and wanted nothing to do with us, so we left them alone. We had lots of common dolphins around the west coast so we could go to another group. This group was the opposite of the other ones: playful, curious and active. Slapping tails and mating. And we got to see their cute smiles and eyes as they checked us out.

Common dolphin

Our zodiac "João Vigia"

Our zodiac "Cafre"

Sperm whales return to São Miguel, Azores

This morning we encountered the first sperm whales of the year off the coast of São Miguel island in the Azores. Sperm whales are resident in the Azores, so we can see them here all seasons of the year. However, they have been elusive during recent tours, so today was the first time in a while that we encountered them.  Our vigias (coastal lookouts) did a great job of spotting the sperm whales out in deep water where they were going on deep dives to hunt squid. It took a bit of patient waiting before we had a glimpse of our first whale in the group, but after a while our clients and crew were surprised to see a sperm whale breaching twice out on the horizon. In this area we encountered two sperm whales who dived together and left a chunk of squid at the surface, great evidence that they had been feeding! After just a bit more waiting we encountered an adult female sperm whale who showed us a beautiful tail. It was difficult to match the tail to our catalogue because it had two large pieces removed from the fluke that were new and surrounded by tooth rakes (most likely from an orca/killer whale). However our dorsal photo showed that the whale is number 18 in our catalogue, a whale also known as "Stripes" because of the white stripes on the left of her dorsal fin. 

Just when we though that was it for our whale sightings we came across one more just when we were leaving the whale area. 

As well as the sperm whales we encountered a large group of bottlenose dolphins spread out across a very large area, and for the bird lovers we also managed to spot a great skua flying near our boat.

Our first sperm whale encounter with a whale called "Stripes"

Stripes in our catalogue - notice the absence of marks on the fluke and the white stripes on the dorsal

The last sperm whale of the morning

A chunk of squid that the sperm whales left at the surface

Bottlenose dolphins - not so easy to photograph today!

Great skua