Making sure there will be more dolphins next year

What do we mean with that title? The common dolphins of today were working for the future, making baby dolphins that will be born next year. Our friend Hector was also taking part of this. Hector is a common dolphin with a dorsal fin that reminds us of a Hector's dolphin and therefore he or she got the name Hector (see photo). We also got to see some fish-chasing were the dolphins and leaping out of the water chasing the fish. What a great show!

Common dolphins

Common dolphin

Fish chasing common dolphins

Dolphins saying Hello to the children in the front

Hector - the common dolphin

Mating ongoing

Watching Vila Franca Islet

Waves and dolphins

Today we enjoyed a roller-coaster ride on the Atlantic Ocean watching both bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins. The dolphins were not very interested in us as the waves were more fun for them, surfing back and forth and playing around. Wonderful to watch but hard to take good photos. To make a great ending of the tour we stopped at Vila Franca Islet to enjoy its beauty.

Bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphins

Common dolphins

Common dolphin

Common dolphin

Common dolphin

Watching Vila Franca Islet

A great sunny day with our friends dolphins!

Today we started the morning with our already friends bottlenose dolphins and commondolphin. They are really beautiful and curious. We also saw some loggerhead turtles. In the afternoon we saw the bottlenose dolphin, but our friends common dolphin were timid and didn’t appear. Instead, our dear loggerhead turtles appear in larger numbers (total this afternoon: 12 turtles). We also saw a large number off Cory’s shearwater and a Northern gannet. It was a great day in the company of a fantastic sun.

Photos from the morning:

Common dolphin

Watching bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Photos from the afternoon:

Watching bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins

Loggerhead turtle

Adventure!

Today we had an ocean adventure with common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and a loggerhead turtle. We started by cruising by the oilplatform that is outside the marina to get a look and take some photos before we sped up to get to the bottlenose dolphins. At first it felt like we were just watching water as all the dolphins dived. We waited, and *poff* all of a sudden they are all on the surface and everywhere. Left, right, back, front - barely knowing where to look. We spend some great time with them before heading towards the common dolphins, but the group was spread out and we had very little time with them as they preferred to surf the waves then to spend time with us. So, we cruised to Vila Franca Islet to enjoy its beauty and the coastline on the way back. We sure had an adventures and wet ride back!

The oilplatform

Two Tursiops truncatus and two Homo sapiens

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphin

Watching Vila Franca Islet

Watching Vila Franca Islet

Feeling blue

Today we started with lovely bottlenose dolphins and Bubbelmaker was out there blowing bubbles as always. This dolphins is such a cutie and always making us smile and laugh. We then got the news that our lookout had seen the blow from a whale. We went to the area and as one of our crew members saw the blow we knew we had arrived to the right are. We waited and waited, but nothing came to the surface. According to our lookout it seemed to be a blue whale, if not a fin whale. We all felt a bit sad (or blue) when we had to leave the area after one hour of waiting without seeing the whale, but it is something we cannot control. We did have a great day on the sea despite the lack of the whale.

Bottlenose dolphins

Familiar fins

This morning we encountered some two different groups of bottlenose dolphins. Among the groups the crew spotted several familiar fins. We can recognise the different individuals from the natural marks they have on their dorsal fins. Just like our fingerprints each dolphin has unique markings on its dorsal fin (seen below in some of today's photos). By routinely photographing and and keeping catalogs of the bottlenose dolphins, and other species we see here in the Azores, we have been able to learn more about them over the years. Todays dolphins were ones that we have been seeing for many years, so we have got to know them quite well. Although they were in two different groups this morning they are in fact individuals that we often see together in a single larger group. It seems that today they spread out a bit to search for food. Between their feeding dives they were also curious towards our catamaran and the people aboard so we could see them really well right in front and next to our boat.