Tracking a fin whale

This afternoon we went out on our catamaran to see what we could find out in the big blue. Not far from our base in Ponta Delgada our lookout had seen some blows from a baleen whale. At this time of the year we have several baleen whale species migrating past (mostly fin whales, sei whales and blue whales), so we were curious to see which species it was. It wasn't easy work...in the begining we only had distant blows, and based on the behaviour we guessed we might be dealing with a sei whale. We tried for a while to see this whale but eventually we had to give up. We tried to search for something else in another area and luckily it didn't take long for one of our biologists to spot a blow not far from our boat. This whale turned out to be easier to track, as it was coming up to the surface for a few blows each time. It was a fin whale, the second largest animal in the world! We tracked the whale for a while, trying to predict where it was going to surface next (something which is not always easy). A couple of times the whale surfaced near our boat so our patience paid off. What an adventure!

Fin whales come and go

Fin whales are still around São Miguel island, always surprising us by appearing and dissapearing. Sometimes our lookouts see them, other times not. In the morning we were lucky to encounter them from our whale watching boat. We ended up seeing two fin adult fin whales. They surprised us a few times by surfacing next to our boat, just when we thought they were diving deep. In the afternoon we did not find the fin whales again, but we did see common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins in both the morning and afternoon. At the end of the afternoon we also passed Vila Franca islet to see some of the coastal marine life, such as the seabirds that are nesting there.

One of the fin whales from the morning

Bottlenose dolphins (mating)

I know there is a girl in this photo - that looooves dolphins - this is for you, mermaid!

This photo is to you who are in this photo - just because you look so cool with the dolphin

Common dolphin

Azorean buzzard

The sei whales are here

We started the year with fin whales and humpback whales (starting the Baleen whale season) and then we haven't seen them for a while but today the sei whales arrived and sure surprised us. In the morning our lookout saw the blow from a whale but it disappeared. In the afternoon, the whale was still no where to be found. So like in the morning we saw three species of dolphins: bottlenose, common and striped. But on the way back our captain saw the footprints on the surface and there was the whale and not just any whale - the third largest animal in the world. And while saying bye bye to the sei whale we enjoyed the company of a loggerhead turtle.

Photos from the morning:

Bottlenose dolphin

Common dolphins approaching our zodiac Cafre

Common dolphin

Common dolphin

Striped dolphins

Striped dolphins

Photos from the afternoon:

Looking cool!

Watching common dolphins from Song of Whales

Striped dolphins

Striped dolphins

Striped dolphins

 The sei whale

Solar eclipse and dolphins

Today in the morning we could see the solar eclipse, at the time that we were boarding our catamaran we could still see a part of it. Out on the sea we had a great time with bottlenose dolphins that were feeding down in the deep. Where we were with the dolphins it was 60 m deep (bottlenose dolphins can dive to 500 m) and we could see fish under us and the dolphins feeding. A few hundred meters further offshore we had the common dolphins. And we ended our tour having a closer look at Vila Franca Islet.

Solar eclipse

Bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphin

Three playful species

Today we had a morning of jumping bottlenose dolphins and further out a group of striped dolphins, acting like typical stripies - leaping and jumping, swimming fast and changing direction all the time. Its so much fun to see them but hard to keep up with them as they can reach a speed of 40 km/h.

In the afternoon we resighted the bottlenose dolphins - two different groups, one including Bubblemaker. And we ended the tour with common dolphins.

Photos from the morning:

Two bottlenose dolphins showing wild perfection

Bottlenose dolphins

Striped dolphins

Photos from the afternoon:

Bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphin