One of each

We had some different sightings today on our two boats that left the marina. Our zodiac encountered sperm whales, common dolphins and fin whales. From our catamaran, we passed the common dolphins to get to the sperm whales, which showed us their majestic flukes, and after them we left to see the fin whales but we ended up with lots of sei whales, we had three closer to us but there were more blows around. One of the sei whales decided to bowride Cetus! And just outside the marina we ended up bottlenose dolphins. So we all got to see a dolphin species, a species of baleen whale and the largets toothed predator in the world: the sperm whale. In the afternoon one zodiac left to swim with wild and free dolphins.

Sperm whale diving

Sperm whale

Sei whale

Sei whale

Sei whale

Bottlenose dolphin jumping

Six species today

Species list of today: fin whales, sperm whales, Trues beaked whales, bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins and striped dolphins. Plus loggerhead turtles, Portuguese man-o-wars, mauve stingers, Cory's shearwaters, common terns and yellowlegged gulls. 

In the morning we started with fin whales and later on lots of striped dolphins, but we ended up with sperm whales. We got flukes and blows everywhere. And on the way back we had a mixed group of common and bottlenose dolphins. In the afternoon we resighted the fin whales. They were calm, swimming close to us and one of them showed us what whale poop looks like (see photo). After the whales we sighted our friends Egípcio and Submarino, two bottlenose dolphins belonging to a large groups of about 80-90 dolphins. Later on we had a rare encounter with a female beaked whale with her baby. So amazing. And we had common dolphins all around. What a day!

Photos from the morning:

Fin whale diving

Fin whale poo

Striped dolphins (oh, they had so many new borns)

One of many sperm whale flukes today

Female and calf

Photos from the afternoon:

Fin whale

Two fin whales

Fin whale

Bottlenose dolphin

Submarino

Egípcio

True's beaked whales - mother and baby

True's beaked whales - mother and baby

Blue whales and baby fin whales

Today we had another great day with the giants of the blue. In the morning we started with common dolphins everywhere, but we didn't stop until we reached a mother and baby fin whale. The calf was very young and of course like all babies: extremely cute! We didn't want to put pressure on this young one so we left for a group of dolphins but we didn't get to far because a juvenile fin whale playing around our catamaran. After this we spent time with both common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. In the afternoon we started with five blue whales, first three and later on two more that started rolling around in the water and play around. And we ended the tour once again with common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins.

Photos from the morning:

Mother and baby fin whale

Baby and mother

The mother surfacing

Bottlenose dolphin

Common dolphin

Photos from the afternoon:

Blue whale

Blue whale

Blue whale

Watching one out of five blue whales

Blue whale blow

Blue whale almost fluking

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins around our zodiac

A day with the great whales

Today we spent the day with some of the great whale species. We encountered sei whales, sperm whales and fin whales in the morning, and again fin whales and sperm whales in the afternoon. The sea was calm, and so was the behaviour of the whales so that we could have some really magical experiences with these gentle giants. We are right in the middle of the baleen whale season now, so we feel really blessed to be able to spend some time in the presence of these whales as they migrate through Azorean waters. The sperm whales who are resident here were also great to see, especially since we have not encountered them for a while. As they usually do the sperm whales showed us their tails as they started their deep feeding dives, giving us the opportunity to photograph their tails for our photo-ID research. As well as whales we also had some nice encounters with bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins. The bottlenose dolphins put on a great show with their very high jumps around our boats, both in the morning and the afternoon. These are the best kind of days of whale and dolphin watching in the Azores.

Photos from the morning:

Sei whale

Sei whale

Sei whale

Sperm whale

Sperm whales male fluking - we saw the same individual both in the morning and afternoon

A curious bottlenose dolphin leaping to our catamaran

Loggerhead turtle that didn't quite want to surface

Photos from the afternoon:

Fin whale surfacing

Fin whale fin

Sperm whale fluke - the same individual we saw in the morning

Bottlenose dolphin jumping right next to our zodiac

Watching bottlenose dolphins from aboard our catamaran