Azores whale watching Futurismo

Monday, June 22, 2015

Fin, sei, sperm whales and dolphins

Today in the morning we started going towards an area of sperm whales (the family of Elsemiek and Peregrine) where there also was a fin whales but from our catamaran we found a sei whale so we stopped and watched it before going to the sperm whales. So our zodiac had an encounter with a fin whale, plus the sperm whales, while the catamaran saw a sei whale plus sperm whales, and we ended the tour with common dolphins. In the afternoon we searched a long time for the sperm whales but unfortunately we never found them. Instead we watched a group of bottlenose dolphins playing around and giving us an amazing show with high jumps and tailslapping.

Photos from the morning:

Sei whale

Lobtailing sperm whale, this individual is called "Peregrine"

You might have seen one of the whales with some white markings on its back - its this one!

Three sperm whales logging (the one with white marks is Peregrine)

Curious sperm whale

Sperm whale looking at our zodiac

Photos from the afternoon:

Tailslapping bottlenose dolphin

This time "belly up"

One landing and one jumping

Sunday, June 21, 2015

A day with 3 of our residents

Today we had some wonderful encounters with 3 of our resident species: sperm whales, bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins. Each encounter was nice in its own way, in both the morning and the afternoon. We were blessed to be surrounded by many baby dolphins, especially in the groups of common dolphins that had some tiny wrinkly newborns swimming around them. Some clients aboard our zodiac also got to see a baby sperm whale among the familiar sperm whale group that we had in the area today. As well as this baby there were several adults in the group that we got to encounter in the morning and afternoon. One that we encountered on both tours was an individual with a white mark on its back that looks like a paint spill. By analysing our photos later we will be able to determine exactly who we encountered today, as we can recognise the individuals by these unique marks that they have on their bodies and tails.

Photos from this morning:

Watching bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins - mother and calf

One of our resident sperm whales "Elsemiek" going on a deep dive

A sperm whale with a distinctly marked back

Common tern

Photos from the afternoon:

The white-backed sperm whale from the morning resighted

Sperm whales logging

Sperm whale tail tip

Common dolphins

Watching common dolphins from the catamaran

A raft of Cory's shearwaters seen in the area of the common dolphins

Baby bottlenose dolphin peaking out from behind its mother

Bottlenose dolphin lobtailing

The final show of the day - leaping bottlenose dolphins!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Socialising sperm whales and 4 other cetacean species

Today we encountered a grand total of 5 different cetacean species:

In the morning we encountered our resident bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins. We saw many baby dolphins, as we have been almost every day during the past weeks. All our passengers were delighted to observe the playful dolphins darting around our boats, especially in front of our catamaran. We also encountered a group of pilot whales in the morning. This is a migratory species that we see on and off during the spring to early summer. It was really nice to see some really big males in this group.

In the afternoon we started off with an encounter with common dolphins again. We enjoyed their company for a bit, again with some tiny babies in the group. After we set out further offshore in search of something else. We came across an active group of striped dolphins leaping out of the water, although we didn't spend much time with them because almost as soon as we arrived our lookout spotted the blows of some sperm whales nearby. There were at least 5 sperm whales in a relatively small area. We had a really beautiful encounter with 4 of them together at the surface. The 4 adult females were socialising, rolling around at the surface and always in close body contact with each other. Several times we got to see their heads, including their lower jaws, their tails and pectoral fins. A few times they also passed close between our boats, not seeming to mind our presence as they continued their socialising right next to us.

To see a short video of the socialising sperm whales from the afternoon tour click HERE.

Photos from the morning: