Another day with 5 whale and dolphin species

The sunshine from yesterday might have been absent today, but the ocean was just as calm and full of whales and dolphins. Again we encountered 5 different species throughout the day. In the morning we encountered a group of 5 or 6 sei whales travelling together, very calm and often close to the surface so that we could easily track them. A bit further out we encountered a nice group of about 60 pilot whales that were in the same area as a small group of bottlenose dolphins. Close to shore we had a larger and more familiar group of bottlenose dolphins that includes a well-known individual with a broken top jaw. Some of our whale watcheres also had the chance to encounter some common dolphins in the morning. 

In the afternoon we had bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins for some again. This time we also encoutnered two different whale species. First we had a very curious sei whale that was travelling out to the western tip of São Miguel Island. Not long after we encountered 3 or 4 fin whales that were travelling just as calmly as the sei whale. We also spotted many loggerhead turtles in the calm water and also some Portuguese man-o-war out to the west of the island. 

Photos from the morning:

 Sei whale watching

Pilot whale closeup

A group of pilot whales

Pilot whale calf surfacing high next to its mother

The bottlenose dolphin with the broken jaw

Bottlenose dolphins

Photos from the afternoon: 

Sei whale

Sei whale

Fin whale

Fin whale

A summer's day on the ocean

Today it felt just like summer in the Azores, with a clear blue sky and bright blue crystal clear water full of marine life. In the morning we encountered our three resident dolphin species: common dolphins, Risso's dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. The Risso's dolphins were particularly nice to see because we haven't seen them around lately, despite them being resident in the Azores. There were some very small Risso's dolphins in the group that were often jumping out of the water playfully. We could see from the vertical lines (fetal folds) on these calves that they were newborns no more than a few weeks old. The bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins were also great to see, gliding under the waves through the clear blue water for us all to see. We also encountered a few loggerhead turtles during our morning tour.

In the afternoon we had five different species, we started with the bottlenose dolphins, and later on 3 sei whales. They were travelling slowly west, but stayed close to us. When we slowed down, they slowed down. When w sped up a little bit to keep up with with them they went with us. Like previous encounters with sei whales this month - they acted wonderfully around our boats. After the whales we headed of towards Risso's dolphins, the same group as in the morning with the playful newborns. And last, but not least, we ended up with a mixed group of pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins. Oh, not to forget, we squeezed in a final species: common dolphins feeding with Cory's shearwaters. 

Photos from the morning: 

Eye contact with a common dolphin

Cory's shearwater. We saw a large group of them feeding with some common dolphins

Adult Risso's dolphin jumping

Risso's dolphin newborn calf jumping (notice the blue eye)

Adult and calf Risso's dolphins surfacing together

A well-marked adult Risso's dolphin

Watching Risso's dolphins

Bottlenose dolphin gliding through the perfect water

Our catamaran "Cetus" with bottlenose dolphins

The return to Ponta Delgada aboard our boat "Song of Whales"

Photos from the morning (from our catamaran Cetus):

Watching common dolphins

Common dolphin jumping

Common dolphins

Common dolphin 

Watching a loggerhead turtle and dolphins further away

Song of Whales and bottlenose dolphins

A dolphin looking at our clients in the bow of Cetus

Watching a dolphin while our biologist Sara explains about them

Photos from the afternoon:

Sei whale

Sei whale

Pilot whales

Pilot whale

Bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphin

Risso's dolphin

Risso's dolphins

Risso's dolphin smile

Risso's dolphin baby and mother

Pilot whale baby and mother

Watching bottlenose dolphins

A day of whale watching in São Miguel

Today in the morning we had an amazing tour aboard our zodiac. We started with sei whales, the third largest animal in the world. At first, we found one, but a few minutes later more and more whales surfaced. In the end, they were about 4 whales in the area. They are one of the fastest whales and today they demostrated their speed by swimming really fast off the coastline of Lagoa. After a while, we left them and continued our trip towards the dolphins. The beautiful common dolphins were close to the shore, off Galera, jumping and bowriding next to us with many babies in the group. During that time we could also encounter a loggerhead turttle in the middle of the dolphin pod, very cute and relaxed. We can find these dolphins and whales really close to the shore because off these volcanic islands the continental shelf is very narrow so we have very deep waters close to shore.

In the afternoon we were just as lucky as in the morning. This time we encountered fin whales, the second largest animal in the world. We ended up seeing 3 adults, all of them very large and often curious like giant dolphins. On there last surfacing that we were with them all 3 of them suddenly turned towards us and passed close in front of our bow. Even when they were underwater it was nice to see them, as we could clearly see the light colour of their bottom jaw through the water. The dolphins we encountered in the afternoon were bottlenose dolphins. We encountered a nice group of at least 20 individuals very close to shore not far from Ponta Delgada. We got to see some really nice jumps and synchronised surfacing from these dolphins, putting a nice end to our day.

Photos from this afternoon: