Whales dominate

Today was another fantastic day out on the ocean and it was bright and warm and sunny. We have a very long list of species we encountered throughout the day. During both tour whales were the highlight of the tour, rather than dolphins. We did encounter dolphins during both the morning and afternoon (Atlantic spotted dolphins, common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins) as well as pilot whales just in the morning, which is technically considered a dolphin species. We saw some very small baby dolphins in this pilot whale group and they were very curious so that we got to see them very well. Getting back to the whales, today we had a familiar sperm whale group off the east of São Miguel Island. We encountered a familiar whale with a white patch on its back who we call Peregrine. We have been following this whale since 2010 when it was a small calf and we have now noticed how large this whale has become. Another familiar whale that we always see together is Elsemiek, a large female that was named by one of our former clients. To complete our species list, among the different boats we encountered a leatherback turtle in the morning, loggerehead turtles and flying fish throughout the day, yellowfin tuna in the afternoon and plenty of seabirds including Cory's shearwaters, great shearwaters, manx shearwaters and a bulwer's petrel. 

Photos from the morning:

Pilot whales - see the tiny calf surfacing high

Pilot whale rolling on its side

Socialising pilot whales - you can see the head of one individual and the tail of another

Big male pilot whale

Watching 3 sperm whales at the surface

One of the three sperm whales diving

Leatherback turtle

Bulwer's petrel

Photos from the afternoon:

The first sperm whale of the afternoon

Sperm whales at the surface - the one in the foreground with the white mark is Peregrine

Common dolphin

Watching common dolphins from our catamaran

Atlantic spotted dolphin

Whale tails

Today was a day full of sperm whale tails, especially in the afternoon when we saw a whole series of them, one whale after the other. We were lucky that for the second day in the row our catamaran captain found the sperm whales for all of us despite the poor visibility over the island that made this job difficult for our coastal based lookouts. The catamaran team spent the morning with an adult and juvenile pair who were up at the surface for a while before the adult dived and showed her tail. Our zodiac boat clients had a very lucky close up encounter with a very curious sperm whale that came very close to their boat. The boat remained still as the whale lingered around and one of our clients was able to get an amazing underwater video of this whale, check out this amazing footage, in which you can also here the ecolocation clicks made by the whale, by clicking HERE. 

In the afternoon we encountered even more sperm whales, many of them and all of them showing us their wonderful tails. We took many ID photographs and we could determine it is a group we know very well and includes individuals such as "Orca", "Left tip" and "Small u". Before these whale encounters we also had a nice enounter with a small group of bottlenose dolphins close to shore. Our swimming boats stayed with them for the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed some nice swims with these curious dolphins.

Photos from the morning:

The adult turned out to be a familiar whale we call "Bear paw"

Photos from the afternoon:

Swimming with bottlenose dolphins

Our first sperm whale of the afternoon - one we call "Small u"

The very distinctive dorsal fin of a sperm whale we call "Orca"

"Orca's" tail

A sperm whale we call "Left tip"

The last surprise of the day - a small loggerhead turtle

Baby day

Today was a day of babies. In the morning we delayed our tour a little bit due to the visibility not being the best but soon we took of. We encountered a small group of common dolphins with a new born baby. Later we went to search for other species of cetaceans and our captain of the catamaran spotted sperm whales. We started with two adults and a new born calf in the middle, and soon we got a double fluke. And then more family members. In the afternoon we were lucky to resight the sperm whales as it still was a bit misty and hazy out there on the ocean. We got to see another baby sperm whale in the end with an adult female. In the end we encountered bottlenose dolphins, "Broken Jaw"s family and she had a new born baby with her.

Photos from the morning:

Common dolphin with her baby

Baby common dolphin

Two sperm whales diving

A sperm whale diving in front of "Song of Whales"

Photos from the afternoon:

A sperm whale with a missing dorsal fin

 Watching a sperm whale from aboard our catamaran

Newborn bottlenose dolphin with its mother who we call "Broken jaw"

Leaping bottlenose dolphin

Our zodiac with the bottlenose dolphins

Mum and baby sperm whale and dolphins

Today we had a quiet day at the sea, we went out with one of our zodiacs with adventurous tourist hoping to see dolphins and whales.

We started the trip with a small group of common dolphins and then we decided to head to the East where the lookout saw a big blow from a mysterious animal (according with the lookout, probably a male sperm whale). After two days without whales, finally a big blow!!

Once in the area we were trying to find the animal when we were surprised by the presence of a baby and its mum sperm whale. We were with them for a while and then we saw a blow in the distance from another sperm whale that went for a shallow dive very quickly. We never found the "mysterious animal" but we are aware that we are dealing with wild animals! we are out there for them, but sometimes they are not there for us.

In the afternoon trip we wanted to see the sperm whales again but it was imposible... Anyway we were rewarded with beautiful family groups of bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins.

A day full of resident dolphins!

Today was a day of common and bottlenose dolphins and our swimmers had a great time with common dolphins. We spent the morning with a small, but amazing groups. They playing in the waves and often approaching our boat and diving underneath us.We saw babies of the two species, it's always a beautiful encounter when we saw babies. It's  amazing, it's the pure nature. Throughout the day the island was covered in a hazy mist, but it's always an adventure and great tours.

Ocean adventures

Today we had some nice encounters with common dolphins and Atlantic spotted dolphins in the morning and two different groups of bottlenose dolphins in the afternoon. Throughout the day the island was covered in a hazy mist, but the sun was coming out at different times and we could enjoy the warm Azorean summers day. Each encounter today was different and nice in its own way. The first group of bottlenose dolphins was one that we know very well and includes an individual that we call Bubblemaker. The second group was larger, made up of about 50 individuals, and these ones were very active. 

Photos from the morning:

Atlantic spotted dolphins

Atlantic spotted dolphins

Common dolphins

Common dolphins

Photos from the afternoon:

Watching the first group of bottlenose dolphins

The second group of bottlenose dolphins