Sperm whale and baby dolphins

Today was a day full of sperm whales and new born common dolphins, and our swimmers had a great time with bottlenose dolphins. In the morning the sperm whales were calm and only gave us one quick fluke but at least a really nice one. The common dolphins were playful and had babies that were only hours or days old. In the afternoon we got more flukes from the sperm whales, and as a good bye for the day a mother and calf dived together. When we arrived to the common dolphins it looked like they had been giving birth during lunch as they had even more new born babies around and playing right in front of us, watched over by us and their watchful mother. Its such a gift to be close to these young ones and getting the trust from their mothers to be there in their company.

Photos from the morning:

Morning fluke

Common dolphin baby

Common dolphin

Aboard Cetus

Photos from the afternoon:

Sperm whale

Sperm whale, female and calf

Common dolphin baby

Six species today

Today we had six different species to see. We all encountered the sperm whales all day, with some amazing behaviours of breachings and tailbreachings to show off in front of us. And of course several flukes as well. In the morning we also encountered common dolphins and in the afternoon bottlenose dolphins with one false killer whale. This lonely individual didn't seem to be lonely at all getting along very well with the bottlenose dolphins. Some boats were lucky to see Risso's dolphins and striped dolphins too.

Photos from the morning:

Sperm whale

Sperm whale logging

Sperm whale diving

Photos from the afternoon:

A false killer whale in between two bottlenose dolphins

Sperm whale logging

Lets dive!

Loggerhead turtle

4 fine fin whales and bottlenose dolphins nearby

This afternoon the drizzle from the morning cleared to reveal the sun to us and whales to our lookouts. Our lookouts on land spotted the blows of some baleen whales, so we headed out to see what it was, passing by some common dolphins, but continuing our journey out to find the whales. It wasn't long before we spotted a blow from aboard our catamaran. It was a fin whale, and this whale was not alone. We quickly realised there was a second one, then after a few minutes we realised there was another...and another. We encountered a total of 4 very big adult fin whales travelling together. They were steadily going west on their ongoing migration to their northern feeding grounds. After spending some time with these whales a small group of bottlenose dolphins also came in to join us. The dolphins didn't keep up with the whale so we spend some time with the dolphins while the whales kept travelling ahead. It was a great afternoon spent with the whales and dolphins.

Photos from today:

A mix of species

On today's whale and dolphin watching tours we encountered a mix of different species. We still have fin whales migrating past, a nice late surprise for us. In the morning we enjoyed the company of two of these fin whales (and we saw blows of more in the distance) and in the afternoon one made a short appearance and then dissapeared. Nevertheless, during the afternoon we had the added bonus of encountering a false killer whale among a group of bottlenose dolphins. We could really see the size difference, as the false killer whale can grow to 6 metres in length and the bottlenose dolphin up to 4 metres. We also encountered small groups of common dolphins during the day and we got to see some mating behaviour, a great sign that they are making the next generation of baby dolphins for the next year.

Photos from the morning:

Fin whale surfacing

Fin whale

Watching the fin whale from the top deck of our catamaran

Common dolphin

Common dolphins

Watching the common dolphins from the bow of our catamaran

Photos from the afternoon:

False killer whale

False killer whale

False killer whale

Bottlenose dolphins

Diving together

Today in the morning we saw two sperm whales diving together right next to our catamaran, into the deep Atlantic Ocean, into the dark abyss. We got to see their majestic tails high out of the water but they left a calf at the surface behind them. This little calf stayed a little bit with us but slowly swam away, maybe waiting for another adult to come up to the surface. We also encountered two different groups of bottlenose dolphins, one more playful and curious then the other. 

Photos from this morning:

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins

Sperm whale

The two adult sperm whales moments before the baby surfaced between them

The first fluke

Sperm whale, the second of the two flukes

Whales doing human watching

Today was definitely a whale of a day off São Miguel Island. We enjoyed the company of fin whales and sperm whales throughout the day. At times it seemed like the whales were watching us as much as we were watching them. Especially in the afternoon when we encountered an adult and juvenile sperm whale. After a while the adult dived, revealing to us that its a whale we call "Bear paw". The young one stayed up and turned to us for company since the adult had dived. This curious little sperm whale came right to the front of our catamaran and spyhopped, sticking its head right out of the water to watch the people on the bow of the boat. What an amazing show!

Photos from the morning:

Two fin whales together

Fin whale belly and flipper

A fin whale surfacing

Part of the tail of the fin whale

Photos from the afternoon:

The adult sperm whale we call "Bear paw"

The juvenile sperm whale passing close by

The juvenile sperm whale spyhopping to look back at our passengers

The sperm whale having a look at the boat

Part of the tail of the

Watching a fin whale

Aboard Cetus