Our most famous sperm whale

Today our most famous sperm whale visited us. We call him Mr Liable and he is the most encountered sperm whale off the south coast of São Miguel Island. The oldest photo we have on record of him is from 2006, but he has been around much longer than that. We call him Mr Liable because he is a very reliable sperm whale. He always returns to our waters and he is great to watch and almost always shows an amazing tail. Today was no exception and from our catamaran we got to see him two times. We also had a nice encounter with some common dolphins so that we could enjoy the best of two different types of encounters. In the afternoon we resighted Mr Liable and thanks to our clients and their photos we could confirm this and they contributed to our research. We encountered dolphins as well, two species; common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. And to top it all we also encountered a loggerhead turtle.

Photos from today:

Mr. Liable in all his grace

Mr Liable breathing at the surface

Common dolphin bowriding our catamaran Quatro ventos

The surprise of wild animals

Today first thing in the morning we were greeted by a familiar group of sperm whales along the eastern end of São Miguel Island. We were seeing many blows of whales spread out over a large area so there were plenty of whales for everyone. From aboard our catamaran we first encountered an adult and calf pair. When the adult dived we could identify her as "Bear paw", or number 46 in our catalogue. Later we encountered another adult with a distinct tail that we photographed to later be able to identify her. The morning was all about the whales whereas the afternoon tour was focused on dolphins. We encountered a large group of common dolphins that were very curious and keen to bowride. We spotted some baby dolphins and also some baby making behaviour. Our swimmers also encountered bottlenose dolphins in the morning so it was a nice day for all.

Photos from today:

Common dolphin

Mother and baby

Mating common dolphins

And then surface together

Always interesting encounters

Today in the morning it turned out to be a whale tour as we stopped for dolphins but they didn't want us. We continued to the sperm whales further off shore. We had some great encounters with several individuals from this family but only one fluke got photographed for our research. On our way back we found another group of common dolphins with one bottlenose dolphin in the middle. Very interesting morning for our clients and crew as well. In the afternoon we tried to resight the sprem whales and we waited a long time in the right area where our lookout had seen some blows but no whales around for us. We search far out to see if they had been moving off shore but once again no animals. But in the beginning of the tour we had a lovely encounter with common dolphins.

Photos from today:

Sperm whale diving (morning tour)

Common dolphin baby

Common dolphin

Azores residents

Today was a day of our resident species. In the Azores there are 4 cetacean species living around the islands year-round, although it is not always possible to see them all because they have a very large home. But today we saw them all, starting with Risso's dolphins, continuing with sperm whales and ending with bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins. It's been another great day in the company of cetaceans in the Azores.

Photos from today:

Adult Risso's dolphin

Juvenile Risso's dolphin

Sperm whale surfacing to breathe

Sperm whale dorsal fin

Common dolphin

When children meet dolphins

Lets talk about children and dolphins. It is always lovely to see the reactions of the children when they get to meet a wild dolphin. The eyes and the smile - it's priceless. The crew get to see this all the time and its warms us. But, maybe I should talk about humans and dolphins, as many times we see the adults also react in a beautiful and sometimes childish way, with great smiles and laughter out loud truly from the heart and full of happiness when they come in contact with the dolphins. Today was one of these day. We only encountered common dolphins but it was a moment so beautiful that it will stay in my mind forever.

Photos from today:

Ongoing fin whale and sperm whale sightings

This summer we have been really lucky to have ongoing sightings of fin whales, one of the baleen whale species that we usually see here in the Azores in the spring and not often other times of the year. It has also been a really good summer for sperm whale sightings, and today was no exception. The fin whale was encountered in the morning while two large sperm whales were seen during the afternoon tour, so we were able to show whales to all our clients today. As usual there were also plenty of dolphins to go around for all. In the morning we encountered common dolphins and Atlantic spotted dolphins (our swimmers also added bottlenose dolphins to our sightings list today). In the afternoon we encountered two different groups of common dolphins, the most amazing encounter being a big group that came racing over to us when we were in the sperm whale area. We also had a nice encounter with a loggerhead turtle in the sperm whale area just to add to the already nice encounters we were having in that area.

Photos from the morning:

Fin whale

Atlantic spotted dolphin juvenile

Common dolphins

Photos from the afternoon:

Sperm whale

Common dolphins

Common dolphins and our zodiac

Resident dolphins all around

Today we had our resident dolphin species around. Some more resident then others. Throughout the day we had our very resident group of bottlenose dolphins including our "Bubblemaker". We also encountered our least sighted resident species, the Risso's dolphins. We had a close and good encounter with them as they normally don't come to close to boats and don't play around like the other dolphins. Our common dolphins never let us down, always around and always ready to play. One of our boats also encountered Atlantic spotted dolphins, a seasonal species.

Photos from today:

Risso's dolphin juvenile and adult

Risso's dolphins going on a dive

Common dolphins

A happy, wild jumping common dolphin

Six very resident bottlenose dolphins

Swimming with bottlenose dolphins in the afternoon

Lots of different animals

Today we sighted five different species throughout the day. In the morning we encountered sperm whales with a new born baby by their side. Some of our boats also encountered striped dolphins and common dolphins. In the afternoon we sighted a large group of pilot whales also with new born babies and later on a group of bottlenose dolphins making babies. Its always fun to see new born babies but also to see how they make the babies as we got some great jumps!

Photos from the morning sperm whales:

Photos from the afternoon:

Pilot whale

Pilot whales

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins