Searching for sperm whales

Our morning was pretty intense. The lookout found a blow of a whale. A SPERM WHALE!! Then we travel to the westernmost point of the Island but our friends (sperm whales) were very shy and not let themselves be seen. We try to find for a long time and finally we found a big blow from a big sperm whale. We sailed fast but when we are almost there we can only see its tail when it began its deep dive. When the sperm whale show the tail means that they begin their deep dive and can get about 45 minutes under water. After we found a big group of common dolphins and we had some good time with them.

Common Dolphins

Whale search

Today we search for a small whale far to the west, most likely a minke whale, but we never had the luck to encounter the whale. We searched for a long time, and during the time of searching and hoping we had a large group of playful common dolphins around. We had already encountered common dolphin in the beginning of the tour, but they are always fun. We also spent some wonderful time with four bottlenose dolphins, "Lady" and three of her friends.

Photos from today:

Look at these beautiful colour patterns on this common dolphins beak

Bottlenose dolphin

Common dolphin

Common dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin, just because the water is wonderful in this photo

Bottlenose dolphin

Aboard our catamaran 4 Ventos watching common dolphins bowriding

Great shearwater

Lets go fishing!

Today the common dolphins were everywhere and they were fishing. The common dolphins has a very good method for fishing, both good for them as they catch the fish but it creates a show for us as they jump a lot. The jumps are predictable but still we manage to catch some nice photos for our wonderful clients. We also got to see great skuas, Cory's shearwaters and yellowlegged gulls around the dolphins.

Photos from today:

Our biologist Sara explaining about the dolphins and 15 dolphin-experts left the boat today!

Great skua - a "winter bird"

Dolphins and dolphins!

Today we had an amazing encounter with a group of bottlenose dolphins that we are very familiar with. It was the group of bubblemaker, a dolphin that always blows bubbles shortly before he surfaces. They were very acrobatic and did a couple of high jumps. We also came across a feeding group of common dolphins feeding along side many yellow legged gulls.

Yellow-legged gull

Bottlenose dolphin

Searching for bigger

Today we had common dolphins around and we encountered some small groups but in our minds were always false killer whales as our lookout had briefly seen them in the morning. We search long and far but we never found them. But the common dolphins were the highlights this morning.

Photos from today:

Aboard our catamaran 4 Ventos

Classic company

Today we left the harbour in mist and with bad visibility and it was very difficult for our lookout to find animals for us. They did a great job fidning us a group of dolphins. Both in the morning and the afternoon we had some good time with common dolphins, a group of about 20-30 individuals. Our skipper Mario and the crew worked hard to give everybody a wonderful time on the sea. Our lookout also spotted bottlenose dolphins but we never had the luck to encounter them. In the morning we also released a Cory's shearwater out on the sea with its friends.

Photos of the common dolphins from today:

Lovely morning with energetic dolphins

Today after a short ride and not far from Ponta Delgada we had the company of some false killer whales. We sight false killer whales only occasionally.  They were very active and were leaping out of the water multiple times and were also bow riding. Some of our passengers could even hear their vocalization. We also encountered a very familiar group of Bottlenose dolphins and there is one dolphin in this group that we know very well bubble maker. A fantastic trip that will be remembered.

False killer

False killer

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Face to face

To be standing face to face with a wild dolphin is a dream come true for many. Our group of Bubblemaker is a perfect group for some amazing interaction between human and dolphin. We know them and they know us. Because of this trust that we have for each other this group always plays with us, and they feel comfortable around us to continue their life with us as part of it. We always get to see so many different behaviors from this group, feeding, mating, nursing, bowriding, wakeriding, high jumps. And best of all human-watching. Part from these bottlenose dolphins, we also encountered common dolphins.

Photos from today:

"Bubblemaker" looking at us

Magical bubbles

"Lady"

Common dolphins and a Cory's shearwater

Common dolphin

Common dolphins

A calm morning of autumn with dolphins

Today, in a quiet morning and some sunshine, we were presented with a huge group of common dolphins. The common dolphins are one of our residents species, so it's possible to see during all year. Today it was possible to see a wonderful family with adults, juveniles and little new born babies. They are so beautiful and act like a real family, socializing, playing, protecting and teaching the little ones the skills they need as adults. In this morning of autumn was possible to spot many groups of Cory's sheawater in the ocean. We went by the islet of Vila Franca do Campo, where it was possible to observe other species of birds such as rock pigeon and little egret.

It was a quiet but a nice morning.

Yellow sided dolphins

Or common dolphins. Today we met a group of common dolphins, and we could clearly see new born babies following their mothers. The group were a bit shy and protective of their young ones but soon they understood we are only there to see them and play if they want. And they wanted! Back and forth and bowriding and wakeriding. And our swimmers had a great time in the water with this group, with mothers almost showing off their babies to them. We also passed a loggerhead turtle but it dived quickly.

Photos from today:

Hello!

Common dolphin baby