A whaley morning and a dolphin afternoon

In the morning we traveled far to meet a family of sperm whales, and we got to see several family members including a newborn baby. On the way to the whales we also encountered bottlenose dolphins. In the afternoon we started with common dolphin that also had new born babies, even if we are starting reach autumn and winter. We also encountered our famous Bubblemaker group with his friend "Lady". Sometimes we see this group together and sometimes in two subgroups that we call by two individuals that stands out, "Lady" and "Bubblemaker". We also saw Cory's, great and Manx shearwaters, a northern gannet and other marine birds.

Photos from today:

A young sperm whale surfacing with its head high out of the water

Loggerhead turtle

Watching a turtle

Bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins

Sperm whales are still around

Today the sperm whales were around again. Maybe it was the same group we saw yesterday, it's difficult to say as we didn't get to see any tails today (the part of the whale we mostly use to identify the individual). Even though they didn't show their tails, we did have a lovely encounter and with adult female and calf. It's nice to see that there are still some young ones around and this one was still quite small. From our catamaran we also encountered a playful group of common dolphins and our smaller boat also saw a small group of Atlantic spotted dolphins and even a few Risso's dolphins.

Photos from today:

Adult sperm whale

Sperm whale calf coming up alongside the adult

Common dolphin

A whale day

After some time on land it was great to return to the ocean today and have a "whale day". Out in the deep water south of São Miguel island we encountered a group of sperm whales, the resident whale species in the Azores. There were several whales around, in total we encountered 5 from our catamaran and spotted another blow as we were leaving the last 2. At one time we had 3 whales at the surface together. Later from the catamaran we encountered a fantastic group of about 80-100 Atlantic spotted dolphins, while from our small boat they saw common dolphins and Risso's dolphins. 

Photos from this morning:

3 sperm whales at the surface together

Our small boat with the sperm whales

Preparing to dive

The tail

Atlantic spotted dolphins wave surfing together

Atlantic spotted dolphin - a juvenile following an adult

A curious common tern

Dolphin times

Today we had a great time with both common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. The common dolphins were spread out and we could see them gathering into feeding groups. The bird activity was high as we had lots of Cory's shearwaters and great shearwaters around. The bottlenose dolphins were much calmer and it was one of our well-known groups including a very sweet dolphin we call "Lady". It was nice to spend the day with our familiar friends and we hope to see them out there again tomorrow.

Photos from today:

Blow in the distance

Fin whales continue to surprise us on our tours. This morning we encountered 2 fin whales, making it our fourth day this week seeing this species. Fin whales are sighted very often in the Azores during the Spring months, but not so much during other times of the year. However, this year they have been surprising us throughout the Summer, and now again in the Autumn. This is the time of the year that they are migrating south for the winter, the time of reproduction. It's still a bit of a mystery exactly where the fin whales (and blue whales) of the north Atlantic go to give birth.  This morning we also encountered common dolphins on our way out to the whales. It was a group of about 150 dolphins spread across a large area. It was nice to always be in the company of them as smaller subgroups from this bigger group kept approaching our boat to accompany us. And the swimmers had a great time with the dolphins as well.

Photos from today:

Common dolphin fun!

Common dolphin and a Cory's shearwater (we had a few great shearwaters flying around as well)

Our swimming boat

One of the two fin whales

We could often follow the blue shadow of the fin whale

The other fin whale

Whales of the east

Today we traveled far to find a fin whale, an adult of about 20 m, but when we arrived it had been missing for a while, as it went on a longer dive. Luckily one of our boats spotted it again and we could all enjoy being in the presence of such a large animal. Not to put to much pressure on this individual we soon left to search for sperm whales and one of our biologists soon spotted a small blow. It turned out to be one of our friends, the sperm whale named "Orca". She started right away approaching us, rolling around and swimming very close. We really had an amazing time with her. And when we left she started spyhopping behind us and it felt like she was saying "are you already leaving? I wanna play more!" 

Photos from today:

The first whale of the day - a fin whale that was a bit difficult to photograph

The friendly sperm whale we call "Orca" because of the saddle patch on her back

The sperm whale Orca rolling around with her tail in the air

A newborn baby dolphin

This year's most encountered group of bottlenose dolphins has welcomed a new member into their group - a brand new baby dolphin (pictured to the left and below). Today was the first time we met this little one who was not in the group last time we encountered them. The group is one that we call "Bubblemaker's group" because we noticed one group member always blowing bubbles before surfacing and later others started to follow this trend. Bubblemaker's group is made up of about 30 individuals, well make that an extra one now. Through our photo-ID research we are able to follow such groups and individuals, so over the next months we will be keeping an eye on the new addition to see how he or she grows. As well as these bottlenose dolphins, this morning we also encountered a nice group of common dolphins. The common dolphin has a beautiful yellow colour on its side and they are usually full of energy and keen to bowride. We had a great morning with these two resident species of dolphins. 

Photos from today:

Bottlenose dolphins - Bubblemaker's group

The newborn baby surfacing alongside two adults

Common dolphins

 Watching common dolphins bowriding