A curious blue whale and playful dolphins

This morning we had an incredible encounter with a very curiuos blue whale. It's already amazing to see a blue whale, the biggest animal in the world, so to see a curious one is even better. The whale was going on short dives and always surfacing near our boats. Sometimes VERY near, especially one of our boats "Song of Whales". It seemed this calm and curious blue whale was watching us just as much as we were watching it. We don't often get to see a whale this close as we cannot get too close to them, unless we have one of these rare times that the whale chooses to surface right next to us. 

We also had some great dolphin encounters with our 3 resident dolphin species. In the morning there was a huge group of common dolphins spread out over a large area. We estimated there were somewhere between 100 and 200 dolphins. In the afternoon a couple of our boats saw some common dolphins again and for the rest of us there was a nice group of bottlenose dolphins (with a very cute little calf) and 3 Risso's dolphins. Now we have a third tour out on the water so we are eagerly waiting to hear what is out there are the end of this great day.

Photos from the morning:

The curious blue whale

Photos from the afternoon:

An encounter with a loggerhead turtle

Risso's dolphins

A juvenile Risso's dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin calf leaping behind its mother

One of our zodiac boats with the bottlenose dolphins

Our other zodiac with the bottlenose dolphins

Sperm whales, fin whales and dolphins!

After some windy days, in which we weren’t able to go to the sea, we finally went out today. We had amazing trips with an ocean full of life. Bottlenose dolphins, very active  and jumping a lot were together with fin whales, swimming with them and making with them the exact same  thing they do when bow riding our boats. We also saw sperm whales; some of them got very curios with one of our boats, showing us their head and tails. Common dolphins also showed up. Let’s hope this good weather and diversity in our sighting continues.

Photos from today:

One of sperm whales from the morning

Fin whale from the morning

Fluke tip of fin whale

Bottlenose dolphin jumping

A baby bottlenose dolphin

Sperm whale tail

Another sperm whale from the morning

Our catamaran Cetus

A beautiful curled sperm whale tail seen during the afternoon tour

The last tail of the day

Common dolphins in the waves

Today was a wavy day out on the ocean. Nevertheless it was a fun day and we enjoyed watching a group of common dolphins surfing in the waves around us. Especially from aboard our catamaran we managed to see them really well. The visibility over the island wasn't good enough to spot whales, so after our dolphin encounter we went over to Vila Franca Islet where we enjoyed the views of this extinct crater and the bird life on the rocks.

Photos from today:

Common dolphins wave surfing

Watching the common dolphins from aboard our catamaran

Common terns on Vila Franca Islet

Fin whales and dolphins

Today we encountered fin whales again. In the morning we first encountered a group of 3 to 5 of them travelling together, followed by a single large one in another area. In the afternoon we encountered a smaller fin whale which looked like one that has been hanging around in our waters for at least a week now. We also encountered dolphins during our tours. During the morning it was an encounter with 3 bottlenose dolphins who we have been seeing on and off during the past days, pretty much always in the same area and always with the same behaviour of surfacing with their heads high out of the water. In the afternoon we encountered a small group of common dolphins, giving us a total of 3 species for the day.

Photos from the morning:

Double blow, two fin whales surfacing side by side

Two fin whales

Fin whale surfacing high, showing the line of its mouth

Fin whale back

Bottlenose dolphins

Close to shore

A bottlenose dolphin we recognise from the small injury on the tip of its beak

The 3 bottlenose dolphins we have been seeing a lot lately always surface high out of the water

Photos from the afternoon:

Fin whale blow

Fin whale

Watching the fin whale

Common dolphins

Watching the common dolphins

The first pilot whales of 2016

This morning we encountered the first pilot whales of the year. It was a nice group of about 50 individuals with plenty of baby pilot whales among them. We could really see why pilot whales are recognised as one of the most social species as they were all together, grouping up at the surface. During the morning we also encountered 2 or 3 fin whales and 3 bottlenose dolphins that we have come to know from the way they usually surface with their heads high out of the water. In the afternoon we went out again with the hopes of encountering a sperm whale that our shore-based lookout had spotted to the east. We travelled a while to get to the area but in the end all we saw were distant blows because it was continuously diving, travelling far underwater and only coming up for a few breaths between dives. However, after giving up on the sperm whale we were rewarded on the way back with lucky encounter with a fin whale, and during this tour we also encountered a group of about 30 bottlenose dolphins that we know well as the group of "Egyptian".

Photos from the morning:

Pilot whale calf surfacing high next to an adult

Pilot whales

Pilot whales

Pilot whales

The top of the head of a fin whale

Fin whale blow

Fin whale almost raising its tail out of the water

Watching bottlenose dolphins

Loggerhead turtle

Photos from the afternoon:

Bottlenose dolphin

A famous dolphin we call "Egyptian" because of its pyramid-shaped dorsal fin

Fin whale