Our friendly sperm whales and dolphins

Today was a beautiful sunny day in São Miguel and we had some great summer sightings out on the water. During the day we had one of our familiar resident groups of sperm whales a few miles out of Ponta Delgada where we depart from. In the morning from our catamaran we encountered an adult we know since 2012 and she was together with a newborn calf. In the afternoon we encountered two different individuals from the family same group. We also had some great encounters with some of our resident dolphin species throughout the day. In both the morning and afternoon we encountered common dolphins that were very calm and curious, and in the afternoon we ended the tour nicely with a small group of bottlenose dolphins. What a beautiful day!

Photos from the morning:

Sperm whale adult (left) with a newborn calf (right)

The adult going on a dive

The baby sperm whale

Watching common dolphins

Common dolphins

Photos from the afternoon:

A sperm whale we call Peregrine, with a distinct white patch on its back

Peregrine going on a dive

Sperm whale with Ponta Delgada in the background

Another sperm whale tail

Jumping common dolphin

Watching the playful common dolphins from aboard our catamaran

Bottlenose dolphins

Sperm whales have returned

We started the day close to Ponta Delgada, where our lookout had spotted some sperm whales. Nearby there were also some Atlantic spotted dolphins, so we enjoyed their company while we waited for the sperm whales to return from a dive. We didn't have to wait long as the whales came up one by one, spread out across a large area. We went between the whales, trying to see different individuals as they were coming up only for brief periods and slipping under to go on shallow dives. We counted 4 different sperm whales during this morning tour. In the afternoon the whales were still out there, again spread out and coming up at different times, and this time after a bit of waiting we got to see two tails from these sperm whales. It's nice to have the whales back, after not seeing them for a few days. In the afternoon we also encountered a very social group of common dolphins close to shore, so today it was whales and dolphins for all!

Photos from the morning:

Sperm whale at the surface

Another sperm whale

Watching Atlantic spotted dolphins

Photos from the afternoon:

Sperm whale preparing to dive

The tail!

A sperm whale travelling fast

Juvenile common dolphin surfacing next to an adult

A playful common dolphin

Enjoying the show

Common dolphins

Dolphins surfing the waves

Another adventure at the sea today! For the last few days the wind has been blowing along the coast, making our tours more wild and adventurous. Some of the animals that we have seen these days are enjoying the waves, giving us a show!

Today we have seen different family groups of dolphins from two different species: common and bottlenose dolphin.

The group of common dolphins was really fast, breaking the surface with their dorsal fins... In the same area, searching for food we had Cory's shearwaters. About 60% of the world’s population of Cory’s Shearwaters nests and breeds in the Azores. This year we are seeing many groups of this bird during our tours, they feed on the same species of fish than the common dolphins so we see them together in the same area really often.

Dolphins are well known for their agility and playful behavior and today we could see   it by ourselves. The group of bottlenose dolphins was surfing the waves really fast, it looked like they enjoyed swimming fast! 

Photos from today:

Common dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins surfing the waves

Common dolphin breaking the surface

Bottlenose dolphins swimming fast

Dolphins of the Azores

Again the dolphins made our tours. In the morning we set out to encounter the different species that our lookout had spotted from shore. Close to the marina there was a small group of bottlenose dolphins as well as common dolphins almost in the same area. The bottlenose dolphins turned out to be 3 familiar individuals from a group we refer to as "Bubblemaker's group". Our swimming clients went between both species as they were so nearby each other. Our whale watching boats set out further to the west where our lookout had found some Atlantic spotted dolphins. We did manage to find some from aboard our catamaran, although a larger group of bottlenose dolphins stole the show. These dolphins were very active, leaping out of the water and really making a splash and memories for our clients.

Photos from today:

Bottlenose dolphins

Cory's shearwater

Friendly dolphins

Our wonderful resident dolphins were extra playful today in the waves, both the common dolphins and the bottlenose dolphins. We had Bubblemaker with family around so we could say "hello" to them, as it was a while since we saw them during whale watchers, but our swimmers have been swimming with them. We saw several groups of common dolphins, more or less everywhere as we encountered several groups. 

Photos from today:

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins

Watching a bottlenose dolphin

Watching bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphins

Common dolphins

Dolphins and a missing Sperm Whale

Today we had dolphin-watching day! We saw three different species both in the morning and in the afternoon; our two resident common and bottlenose dolphins and the nice and curious always summer visitors Atlantic spotted dolphins.

In the afternoon our lookout saw a sperm whale breaching with his powerful binoculars far away, even thought we went there and we tried, we weren’t lucky today.

Some photos about the trip today:

 Bottlenose dolphins

Spotted dolphins

Common dolphin

Our boat 'Song of whales'

A summer day with fin whales and dolphins

Today we encountered fin whales, a species not so common in the Azores during the summer time, as these ocean migrators usually pass the islands during the spring and spend the summer up in the colder waters around Iceland and Norway mostly. Although our resident sperm whales were around (our lookout on land saw them), we didn't encounter them, but nevertheless we enjoyed our encounters with the visiting fin whales. During both the morning and afternoon we saw two different individuals. We also encountered bottlenose dolphins throughout the day, and right at the end of the afternoon a nice group of Atlantic spotted dolphins.

Photos from the morning:

Bottlenose dolphin

Fin whale surfacing

Fin whale dorsal

Photos from the afternoon:

Bottlenose dolphins

Fin whale watching

Fin whale blow

Atlantic spotted dolphins - calf jumping out high behind an adult

Atlantic spotted dolphins - notice the younger dolphin doesn't have spots yet

Going around

Today we went around to the North coast, as the sea was rough on the south side and our lookout saw the sperm whales there. It took some time to get around but the reward during the morning tour was great. We started with two adult sperm whale and a baby, they were social and rolling around, spyhopping and we even got the see the eye of the baby. We left them when more boats arrived and on our way closer to the shore we got rewarded by a breaching sperm whale. On the way north we saw both common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. We tried again in the afternoon as our lookout saw the whales jumping out there, but we didn't find them. We did have a great time with Atlantic spotted dolphins, but the sea was getting worse and no luck with the whales.

Photos from the morning of the sperm whales:

Eye of baby sperm whale

Logging

Spyhop 

Photos from the afternooon of the Atlantic spotted dolphins: