Friendly faces

Due to the sea conditions and visibility we had to cancel our morning tours but in the afternoon it was all better and our boats left the harbour. Soon we encountered our wonderful group of Bubblemaker. It's a group of bottlenose dolphins that we have seen at least since 2006 and we hope to follow them for a long time in the future. It's nice to see them, it's so familiar and comforting knowing they are still around, always curious and playful although we have seen them so many times. Sometimes we don't see them for a few days and the crew starts missing them, our old friends. And its great to be able to show them to our guest.

Photos form the afternoon:

Dolphins in the waves

Today the sea was still a bit mixed up from the storm that passsed by the island yesterday, however it was a fun ride out on the ocean and we enjoyed the dolphins playing around in the waves. Photography wasn't easy today, but the important thing is that we all saw the dolphins. In the morning we encountered common dolphins, and in the afternoon bottlenose dolphins and Atlantic spotted dolphins joined our list of species sighted.

Photos from today:

Watching common dolphins (morning)

Common dolphin (morning)

Bottlenose dolphins (afternoon)

Watching bottlenose dolphins (afternoon)

Bottlenose dolphins jumping (afternoon)

Mr Liable the sperm whale returns

Today a well known male sperm whale we call Mr Liable returned to São Miguel, after not being seen here since the beginning of June. Mr Liable was given his name because he is very reliable in returning to São Miguel on a regular basis, he has predictable dive times, he stays at the surface for a long time and always shows us a beautiful tail when he dives. Today Mr Liable was going on long dives of about 50-60 minutes, making it difficult for us because of the distance he was covering before resurfacing again. It took a lot of patience in the morning, but we went the extra mile for our clients and in the end we had a great encounter from aboard our catamaran. Mr Liable lived up to his name, he stayed up a long time so that we could reach him from far away, and he showed us a great tail. This huge male sperm whale has really grown a lot over the past years! Of course we also encountered dolphins today. In the morning from our catamaran we saw a group of bottlenose dolphins, and from our other boats common dolphins and striped dolphins were also encountered. In the afternoon we returned to the sea in one of our zodiac boats. The sea was getting a bit choppier, but it was a fun ride and again we were rewarded with an encounter with Mr Liable.

Photos from the morning:

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Approaching the sperm whale from afar - luckily our custom built whale watching boats are built for speed to make it on time from a great distance

Mr Liable - our most encountered sperm whale

Mr Liable going on another deep dive

A perfect summer's day with dolphins and a fin whale

Today another Azorean summer's day was upon us. We had great conditions out on the ocean, with clear blue skies and water alike. The morning was especially calm, which was great for watching the dolphins through the clear water around our boats. We spent the morning in very good company with both common dolphins and two different groups of bottlenose dolphins. Our swimmers also had some fantastic underwater encounters with the first group of bottlenose dolphins, which was the group of Bubblemaker. In the afternoon we started with the group of Bubblemaker and then set out to try to find a whale that our lookout had spotted. It took a lot of patience and waiting, as the whale was going on long dives and coming up for brief periods. Nevertheless we were rewarded in the end as we had a great encounter with the whale, which turned out to be a fin whale. 

Photos from today:

A curious bottlenose dolphin in crystal clear water

Watching a bottlenose dolphin we call "Bubblemaker" surfacing

The view from aboard our catamaran

Swimming with the dolphins

Fin whale blow!

The fin whale

The fin whale, together with a Cory's shearwater

August 2016 sighting statistics

August came and went very quickly this year. It has been a very busy month for us, as the summer has been in general. This month the spectacular weather allowed us to go out on the ocean all but one day of the month. During every day and every tour we had some amazing cetacean encounters. During the whole month we encountered a total of 9 different dolphin and whale species (see this list and daily statistics below). As well as whales and dolphins, during August we also had encounters with loggerhead turtles, a leatherback turtle, manta rays, devil rays, a hammerhead shark, yellowfin tuna, plenty of flying fish and also some flying squid.

• Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) - 90%
• Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) - 93%
• Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) - 77%
• Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) - 13%
• Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) - 30%
• Pilot whale (Globicephala spp.) - 3%
• Beaked whale species (Mesoplodon spp.) - 23%
• Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) - 60%
• Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) - 10%

Fin whales stayed around and lots of dolphins

It's been another fantastic day out on the ocean, starting with common dolphins and a beautiful group of Risso's dolphins in the morning and ending the afternoon with a fin whale. We usually see fin whales for a few months during the spring, but this year we never really stopped seeing them. We don't know if they are late migrating to the north, early migrating to the south or simply staying to enjoy an Azorean summer with us. We also enjoyed the company of curious common dolphins in the afternoon. Just like yesterday, we encountered a total of 6 different species when we put together all sightings from our different boats throughout the day: the fin whale, common dolphins, Risso's dolphins, striped dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and Atlantic spotted dolphins.

Photos from today:

An adult Risso's dolphin

A juvenile Risso's dolphin

Risso's dolphin going on a dive

A Risso's dolphin spyhopping

A worrying sight - A Risso's dolphin with plastic on its tail

Common dolphin mother and baby

Common dolphin

Fin whale from the afternoon tour

Fin whale from the afternoon tour

Fin whale from the afternoon tour

A fin whale surprise and a total of 6 species

Today we started out with dolphins, different species in different areas. We had Atlantic spotted dolphins and then a big group of bottlenose dolphins spread over a large area. From one of our boats a group of Risso's dolphins were also seen, as well as some common dolphins. The dolphins were just as nice in the afternoon, especially the Atlantic spotted dolphins who were very playful around our boats. However, the highlight of the day was on our way back when the captain of our catamaran suddenly spotted the blow of a type of baleen whale. It was a fin whale, a great surprise for this time of the year. It's always fantastic to see the second largest animal in the world. From our zodiac boat some Blainville's beaked whales were also glimpsed at the surface, giving us a grand total of 6 species during the day!

Photos from the morning:

Risso's dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Atlantic spotted dolphins (mums and babies)

Dolphin watching aboard our catamaran

An Atlantic spotted dolphin with a cut dorsal fin

Atlantic spotted dolphins love to leap!

Photos from the afternoon:

Fin whale surfacing

Atlantic spotted dolphin

Atlantic spotted dolphin