Mr Liable and two species of dolphins

Today we went out in the morning, the sea conditions were really good at the begging of the tour but the wind started picking up during the day.

One more day we could enjoy with the presence of Mr Liable. We never get tired of seeing its tail; it is always a special moment for all of us. Every time the sperm whale is going for a deep dive we can see its tail, the happy clients could compare their pictures with the first page of our catalog of photo ID.

Besides Mr Liable, we had amazing encounters with a big group of common dolphins (they were in the same area than yesterday) and two different groups of bottlenose dolphins.

We cannot wait to see Mr Liable again!

Photos from the morning:

The beautiful tail of Mr Liable

Mr Liable

Mr Liable surfacing

Bottlenose dolphin close to the boat

Bottlenose dolphin

A family of sperm whales and Mr Liable

We were back to the sea today! We started the day with a group of bottlenose dolphin; they were really calm approaching to the boat several times. The clients could appreciate the size of the animals when they came close to the boat, bottlenose dolphins can grow up to 4 meters!

Once the bottlenose dolphins were well seen we head far away from the coast to the area where the look-out found a family of sperm whales. We could see around 9 sperm whales spread out in the area. The behavior of the animals was difficult for observation; they were doing shallow dives for a long time and keeping the distance with the boats.

In the afternoon tour we saw one more species: common dolphins. The group was really big, we had about 80 animals in the area including calves and juveniles. We were luckier with the behavior of the sperm whales in the afternoon. They were logging at the surface… we could even heard their breath! Once we finished the observation of the family we start heading back to Ponta Delgada but we had a nice surprise waiting for us… Mr Liable! The big male that we have seen for the last few days was once again in the area. The sea was with the perfect conditions to take the perfect pictures of its tail.

Photos from today:

Mr Liable going for a deep dive

Perfect picture for Photo ID

Whale watchers

A family of sperm whales

Whale watching

Dolphin watching

Another day with Mr Liable

Today the male sperm whale we call "Mr Liable" was with us again. In the morning we found him by chance from aboard our catamaran; after an encounter with a group of common dolphins we went searching futher out and spotted the blow from Mr Liable on the horizon. We had to wait for the next time he came to the surface because the first time we saw his tail from far away, but the wait was well worth it as he raised his tail very high out of the water in slow motion, almost stopping mid way to make sure we could all get the prize photo. In the afternoon we encountered the famous Mr Liable again, again with a great tail to mark the moment. We ended this great day with a group of bottlenose dolphins (the group of Bubblemaker) just outside the marina of Ponta Delgada.

Photos from the morning:

Photos from the afternoon:

Our dear friend

We started this morning with a large group of bottlenose dolphins giving us a true, wild dolphin show. The sea was a bit rough but that is just fun for these agile dolphins as they are having fun in the waves. But even though this show was incredible soon a dear friend of ours stole the show. None the less then the great Mr. Liable (sperm whale). As usual he gave us a majestic fluke.

Photos from this morning:

Bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins

Bottlenose dolphins

A final jump as we were leaving

Mr. Liable and a yellow-legged gull

Mr. Liable

Mr. Liable

Jumping dolphins and fish

First thing this morning we set out to see a group of common dolphins close to shore and we were lucky to be able to see them feeding. The dolphins were herding together a group of garfish at the surface, which attracted a lot of seabirds that came in to grab a part of the dolphins' hard work. We got to see the common dolphins, Cory's shearwaters and gulls fighting over their breakfast. After witnessing this feeding frenzy we went further out to search, and to our luck we came across a large group of bottlenose dolphins. The behaviour of these dolphins was very different; they were very keen to play in the waves and were racing alongside our boat as we travelled. We really got to see the size and power of these big dolphins as they came high out of the water, making an excellent end to our morning tour.

Photos from the morning:

Bottlenose dolphins

Watching the bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphin

Gulls fighting over a garfish

Garfish jumping

Calm whales, calm dolphins, calm sea

October starts with a sea like a mirror, we could see far across the sea and easily spot the sperm whales. We encountered a shy group that didn't let us get close, but the animals are in charge so we kept more distance and they slowly accepted us. Luckily the sea was calm so we could see them well even if we were further then normal from them. A good reminder that whales are sensitive animals, intelligent animals that we need to respect to get closer to. The common dolphins were, as usual, very playful and curious. Swimming right next to our boats, looking up at us. 

Photos from today:

Two sperm whale logging

Three sperm whale going on a shallow dive

Three common dolphins looking at us

September 2016 sightings statistics

The summer is coming to an end, but that certainly doesn't mean that we aren't going out and still seeing a lot of whales and dolphins here off São Miguel island in the Azores. Here we have different species coming and going throughout the year, and we also have resident species, meaning that we have sightings of both whales and dolphins all throughout the year. Throughout the month of September we encountered 12 different species: 6 whale species and 6 dolphin species. As expected, the most encountered whale species was the sperm whale, which is resident in the Azores. This time of the year is also great to see beaked whales, and this month we registered encounters with three different species: Cuvier's beaked whales, Sowerby's beaked whales and Blainville's beaked whales. At this time of the year the baleen whales are migrating south to warmer waters, and although during their south-bound migration we don't often see them (during the spring when they are headed north we see many), this year we have had a sighting of a fin whale and a minke whale, and one day our coastal lookout even saw a blue whale! As well as whales and dolphins, out there in the big blue during September we also encountered loggerhead turtles, an ocean sunfish, manta ray, devil ray, sharks, tuna, flying fish and plenty of marine birds as usual.

• Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) - 82%
• Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) - 79%
• Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) - 57%
• Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) - 11%
• Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) - 25%
• Pilot whale (Globicephala spp.) - 4%
• Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius carvirostris) - 7%
• Other beaked whale species (Mesoplodon spp.) - 11%
• Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) - 68%
• Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) - 4%
• Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) - 4%

Familiar whales

This morning we had some more great moments with sperm whales. We encountered a whale family that we know from previous encounters with them here in São Miguel as well as other areas around the Azores. One whale in this group was first photographed by us back in 2006, 10 years ago. Another whale in the group is very easy to recognise because its dorsal fin is missing. We don't know how this happened, but we have named this whale "Kima". Today we encountered at least 10 whales from Kima's family, giving our clients some great memories of their time in the Azores.

Photos of the sperm whales from today:

The whale we call "Kima" with a missing dorsal fin

Kima going on a dive

Another sperm whale arching its back to dive

Another beautiful tail

Logging at the surface