Amazing day full of whales

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Today we had an amazing day full of sperm whales! On this sunny day with a very calm sea we saw many of them during our trip. We also saw a resident species of dolphins, the Risso’s dolphin with their amazing colouration of black and white ;)

 Sperm whale diving

 Sperm whale laying at the surface

 3 whales together

 Risso's dolphins, two adult together

 A younger one with darker colouration

Beautiful autumn day

Today was another sunny day in São Miguel and the morning started calm with a flat sea. We began the encounters with a large group of common dolphins playing all around our boats. After the dolphins we headed further away to see sperm whales. We had several individuals in the same area, and we also had the opportunity to see one individual together with another species: our friendly bottlenose dolphins. In the afternoon we saw the same as in the morning, except for the sperm whales. We had a long trip, as we went far away from the coast to try to see these whales but without luck.



Photos from the morning:

Sperm whale dorsal

Sperm whale breathing at the surface

Common dolphins

Common dolphin

A beautiful day, almost like summer

Photos from the afternoon:

Bottlenose dolphins

A bottlenose dolphin baby

An unusual common dolphin that is lacking the characteristic yellow colour on its sides

Face to face with a common dolphin

Common dolphins - a mother with her calf

Mr Liable again

This afternoon we had a big surprise.... two sperm whales! One of them is well known for us :) Mr Liable!! Today he was very relaxed after a few jumps and tail slaps that have only been seen by our lookout. When we arrived he was already relaxing and after a few minutes he just disappeared on a shallow dive without showing his splendid tail. But the other sperm whale said her goodbyes with her tail held high. We just finished our trip with our already known common dolphins that were in good company with a great flock of Cory's shearwaters.


Photos from this tour:

Sperm whale (Mr Liable)

The tail of the female sperm whale

Common dolphins and Cory's shearwaters

A show of playful common dolphins and shy Risso's dolphins

Today we could go out on a calm ocean again and enjoy the company of some of our resident dolphins. Close to Ponta Delgada we had a group of common dolphins and two Risso's dolphins more or less in the same area. The Risso's dolphins were a bit shy, as they often are, but still we got to have some nice looks at them as they came up near our boat between their deep dives. The common dolphins were much more playful, to the point of showing of for us as they repeatedely jumped right in front of our boat. We got to see them really well from aboard our catamaran, a boat that the dolphins really seem to enjoy playing in front of. Now we are preparing to go out on one of our zodiac boats so lets see what surprises are out there for us for the afternoon tour.

Photos from the morning:

Common dolphin

Eye to eye with a curious common dolphin leaping in front of our catamaran

A beautiful Risso's dolphin

The Risso's dolphin curving its back to dive

Sperm Whales and giant group of bottlenose

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Today we had a trip full of whales and dolphins. We were in an area with many spermwhales and even thought it was not easy get close them we get to see a head, dorsals and a tail! We also found a giant group of bottlenose dolphins that made us a big show! Surrounded by so many of them it felt like we were part of the group!

Photos from today:

 Male sperm resting before the deep dive

 Showing the tail before diving

The same sperm whale with its head out

 Bottlenose dolphins were very active at the surface and very curious towards our boats

Dolphins have good eye sight when they put the head out they see us as good as we see them

 

 Anothe photo of part of the giant group of bottlenose dolphins

October 2016 sightings statistics

Autumn is now upon us, so the weather has been more unstable during October, but we still managed to go out to sea during 18 days of the month. As always we had some great encounters with cetaceans (whales and dolphins) off São Miguel Island. In total we encountered 8 different species during the 18 days that we went out. The star whale species was the sperm whale, as they are resident in the Azores, so they will stay with us during the whole winter. However, we also had some encounters with migratory fin whales who are headed south to warmer waters where they spend the winter. We also encountered some beaked whales (most likely Blainville's beaked whales), which can be encountered any time of the year in the Azores, but are very rare and therefore always a treat to see. As for smaller cetaceans, we also had two fantastic days with false killer whales, both times really big and active groups. There was one day with pilot whales and ofcourse plenty of our resident common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins, plus some Atlantic spotted dolphins that are hanging around until the winter kicks in. On some days that we went out we also saw loggerhead turtles and flying fish, as well as plenty of seabirds. The best part of going out on an ocean tour in the Azores is that we never know what we will see, and we are sure that we will continue to have many more surprise encounters during the winter as we continue to go out to sea.

Daily sighting frequencies for the month of October:

• Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) - 94%
• Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) - 78%
• Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) - 17%
• Pilot whale species (Globicephala spp.) - 6%
• False killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) - 11%
• Beaked whale species (Mesoplodon spp.) - 11%
• Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) - 61%
• Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) - 17%

One blow show!

Today we had a day full of surprises! After some days of bad weather cetaceans were back in our waters. In the morning we had a fantastic trip where we saw 3 different species of cetaceans: common and bottlenose dolphins and a giant group of false killer whales, as usual, very curious and playful with the boat. In the afternoon trip besides the common dolphins a fin whale appeared, it did a ‘one blow show’ as it was blowing only once every time it surfaced. Even though it was not easy we appreciated very well this giant and majestic animal.

 Fin whale

 

 Fin whale

 

 Nice rainbow we could see from the boat

 Magnific group of false killer whales

 Bottlenose dolphins on a very calm sea

 

 Bottlenose dolphin

 Common dolphins didn't miss the oportunity to play with our boat

Dolphins in the rain

Today was the first day on the sea since the 20th of October so we were very excited to go out and see out cetacean friends. We have been busy in the office keeping up with our research but we have been missing the animals and the saltwater. We still had "old sea" out there, so lots of waves and swell and then the rain came to block our lookouts, but we had some lovely encounters with common dolphins. Bowriding, wakeriding, jumping and playing around. In the afternoon we encountered two groups of common dolphins again, but then we also had a bonus encounter with a playful group of juvenile Atlantic spotted dolphins. They were very active, jumping and playing around in the waves in front of our boat. After so many days on land it was truly a blessing to see their smiling faces again. And some of us were lucky to see flying fish on the way back.


Photos from today:

Common dolphin

Common dolphin

Dolphin watching aboard our catamaran

Playful juvenile Atlantic spotted dolphins

Atlantic spotted dolphins leaping in front of the bow of our catamaran