Whales among the waves

Today we went out in the morning with two zodiac boats and our catamaran Quatro ventos. 

We started the trip heading East where our lookout found two humpback whales, we could see them quite close to our boat allowing us to take great pictures from their tails. It is possible to recognise the different individuals from this species using the pictures from the underside of its tail.

As soon as we were back to our office we checked the tails in our catalog... no matches today! We will share these pictures with more catalogs from the North Atlantic, let's see if "our" whales have been seen else where.

After the two humpback whales we had another call from our lookout... a family of sperm whales was around the area! Different boats from our company could see different animals, we saw both females and males!

Starting the way back we found a group of bottlenose dolphins. It was really nice to see babies! they were full of energy bow riding the boat, playing with the waves.

Our catamaran Cuatro Ventos could also see a group of common dolphins travelling fast between the waves.

The afternoon trip was cancelled due to the weather conditions... Let's see what we have tomorrow... every day is really different in spring time!

Photos from today:

 A humpback whale next to our boat

Humpback whale surfacing

The tail of the humpback whale

 Sperm whale going for a dive

Sperm whale among the waves

Bottlenose dolphin

A group of bottlenose dolphins close to the coast

A fine fin whale day

It's been another great day out on a calm ocean, enjoying some of the different cetacean species that we can encounter in the Azores. Throughout the day we encountered different fin whales. First in the morning we had two very big individuals (so big that from a distance they were mistaken for blue whales) far to the west. In the afternoon we had at least 4 different fin whales travelling together. There were also bottlenose dolphins throughout the day, and some common dolphins that we passed on our way back into the marina in the morning.

Photos from the morning:

Portuguese man-o-war

Pomarine skua

Photos from the afternoon:

Baleen Whales :)

Baleen Whale's Day! In the morning we went out with two boats. Was difficult in the beginning but after a few minutes we found the whale. We had a Humpback Whale and a nice group of common dolphins. In the afternoon, the sea was stronger ... but we could see two beautiful Fin Whales! :D

Megaptera novaeangliae | Humpback whale

Balaenoptera physalus | Fin whale

Megaptera novaeangliae | Humpback whale

ORCAS!!!

Orcas, orcas and guess what?? More orcas: D Yesterday the sea was rough and the wind did not stop blowing. In the morning our Catamaran, just turning aroun the port encountered two Sei whales that accompanied them for some time and then they received information that our zodiac was with a magnificent group of orcas. Our catamaran arrived and the zodiac moved to a group of fin whales... In the afternoon trip the story was repeated: D MORE ORCAS !!

Balaenoptera borealis | Sei whale

Orcinus orca | Orca/Killer whale

Orcinus orca | Orca/Killer whale

Orcinus orca | Orca/Killer whale

Orcinus orca | Orca/Killer whale

Orcinus orca | Orca/Killer whale

Orcinus orca | Orca/Killer whale

Orcinus orca | Orca/Killer whale

Orcinus orca | Orca/Killer whale

A full day with orcas, fin whales and plenty of dolphins

Today we had a full day out on the ocean, with plenty of different species to see. Our highlight of the day was a small group of at least 5 orcas (also known as killer whales) in the morning. They were going on long dives so were difficult to see well, but it was a rare treat as this is a species that we don't see often in the Azores. In fact, it was our first encounter with orcas this year! We also encountered three different species from the dolphin family today: in the morning our swimming with dolphins clients were with both bottlenose dolphins and Risso's dolphins, and in the afternoon we all re-encountered bottlenose dolphins and a few common dolphins were also spotted along the way. As for the large whales, today we also had several fin whales around São Miguel Island. In the morning we encountered two and in the afternoon at least five together. Just like yesterday the fin whales were very calm today, almost lying stationary at the surface. It was another great day to remember :)

Photos from today:

5 orcas

Orca surfacing

Orcas diving

One of our zodiac boats with a fin whale

Fin whale blow

Fin whale curving its back to dive

Bottlenose dolphins

A fine day with fin whales and common dolphins

Today was an amazing day for whale and dolphin watching. The sun was out all day, the sea was calm and we had whales and dolphins to see all day. In the morning we encountered three fin whales to the west, and in the afternoon fin whales again, but this time two individuals, and very big ones. The whales were very curious today, we arrived to the area where they were diving, and didn't have to move much as they always surfaced nearby. We also enjoyed the company of beautiful common dolphins throughout the day, and our swimming clients got to experience seeing them underwater.

Photos from today:

Fin whale blow

3 dolphin species

Today was a dolphin day, with three different species, all of them residents. During the morning tour we enjoyed the company of common dolphins and striped dolphins. In the afternoon the common dolphins appeared again and this species made for some great dolphin swimming today. We also saw a group of about 10 Risso's dolphins in the afternoon. It was a calm group of mostly adults, but we also saw two juveniles in the group who were easy to recognise because as well as being smaller they are totally grey. The adults are very white from being covered in scratches. Check out the photos:

Common dolphin

One of our swimming boats this afternoon

3 adult Risso's dolphins

Risso's dolphins adult (white individual) and juvenile (dark individual)

 Striped dolphins

March 2017 sightings statistics

This was a good month in terms of the variety of species on the island of São Miguel. During this month of March we saw 8 different species: 4 species of dolphins and 4 species of whales. The Common dolphin and the sperm whale were our champions in the sightings, but the fin whales and the bottlenose dolphins are not far behind. This month we saw very different groups of Bottlenose Dolphins. It was possible to see two groups that we had not seen for a long time, the Egyptian group and Max group. We also started to see the first humpback whales and in these last days the sei whales also began their visits to our seas. This month of March was a good start for migratory whales, we hope April will bring us many more surprises.