Whales near to shore

Today is another day of whales, being the baleen whale season now it is common to see at least one baleen whale species almost every tour. This morning we started with a fin whale near to shore, to the west of Ponta Delgada. The whale was going on long dives, probably in search of food, but we managed to see it well every time it came up to the surface. Especially from aboard our catamaran, Quatro ventos as the whale came up close to the front of our boat twice! We also enjoyed a nice social group of common dolphins not far from the whale area.

In the afternoon we saw a fin whale again, but first we saw another whale species – our resident sperm whale! In fact we had a big group of them to see, a total of about 15 whales spread out over a fairly large area. They were coming and going to the surface, so we cruised around and saw many different individuals. With a bit of patience we even saw some tails. As in the morning, we ended our afternoon tour nicely with a group of our resident common dolphins.

Photos from today:

Fin whale blow

Fin whale from the morning surfacing in front of our catamaran

Fin whale a bit further away

One of the sperm whale tails from the afternoon

Juvenile sperm whale

Juvenile sperm whale

Sperm whale side by side

Fin whale head just before surfacing

Fin whale

Fin whale

Common dolphin

Common dolphins