azwhales
Today was a rough day at sea! But this did not stop us from searching for cetaceans. And wow did we manage! After arriving in the area where the look-out had seen something, we saw a big blow! And it was not just a blow of a whale…this blow was really tall and columnar. We waited and waited but did not see much…until suddenly again, BLOW! It was the blow of a blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, reaching a maximum ever recorded size of 33m. In the moment of this sighting, all the rough seas were forgotten.
The moment this gigantic whale was showing off a part of its body at the surface was truly unique. And very special for all our guests, particularly for a special woman that has been going out to the sea with us since 2006. The first blue whale for her too!
On the way back, we did not manage to see other cetacean species, however we saw a Norwegian tall ship that was arriving to Ponta Delgada. This large beauty sailed passed us and left us with a beautiful sight on our way back.
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At Pico Island, we started our morning travelling West and saw three Sei whales: 2 adults and one juvenile. They were swimming close to each others, creating a rainbow in the sky each time the water droplets released by their expirations were touched by the sun rays.
These Sei whales- along with our lookout – led us up to a pod of sperm whales and, for some seconds, three species shared the same area ( Humans along with Sei whales and sperm whales! 😉 ). We saw 2 of these resident whales near our boat and some more scattered around the area.
These two engaged in what seemed to be a social behavior in-between them, rolling on their bellies and showing us the tip of their caudal fins. Eventually they shallow dived together and we continued to navigate.
Our lookout showed us the directions towards a small pod of common dolphins travelling fast and surfing the waves accompanied by some Cory’s shearwaters. As they passed underneath our boat, we noticed some small juveniles among the adult individuals. To finish the morning in a perfect way, we got to see one last sperm whale with the full view over Pico behind it!
azwhales
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
