Sandrina RodriguesAnother morning in the high sea! This time the sun did not accompany us at all, but what remained was the desire and the illusion of seeing the greatest number of animals.
Our trip began with our lookout alerting us of the presence of a sperm whale in our area. The animal had dived sometime earlier so it must was about to surface. We were all wide-eyed. The first blow was a long time coming, but once we saw it, off we went. We could see that it was an adult male. The animal made a couple of blows and disappeared doing a mid-water dive. Then we saw it again in another area but the animal was still a bit elusive with us.
Later on, the individual finally reappeared and this time it showed itself better and stayed on the surface breathing. At that moment a group of bottlenose dolphins appeared around it. We had from adult individuals to calves traveling in different directions. Some of them even delighted us with jumps showing us their characteristic grayish body. The sperm whale was not happy about the presence of the dolphins and moved away from them, going into the depths without showing us its tail. Nevertheless, we were fortunate to experience in person this association between these two species as it is not at all common! How wonderful morning!
In the afternoon we set off again, hoping to repeat the success of the morning. We left the harbour with similar sea conditions as in the previous trip, heading for the open sea again. During the navigation, the first surprise… a shark! On our trips, we often come across other marine species. On this occasion it was probably a hammerhead or blue shark (they are quite shy and usually leave as soon as the boat approaches). However, we did not dawdle and continued on our way to the area indicated by the lookouts, where a bigger surprise awaited us. As soon as we arrived, there they were: pilot whales!!!
This was our second sighting of this species this year, after yesterday’s lucky day.
In fact it was most probably the same group than yesterday, but with more individuals this time. Without a doubt a peaceful sighting of some very calm animals, which nobody would say are nicknamed as the “cheetahs” of the sea (due to their great speed while hunting).
Finally, and as it could not be otherwise… a whale blow in sight!
The finishing touch for today came from a big sperm whale swimming under the rain, just spectacular. The animal was well over 15 metres long, and its humpback left no doubt that it was a big male. Because of its size, it is not surprising that this is a survivor of past whaling in the Azores, which ended in the mid-1980s. It is reasonable to think that this is why its behaviour was somewhat elusive compared to the more confident and young sperm whales we normally see.
Definitely, a great day to remember, and as some people say… it’s not bad weather, it’s the wrong clothes!
If you don’t want to miss the surprises that the ocean can offer you, don’t hesitate and your seat with us now!
Futurismo Biologists Team
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
