A nice day starting with resident dolphins and ending with false killer whales

This morning we set out on a calm ocean again to encounter some of the cetaceans of the Azores. It was just like another summer day again, with a perfect flat ocean and plenty of sunshine. Close to shore we encountered a social group of common dolphins that didn’t hesitate to come and check out our boats. After these dolphins we set out further offshore to look for a sperm whale that one of our lookouts had seen. We went to the area and waited and waited, but unfortunately this time the whale didn’t show up for us to see it. However, on our way back to shore we did encounter a nice group of bottlenose dolphins. We got to see some nice jumps from these dolphins, so it ended up being a nice morning in the company of two of our resident dolphin species.

In the afternoon we had more luck with the sperm whales. This time our lookout had seen a group of them and we were lucky to encounter several individuals. In fact we saw 4 different whales, of which 3 of them showed their tail. On our way back in we came across two different groups of common dolphins which we got to enjoy for a while before heading back in. Just when we thought we were done for the day we received the great news that there was a small group of false killer whales close to the airport. Ofcourse we didn’t hesitate to go there and we had a lovely encounter with these very curious false killer whales that came to our boats to bowride. We got to see a couple of very young calves surfacing high alongside the adults, so it was a magical encounter to end the day.

Photos from the morning: