Active dolphins and sei whales

Today we have a bit more wind, but this makes for nice conditions to see active dolphins, because they enjoy leaping out of the waves. That is exactly what we saw first thing this morning when we went out on our boats. We had a nice group of about 40 to 50 bottlenose dolphins that were all leaping together in sync out of the waves. We could see several young juveniles and even some calves in this travelling group. A bit further out we could enjoy a  nice group of Atlantic spotted dolphins that seemed to be feeding, as they were also active, but staying in one area and accompanied by many birds. As for the whales, those aboard our zodiac boat in the morning managed to see two sei whales that were far to the east. From aboard our catamaran we tried to see a different baleen whale, possibly also a sei whale. Although we saw several blows and we remained very patient, this whale did not want to show more of itself. We did end our catamaran morning tour nicely by encountering our friendly bottlenose dolphins again.

In the afternoon the sea was not the best but the dolphins were! We started the trip with a very nice group of common dolphins that were surfing the waves and jumping over them. There was some babies as we often see at this time of the year and they were all having some fun around the boat. We continued our trip and found a group of Atlantic spotted dolphins thanks to a huge group of Cory’s shearwater looking for fish. Like that, all of us were happy (except the fishes), we found the dolphins, the dolphins and birds found the fish. On our way back to Ponta Delgada we saw a beautiful rainbow waiting for us. 

Juvenile bottlenose dolphin leaping