azwhales
Today we had many whales off the south coast of São Miguel Island. In the morning we encountered 2 humpback whales, one of which we could confirm is the same as yesterday because we managed to photograph the identifying marks on the underside of its tail. Most likely its the same humpback whale pair that we encountered yesterday, a pair of very big individuals! Throughout the day we also encountered many fin whales, probably a total of 5 individuals both in the morning and afternoon. We could see their blows everywhere among the waves. One of the whales from the morning was very unusual, with a smaller than usual dorsal fin and a body shape that indicated that it may have been a blue whale, only it had the colouration of a fin whale. This unusual whale may have been a hybrid between a blue whale and a fin whale, which is something that is known to happen. Every day that we go out we have a surprise waiting for us!
Photos from today:
Humpback whale surfacing to breathe
Humpback whale dorsal
Humpback whale tail
Fin whale surfacing
Fin whale swimming against the waves
Fin whale (note the white colour from the right side of the lower jaw)
Dorsal fin from one of the fin whales
The whale with the smaller dorsal fin
One of our boats in the morning
Our catamaran Cuatro Ventos this afternoon
azwhales
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
