A summer day with fin whales and dolphins

Today we encountered fin whales, a species not so common in the Azores during the summer time, as these ocean migrators usually pass the islands during the spring and spend the summer up in the colder waters around Iceland and Norway mostly. Although our resident sperm whales were around (our lookout on land saw them), we didn’t encounter them, but nevertheless we enjoyed our encounters with the visiting fin whales. During both the morning and afternoon we saw two different individuals. We also encountered bottlenose dolphins throughout the day, and right at the end of the afternoon a nice group of Atlantic spotted dolphins.

Fin whale dorsal

Atlantic spotted dolphins – notice the younger dolphin doesn’t have spots yet