Orcas in São Miguel!!!

This afternoon we had an incredible encounter with orcas (also known as killer whales) in São Miguel, Azores. It was a very nice surprise not just for the clients, but also for the crew, as orcas don’t appear often in the Azores and we never know when they will show up. This year we have been lucky to see them 3 times. Today’s encounter was with 2 groups which in the end came together to form a big group of about 20 orcas. The group included 3 huge males, several females and also some juveniles. Our photo-ID research show we have not seen this group here before, so they will be added as new individuals in our orca catalogue. We also encountered sperm whales today, a group of at least 6 individuals together. It’s always nice to see our resident whales, especially when we get to see their tails, of which we got to see 5 different ones today! We also encountered smaller dolphin species today: our resident common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins and also a big active group of Atlantic spotted dolphins in the morning. São Miguel was definitely the place to be today!

Photos from today: