A Sei whale and 3 different species of dolphins in São Miguel

Today, the sun is shinning and the sea is nice, giving us some great conditions for watching dolphins and whales. The whales were difficult to track down in the morning, although from one of our boats, some sperm whale clicks were heard in the hydrophone and the blow of a baleen whale (probably sei whale) was seen.

However in the morning, it was the dolphins who shone, giving us some great encounters. First we encountered a big group of bottlenose dolphins spread out over a large area. They came close to our boats to bowride and we got to see them really well.

A bit further west, we encountered an active group of striped dolphins. There were many small babies in the group, leaping alongside the adults.

In the afternoon, we were very lucky because we encountered three different species. We started our trip with two sei whales. They were travelling to the west and we could accompany them for a while. It was a nice encounter because they were swimming very close to the surface the whole time. We left the area of the sei whales and continued our trip.

Next, our boats arrived to a very nice group of bottlenose dolphins foraging and socializing.

And finally, before we ended our magnificent trip, we managed to see a group of common dolphins very active and they were feeding together with the Cory’s shearwaters. It looked like an amazing scene of National Geographic! Let’s see what is waiting for us tomorrow!