Clear skies, lots of dolphins and Sperm whale close up today!

Once again the weather conditions are with us in the Azores, summer is starting to feel closer! The sea conditions today were optimal to try to find animals a bit further from the coast. Our boats started the day moving away from the island guided by the lookouts, in order to find several big groups of dolphins.

The people that went out sooner on the Zodiac were the first to find a group of bottlenose dolphins, among which they were able to spot numerous females swimming with their calves. Also some of them decided to engage in some spectacular bow-riding.

On board the catamaran, and accompanied by the other boat, we approached the next point indicated by the lookouts, where we began to see the first dorsal fins coming out of the water. Before we knew it we were surrounded by dolphins, this time common dolphins, swimming and jumping all over the place. We were also able to enjoy some of them up close, who once again took advantage of the boat’s speed by swimming under our bow. Others, more distant, dedicated us flashy coordinated jumps and other forms of socialising, such as “tail slapping”.

Moments later, we decided to leave the area in the hope of encountering larger animals. During the navigation, however, we did not fail to see other groups of common dolphins appearing along the way.

Finally, one of our biologists seemed to have spotted a sperm whale blow, although we don’t manage to get there in time to see it. The same situation is repeated a couple of times more, blow in sight but no sign of anything else…
Today turned out to be one of those days that remind us of how difficult it can be to work with wild animals in their natural environment; no matter how hard we try to find them, they don’t always appear. However, it was certainly a great day of dolphin watching with unbeatable weather.

More luck seems to have been on the side of another of our trips that went out a little later, who were able to see a sperm whale from up close.