azwhales
This morning Futurismo had a film crew aboard, for our local TV channel, RTP Açores. To see the video which screened on the 20th of September click HERE (you can skip ahead to time 18:20 where the section on whale watching begins). Throughout the day we encountered 4 different dolphin species throughout the day. In the morning we encountered a couple of groups of common dolphins followed by bottlenose dolphins and finally Atlantic spotted dolphins. In the afternoon we encountered common dolphins again, then Risso’s dolphins and bottlenose dolphins to end the tour. We got to see some great groups and some really nice behaviours, including the common dolphins feeding (together with many seabirds) and the spotted dolphins fighting in the morning and the Risso’s dolphins diving deep in the afternoon, showing their tails like sperm whales. We also got to see many newborn baby dolphins of all species, and to continue our manta record another one was spotted in the afternoon from aboard one of our boats.
Photos from this morning:
Watching common dolphins
Common dolphins – see the tiny baby head surfacing next to its mother
Common dolphin
TV interview. We had a crew for national television (RTP) aboard with us.
TV presenter with bottlenose dolphins behind her
Baby Atlantic spotted dolphin leaping
Another baby Atlantic spotted dolphin (the spots appear later in life)
Atlantic spotted dolphins
Great shearwater (we haven’t seen one of these for a while)
Manx shearwater (a more rare seabird sighting)
Common tern, looking down for fish among the dolphins
Cory’s shearwater (our most encountered seabird species in the summer)
Passing Vila Franca islet, where our Full Day clients spent the afternoon snorkeling in the lagoon
Photos from this afternoon:
Risso’s dolphins
Risso’s doplhins (mature white adult with a dark calf diving alongside her)
Risso’s dolphins diving
Risso’s dolphins mother and calf pair
One of our boats with Risso’s dolphins in front of them
Juvenile bottlenose dolphin
Our swimming boat with bottlenose dolphins (with the biologist filming them underwater)
Watching bottlenose dolphins in a perfect calm ocean
Our watching boat and swimming boat in the background
azwhales
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
