Dolphins all around us!

This week has been quite difficult to go out to the sea because of the rough sea, however today the wind allowed us to do what we love. And guess what? We had what we like to call, a morning of dolphins. Three species of dolphins in one morning!! How good is this?

Our lookouts on land spotted some dolphins and so we left the harbour to try to find them. We didn’t take that long to get to them and identify that the first ones were Risso’s dolphins! One of our four resident species in Azores, but the one that we see with less frequency. Even when underwater, we could spot their white body, caused by their heavily marked skin, full of scars. This species born completely grey, but as they have a very sensitive skin gain scars easily and so as they get old, they are more white than grey.

Our next encounter was with bottlenose dolphins. Another resident species. This species can reach up to 4 meters, but the individuals that we saw today weren’t that big. The group was big but quite dispersed. Even though, they gifted us with some incredible acrobatic leaps.

We left this species and headed to another area where our lookouts sighted the last species of the morning. Atlantic spotted dolphins!! A huge group travelling fast towards west. This species is one of the seasonal dolphins that arrive to the Azores when the waters are warmer, and we make sure to enjoy every moment that we are lucky to sight this species. Their spotted body when they are adults and the amount of calves in each encounter is unforgettable!

The afternoon showed clearly how much they move around, as in our range none of these three species of the morning tour could be found anymore, but a different one the common dolphin! We had a nice encounter with the most colourful dolphins of the area. They looked like they were intending to mate, so maybe in 11 months, there will be more baby dolphins around. We also took the chance to see the islet of Vila Franca and the lookouts tower in a close-up, so it was also a nice tour.