Futurismo Biologists TeamIn the morning we saw the very rarely seen orcas. Three years passed since we saw them the last time! An amazing sighting on a stunning sunny day with a calm sea, which seemed to be prepared just for us to see this species properly.
But there was much more… a total of 11 sperm whales were counted, some of them were temporarily visited by a group of bottlenose dolphins that appeared to be very curious and sociable with them, though probably became a bit annoying like flies for the sperm whales! Before this explosion of biodiversity we saw, as well a group of bottlenose dolphins closer to shore.
Moreover, numerous Portuguese-man-of-war were present during the trip, as well as seagulls and Cory’s shearwaters.
Regarding the orcas seen today, there were two males, one female and a calf in one subgroup. And bit further away seen from another of our boats was the other subgroup with another male, three females and a calf. Some of them were seen showing active behaviour, like slapping the belly, tails and fins. This species have been studied by Georgina, a biologist of ours, who photo identified 55 orcas off São Miguel Island up to now. They seem to appear more likely between March and May, nevertheless have been seen in other times of the year.
Even some Risso’s dolphins were spotted by Futurismo.
In the afternoon the wind increased a bit but we enjoyed the company of a sperm whale, a very interesting, gentle giant male, showing us its majestical, well marked tail twice.
Besides, a very small group of common dolphins were observed in the beginning of the journey. Always beautiful and colourful. So 5 different cetaceans species plus much more wildlife made us very happy today!
Join us on the next adventure, maybe tomorrow?
Equipa de Biólogos da Futurismo
Sandrina Rodrigues
Futurismo Biologists Team
