Our most encountered sperm whale and the acrobats

Today we encountered our most famous and most encountered sperm whale here off São Miguel Island. He is a large male who we call “Mr Liable” because he is a very reliable whale that always returns to our waters and is usually very predictable in his dive times and in showing a really great big tail when he goes down on a deep feeding dive. In the early morning our lookouts first saw him with a female, but when we got out to him he was alone again. We got to see him up for a long time, and then the magic moment – his great big tail! The morning tour was completed with two very nice dolphin encounters – our resident bottlenose dolphins (who were socialising and jumping near our boats) and a large feeding group of Atlantic spotted dolphins together with Cory’s shearwaters. In the afternoon we met “Mr Liable” again but this time he wasn’t hungry any longer and just went for shallow dives. Later we met a pod of Risso Dolphin’s which were even approaching the boat. The people on Cetus witnessed a show of leaping Risso’s while on Quatro Ventos we enjoyed the coordinated leaps of Atlantic spotted dolphins on the morning and afternoon trip. What a great experience!

Photos from today:

Who is watching who? Curious bottlenose dolphin close up

Mr Liable a big sperm whale male fluking

Show of Atlantic spotted dolphins during the feeding scene on the morning tour

The show of the Atlantic spotted dolphins goes on …

While some of the Atlantic spotted dolphins are working others are having fun

Adult Risso’s Dolphin breaching

As it was so nice to see more of the body of these species, the Risso’s Dolphin showed off again

The afternoon Atlantic spotted dolphins had as much energy as the ones in the morning

Two male Atlantic spotted dolphins seen in the sequence of their coordinated high leaps

As this leaps are happening so fast, a chance to see the Atlantic spotted dolphins in a still image

What goes up, must come down, the Atlantic spotted Dolphins just before entering their usual habitat again