Sandrina RodriguesWe started the day with smooth southern wind that brought us great treasures and a seasonal surprise.
In the morning we started our trip with one of the biggest dolphin species that can be sighted in the Azores, pilot whales! Although they are called whales, they belong to the dolphins family. A big dolphin, males can reach up to seven meters in lenght while females about five and a half meters. We found a group of around 30 individuals, even a calf passing by in front our boat. Pilot whales are seasonal, usually we can see them from late spring until the waters still warm.
Very close to them we could see a blow and we had a beautiful surprise; sperm whales including a calf that could be breastfeeding since it was diving under its mother all the time.
Our zodiac boats also had the chance to encounter two more groups of dolphins: bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins. But they soon disapeared underwater.
In the afternoon, we went out and our lookouts guided our catamaran to some sperm whales. Again a female with a calf, they kept on the surface since the calf was very young. We stayed with them until the lookouts told us one more time a new location.
A huge group of common dolphin was waiting for us. It is also, just like the sperm whales, reproduction season and when they give birth so a lot of offspring was seen, some of them from last year but a few, so tiny, that couldn’t be older than one week. During the sighting, we saw some big splashes! After approaching, we realized there were two juveniles sperm whale and one of them was breaching!
Is always so exciting 🙂
You can never get tired of these amazing animals and surprises that the ocean offers us. Join us to the next journey and let nature guide us.
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
