Seven species of cetaceans in one morning

blue whale azores futurismo


The lucky number seven was witnessed today off the south of São Miguel. Today we had a whale of a time trip! The weather was amazing, it was sunny outside and the sea was calm. We were confident that we would see some of the incredible marine animals the Azores islands have to offer. But none of us would have ever imagined we would see so many species, especially because of the exclusiveness of some of them.


We started the trip watching a group of bottlenose dolphins that were milling very close to the shore, just below the lookout tower.

After they spent some time close to our boat, we left in search of our next species. We were lucky enough to spot a pod of orcas with a male and we can tell its gender by the size of its dorsal fin.  This animal caught a loggerhead turtle while we were out there!

This individual has been seen the first time 13 days ago by the Futurismo team, which we are able to say because of the photo identification work our biologists do on every trip. Our passengers were incredibly lucky as these animals are very rarely seen in this area.

And it was not only Orcas eating the poor sea turtle, also a Cory’s Shearwater had a good meal today!


At our next stop we were blessed by the presence of the giants of the ocean: blue whales. We were able to watch them very close to our boat so that we could see in detail their mottled grey skin, even though they are named blue whales. During this stop we were able to see a loggerhead turtle too, alive and safe this time.


The other Futurismo boat, Mirone, was able to see all these animals and also, Risso’s dolphins, common dolphins and several fin whales.

They also listened to the sperm whales, whose breaching was discovered at the horizon by some of us; which the lookouts confirmed from land.

So the spring bloom is showing a great abundance of life in its natural habitat. A day like this will be difficult to top but every trip is a unique experience and we are looking forward to greet you on board next time!

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