Sightings statistics November 2022 in São Miguel island

Another month has passed and winter is coming!

With the passing of the summer season, the variety of visitors is usually shrinking here on the Azores. During the whole month of November 2022, we were able to observe at least nine different species around the still warm waters of São Miguel. We could spot some of our resident species, like common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). However, we also had some more surprising visitors for this time of the year. Further, we were the ones seeing spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis), striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), pilot whales (Globicephala sp.), false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens), minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and even a humpback whale (Balaenoptera novaeangliae)!

Not too surprisingly the common dolphins have been our leading sightings this month. This resident species can be found all year long around the Azores and we can often rely on them! They could be found in almost 90% of all our sea days this month. In contrast to other dolphin species, this one is easily recognizable by its coloration and with its mostly curious behavior always a joyful encounter.
Still, 64% of our sightings were filled with spotted dolphins, which are a summer visitor species. It has been common that these guys leave by beginning of November because the waters were getting too cold here. During the last years, we could already observe that they tend to stay longer nowadays. It might be related to the rising average sea temperature of the Atlantic Ocean.

The sperm whale, our only resident whale, stayed loyal to us and we could spot them in 57% of our days at sea. Moreover, this species contributed to one of our highlights this month – a special hunt. We have been fortunate to observe false killer whales trying to get a snack on some sperm whale calves, but the group of females formed a protective circle and successfully defended their offspring from this fatal destiny. So, our crew and guests could breathe through as we had a happy ending.

Talking about false killer whales – they appeared just during this month almost as often as usually during a complete year! On 4 different days at sea, we were accompanied by these mysterious creatures. Besides this awesome hunting scene, we also had a very emotional encounter with a big pod of more than 20 individuals, some of them even leaping out of the water! Our crew members have been at least as excited as the guests.

Another dolphin species, which we could observe on 4 different sea days, has been the bottlenose dolphin. As it is one of our residents, we have the opportunity to see them regularly every month. Also this month they did not disappoint us and showed off with some amazing jumps!
Some more summertime visitors surprised us in November. Striped dolphins and pilot whales were passing by on the same day. Both species were absent last month and the striped dolphins have not been seen since August!

Apart from the resident sperm whales, we had a few delightful encounters with some migratory baleen whales – the minke whale and the humpback whale. In general baleen whales can be observed during springtime on the Azores. They typically pass by on their way from Southern latitudes to the Northern oceans. The migratory process of minke whales is not fully understood yet and less predictable than the one from other baleen whales, as for example humpback whales. The latter was a true surprise! We actually expected to see some common dolphins, but then suddenly a humpback whale just appeared in between them! Crew and guests were overwhelmed by mixed emotions. They were thrilled that we were able to see this beautiful animal, but at the same time concerned to see this species here during November. This may be another example for rising sea temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean.

As the month of November was full of surprises, we are curious to see which gifts we will get in December. So stay tuned!