Futurismo Biologists TeamThe ninth month of 2022 was certainly a very special time for the Atlantic waters of São Miguel.
Sighting with high frequencies our beloved seasonal friends the Atlantic Spotted dolphins. These spotted and slick swimmers makes us wonder about the journey they partake in order to arrive to our blue coasts. We love seeing these huge pods of dolphins feeding from the fish the waters provide in order gain the strength they need, to go back to warmer waters when winter will arrive.
Not only were we able to spot as well our 4 resident species 3 of them being dolphins: risso’s dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and the common dolphins as well as our emblematic resident whale, the sperm whale. Giving us the certainty that the populations are thriving in the Archipelago.
In Azores one can see sperm whales the whole year yet the frequencies of sightings change with time and September definitely did not disappoint with frequencies of 50% meaning that we had a one in two chances of seeing them during our tours.
The highlight of this adventure certainly came with the first sighting of the year of the deepest diving cetacean in the world, ziphius cavirostris or commonly known as the cuvier’s beaked whale. These rare whales are as mysterious as they are beautiful, our biologists and guests savoured the moment when a massive scared male was sighted next two females. These elusive animals are hard to see and when spotted it certainly enters our list of exciting moments for the year 2022.
Fin whales pass by the atlantic usually in april and we are used to wait for them at this time of the year yet when in September a massive individual passed outside the coast of the known town of Ferraria leaving us in amazed.
The northern part of the island was also ruled by sightings on every tour of large headed sperm whales and sightings of Atlantic spotted dolphins and common dolphins feeding in the north.
We can’t wait to share the adventures of next month!
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
