azwhales
Our day started with a long trip towards the East side of the island. Nevertheless, it was well worth it. Right out of Ribeira Quente we found 8 sperm whales.
At first, we found just a couple of them but little by little more individuals joined to their calm and steady navigation.
They stayed relaxed on the surface, allowing us to appreciate all their details. On our way back to Ponta Delgada we encountered a big group of Risso’s dolphins, it was a bigger than usual for this species, we estimated around 30 individuals. They were mainly adults but we also distinguish some calves in the group thanks to their darker colouration.
In the afternoon we didn’t need to go so far to find animals, with the help of the lookouts we found a numerous group of common dolphins. They were very active and plenty of baby dolphins were swimming along with their mothers.
After that, just 5 miles out of Sao Roque we found some sperm whales. We concentrated our efforts on one of them that was especially active. It breached a few times, made sudden movements with its tails and even defecated in front of us.
When it went to shallow water we saw the tail of a different animal right before heading back to Ponta Delgada.
It doesn’t matter which direction we take, east or west, the sea is always full of life off the coast of São Miguel.
azwhales
Equipa de Biólogos da Futurismo
Sandrina Rodrigues
