Sperm whales in Pico and a dolphin show in São Miguel Island

Today was a perfect sunny day out on a flat ocean in São Miguel Island, which was great for spotting marine life from miles away. We had plenty of groups of dolphins out there to enjoy during the day, starting with some bottlenose dolphins close to the marina in the morning and a bit further out common dolphins that were feeding on a school of fish together with some seabirds.

From our big catamaran in the morning we also spotted three sharks while we were traveling, since the water was so calm we were able to see more than we usually would. In the afternoon we added two dolphin species to our sightings list for the day – Atlantic spotted dolphins and Risso’s dolphins. The Risso’s dolphins that were encountered from one of our boats were in a big group of about 30 individuals, including some really small babies. During the afternoon tour we also encountered the bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins again, so in total, we had 4 different dolphin species out there.

Photos by David Rodrigues

Bottlenose dolphins

Common dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins from our catamaran

Photos by Mariana Silva

Bottlenose dolphin surfacing

Cory’s shearwater with prey

Bottlenose dolphin underwater

Cory’s shearwaters

Photos by Laura Gonzalez

Risso’s dolphins

Risso’s dolphins

In Pico Island, our day was amazing since the Azores anticyclone is here we have perfect summer days and our sightings have been amazing as well! We saw a lot of Atlantic spotted dolphins, striped dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, pilot whales and…a group of female sperm whales with babies. One of the babies jumped out of the water for us. What an amazing moment!

Photos by Rui Santos