Sperm whales, pilot whales and common dolphins

Today we started the morning with a mission – to see a group of sperm whales that our vigia (onshore lookout) had spotted far away between São Miguel Island and Santa Maria Island. On perfect summer’s days like today our vigias can spot whales a long way off the coastline so this means that sometimes we have to travel far to see them. The trip was well worth it as we arrived to the area to see 8 sperm whales at the surface socialising together. The family group of females had a small newborn calf with it which was playfully rolling around alongside the larger females. While we watched then we had the backdrop of Santa Maria Island in the distance behind them.

We also encountered dolphins throughout the day. During both the morning and afternoon we encountered groups of common dolphins. Our swimmers also reported some really nice swimming throughout the day with this beautiful yellow-sided dolphin species. In the afternoon we also encountered a much larger dolphin species: pilot whales! We have not seen pilot whales since July 4th, so it was a nice surprise.

Beautiful views of São Miguel Island on our way back to Ponta Delgada

Juvenile tern