azwhales
It seems like the migratory whales season really took off. We saw two species of these majestic animals again. We left Ponta Delgada for our morning whale watching trip with the sun shining and not much ondulation, although as we navigated the sky got covered and the sea got rougher.
We first encountered a small group of common dolphins some time after leaving the marina. They were not very interested in us but we could still enjoy some jumps as they were swimming fast. The group also included lots of calves.
We kept on traveling southeast and arrived to an area with whales. There were several animals: two fin whales and two blue whales had been spotted from the different boats, the biggest and second biggest animals that have ever lived on Earth.
They appeared on the surface few times and showed their typical behaviour blowing and arching the back. These species of whales don’t usually show their tails as other species like the sperm whales or the humpback whales.
We headed back to Ponta Delgada knowing we had witnessed a special moment, which doesn’t happen everyday. Hopefully these animals will stay in our waters for some time.
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| Fin whale |
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Today in the morning, our guests left mesmerized. During our swimming with dolphins trip we found two resident species in the area. The bottlenose dolphins were really curious with the boat and also with our swimmers. They could even feel the echolocation sounds emitted by the bottlenose on their body and their whistling sounds coming from every direction!
The other resident species that appeared swimming in the area, Risso’s dolphins, were also seen quite well. They were having a calm and slow swimming behavior, staying near the surface for a long time. One of the whitish males got curious with our swimmers, staying quite stopped in the water column the both species – human and dolphin – understanding each other. Amazing!
Our guests also had the opportunity to enter the water along with a loggerhead sea turtle which today’s sea was full of.
The great surprise of the day: a big sunfish that we found swimming near the surface!
They are the heaviest of all the bony fishes in the Ocean and quite impressive to see underwater! Nowadays, they are considered vulnerable mostly due to the big problems of today’s world Oceans: entanglements on ghost nets and eating plastic that looks like one of their main preys: jellyfish!
Both turtles and sunfishes forage on jellyfishes. Jellyfishes are plankton, and our big baleen whales’ main prey is also one type of plankton! So, let the Spring keep on bringing us much plankton to feed all of these beautiful animals near our coasts!
Let’s see what we can observe in our next trips tomorrow! Who wants to join aboard?
azwhales
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
