The island is 46 km of long and 15 km wide<\/strong>, which makes it the second biggest island of the Azorean archipelago. In its centre is located the highest mountain of Portugal<\/strong>, with 2,351 meters of basalt emerging from the ground and another 6,098 m that extend immersed through the depths of the ocean, involving a resting volcano. To better understand the volcanic history of the island, you can visit the underground caves, whose lava tunnels are still quite well preserved, with the longest counting with an extension of up to 5 km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pico is the newest<\/strong> of all the 9 islands, a baby with only 300,000 years. The last eruptions occurred at 1718 and 1720, and locals called them “mysteries”. They are still well demarcated in the coast landscape and can be easily spotted from the sea on the south side of the island. In Pico, finding a little sand or even an evolved and compound soil can become an interesting challenge. Here, we mostly find mountains decorated with volcanic rocks, some patches of native vegetation and extensive pastures with cattle. The landscapes of vineyards<\/a> with their extensive labyrinths of volcanic stone walls were considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO <\/strong>(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2004. Those vineyards cultivated on lava floors are unique in the world. If we imagine all the walls in a single line, they would surround twice the Equator!<\/p>\n\n\n\n During almost two centuries (starting at the middle of the XVIIth) in Azores, and specially in Pico, most peasants – from the youngest teenager to the oldest elderly – had turned to the sea to seek sustenance for their families. “With harpoons and prayers, they have been hunting whales<\/a><\/strong> for decades (\u2026)” Due to the past importance of this socioeconomic activity, much of the Whaling heritage was conserved up to today. It allows us to almost revive it, to imagine it while visiting the Whaling Museum<\/a><\/strong> in Lajes do Pico and the main whale factory at S\u00e3o Roque do Pico. Some of the techniques developed by the whalers are still used today for Whale Watching \u2013 for example, the teamwork with the lookouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to know more about the reality during Pico whaling times join us for a guided tour <\/strong>throughout all these heritage points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Pico is the most beautiful, most extraordinary island in the Azores \u2013 with a beauty that belongs only to it, a wonderful colour and strange power of attraction. It is more than an island \u2013 it is a statue rising to the sky and shaped by fire \u2013 it is another Adamastor, like the one at Cape of Good Hope.” (Raul BRAND\u00c3O, The Unknown Islands)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The physical-chemical environment characterizing this marine area, a small parcel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that extends from the surface down to abyssal depths, is extremely diverse and complex. The 9 volcanic islands of the Azores were formed along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge <\/strong>and are distributed along the borders of the three tectonic plates that here are bounded together (American plate, Eurasian and African). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Around the islands, a few miles off the coast, the bathymetries go down with depressions of abrupt slopes that take us to depths greater than 3,000m<\/strong>. So far, in these areas have been discovered 6 hydrothermal vents, which are extreme and rich environments that fertilize the waters and harbor many unique species. From these depths rise more than 200 submarines mounts (which were once active volcanoes). They rise at least 1,000m above the benthos, and usually induce an explosion of marine life<\/strong>, creating important aggregation zones for preys and predators of the sea, as marine birds, several tunas species, sharks and our dear cetaceans! Finally, in the Azores, we have wide seasonally variations in water temperatures, reaching a minimum of about 15\u00baC in March<\/strong> and maximum of almost 25 \u00baC at the end of summer<\/strong>-beginning of autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to all these conditions, currently there are described for the archipelago 28 different species of cetaceans<\/strong>, which is about one third of the total number in the entire world. Some species can be considered resident because we are able to sight them regularly throughout the year. Our resident species are the sperm whales<\/a>, common dolphins<\/a>, bottlenose dolphins<\/a> and Risso\u2019s dolphins<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On our tours in Pico, we go out to the sea with a maximum of 16 guests<\/strong> in our zodiac Alfredo Baleeiro, which was named like one of the lookouts that worked for the whalers before the hunting was banned in 1986<\/strong>, and after the prohibition, he started to find cetaceans for whale watching instead of whale hunting. During the 2018 season<\/a>, from April to October, the species that we mostly found around the island were Risso\u2019s dolphins (seen on 64.2% of the days we went out), sperm whales (62.2%) and common dolphins (53.4%). Especially during the spring, we sighted the big baleen whales: the blue whale<\/a>, the fin whale<\/a>, the Sei whale<\/a> and the humpback whale<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most frequently sighted baleen whales in 2018 were the fin and the blue whale<\/strong>, sighted, respectively, on 61.7% and 42.55% of the days we went out in spring. However, sei whale and humpback whale were the least frequent: sighted on 12.77% and 4.26% of our spring days. Our sightings of sei whales extended up to the end of summer. When the water temperature got warmer our sightings of the just arrived curious and active spotted dolphins<\/a> started. We also started to see the large families of pilot whales<\/a> and various species of beaked whales<\/a> (Ziphiidae family) \u2013 the Abyssal divers-, who in the summertime always mesmerize us with their high jumps. In the warmer periods we can sometimes see tropical species such as Bryde’s Whales<\/a>. \u00a0Finally, the species whose sightings appear to us always as a surprise are Orcas<\/a>, Fraser’s dolphins<\/a>, rough toothed dolphins<\/a>, and the pygmy and dwarf sperm whales. Some of them, such as orcas or false orcas – for example – can be spotted here during every season, but in such an occasionally and irregular way that we cannot predict any pattern (yet!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"pico](\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/FotoResendes1-1024x678.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"pico](\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSCF3500-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe marine mammals that can be sighted from Pico<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"risso's](\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20180817.1.a76ef047d8d24c03823acdf41c4ee7c8.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"whale](\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20180513.1.a76ef047d8d24c03823acdf41c4ee7c8.jpg\")
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![\"dolphins](\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20180918.a76ef047d8d24c03823acdf41c4ee7c8.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"swimming](\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Swimmingwithdolphins.a76ef047d8d24c03823acdf41c4ee7c8.jpg\")
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