{"id":2305,"date":"2010-05-22T21:47:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-22T21:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/22\/incredible-encounters-with-humpback\/"},"modified":"2019-11-22T22:27:33","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T22:27:33","slug":"incredible-encounters-with-humpback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/incredible-encounters-with-humpback\/","title":{"rendered":"Incredible encounters with a humpback whale mother and calf!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\">\n<div>\n<span style=\"background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;\"><b>HUMPBACK WHALES IN SAO MIGUEL<\/b><\/span><span style=\"color: magenta; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><b><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: magenta; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: magenta;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"color: black; font-family: inherit;\">Today the passengers on both our morning and afternoon tours were treated to a rare and amazing encounter with a <a href=\"http:\/\/azoreswhales.blogspot.pt\/2007\/07\/humpback-whale.html\">humpback whale<\/a> mother and calf. Humpback whales are well known for their very long pectoral fins, their aerial behaviours, and their beautiful and complex songs that are sung by the males of the species.&nbsp; We were very lucky to see some of the leaps that these whales are famous for.&nbsp; The calf in particular was seen repeatedly breaching, lobtailing, spyhopping and pectoral fin slapping. These photos captured by our biologist onboard say it all&#8230;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"color: magenta; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"color: black;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><b><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"> <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0244-b.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img border=\"0\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0244-b.jpg\" width=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i>BREACHING:  This was the very large humpback whale mother, breaching very close to  our boat<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0339.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img border=\"0\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0339.jpg\" width=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0341-b.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img border=\"0\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0341-b.jpg\" width=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i>&nbsp;BREACHING: The smaller calf was seen breaching over and over again.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0297.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img border=\"0\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0297.jpg\" width=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><i>&nbsp;<\/i><\/span><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><i> LOBTAILING:  The calf on the right is lobtailing as its mother hunches its back in preparation for a dive<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span lang=\"PT\" style=\"font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\"><i><br \/>\n<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0373-b.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img border=\"0\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0373-b.jpg\" width=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><i>&nbsp;<\/i><\/span><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><i> SPYHOPPING:  The calf rose vertically out of the water, possibly to look at its surroundings above the surface<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0370.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img border=\"0\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0370.jpg\" width=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><i>&nbsp;<\/i><\/span><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><i>PECTORAL FIN SLAPPING:  This is the calf again. A humpback&#8217;s pectoral fins can reach 5-6 m in length each!<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span lang=\"PT\" style=\"font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\"><i> <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Dive-sequence.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img border=\"0\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Dive-sequence.jpg\" width=\"630\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i>FLUKING: The pattern on the underside of this large female&#8217;s flukes can be used to identify the individual<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span lang=\"PT\" style=\"font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;\"><i><br \/>\n<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"color: black; font-family: inherit;\">Today&#8217;s humpback whale sighting brings us up to 11 different cetacean sightings in the past two weeks! This is definitely one of the best places in the world to see a variety of different whale and dolphin species. As well as the humpback whales, this morning we also saw 4 <a href=\"http:\/\/azoreswhales.blogspot.pt\/2007\/07\/fin-whale.html\">fin whales<\/a> and a nice group of our resident <a href=\"http:\/\/azoreswhales.blogspot.pt\/2007\/07\/bottlenose-dolphin.html\">bottlenose dolphins<\/a>. Come and see for yourself! If you are not convinced yet, check out another photo from today:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0150.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img border=\"0\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/DSC_0150.jpg\" width=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i>Bottlenose dolphin checking out one of our boats<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<span lang=\"PT\" style=\"font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;\"><i><br \/>\n<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span lang=\"PT\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"color: black; font-family: inherit;\">We hope to see you soon&#8230;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HUMPBACK WHALES IN SAO MIGUEL Today the passengers on both our morning and afternoon tours were treated to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[8,179,3,185,27,4,30,244],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Incredible encounters with a humpback whale mother and calf!!! 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