About
Futurismo

Mariana Silva is from Terceira Island and she joined our team in São Miguel in 2015.

She did her Master’s degree in Marine Science in Lisbon, but came back to São Miguel to finish her thesis on oceanic fronts and spatial distribution of the big baleen whales that pass through the Azores.

Mariana is one of our main marine biologists specialized in swimming with dolphins and Marine biology. She also spends time in a photo-identification project about bottlenose dolphins in the Azores.

Since 2015, in the wintertime, Futurismo also has been developing several activities with one of the schools of Ponta Delgada. Mariana is involved in this project and she loves to ensure some values on environmental concern and awareness continue to gain shape and increasing presence and importance in the daily life of these little persons. 

She speaks Portuguese and English, and loves the sea and everything related to it, mainly marine mammal and seabirds photography. During her free time, she enjoys hiking with her dogs, sports and going to the beach.

Mariana knows very well the marine life of the Azores and why you should do whale watching here.

Watch the video  

Rafael aka “Rafa” is from São Miguel Island, and since the age of 9 he knew that his passion was the sea.

He studied Marine Biology in the Azores, and right after finishing he started to work in a dive center. He soon decided to join the Futurismo team, starting to work as a biologist in 2016.

One of his former ambitions was to become skipper and here in Futurismo he was able to become a real one! Nowadays he is finishing his Master in Biodiversity, focusing his research on identifying Risso’s dolphins sighted off São Miguel.

Recently this year, he has followed another passion, the photography (DSLR / Underwater and drone footages). He has started a new project to share his best shots on Instagram. Are you already following him?

He speaks Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Fadia Al Abbar is one of our marine biologists. She has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and a master’s degree in Marine Resources Management and Ecology.

During her master’s degree she focused on the acoustics of the harbour porpoises in the Netherlands (see her work on ResearchGate), and the behaviour of bottlenose dolphins in New Zealand.

Her passion for the ocean led her to work in the Philippines, Madagascar, Malaysia, and even to board a cargo-ship with CETUS project as a marine mammal observer. This cargo-ship journey went from Portugal to Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, and finally to the Azores. Here, she fell in love with the Azores and decided to join Futurismo’s team in 2019.

One of her main goals is to collect data whilst guiding, to do a PhD on the behaviour and acoustics of sperm whales.

She speaks English and Dutch and her hobbies are surf, yoga and photography; you can check her photos on her Instagram fads.sea!

Meet Fadia Al Abbar  

Marina Gardoki was born in the Basque country but moved to Cadiz in the south of Spain to finish her studies in Marine Science. She has always loved the sea and the marine life. Marina is currently working in her Master’s degree in Biodiversity and Technology in the University of the Azores and joined our team in 2014, working as a tour guide in the sea. Marina has done a fantastic research about sperm whales in the Azores, mainly about our famous sperm whale “Mr. Liable”. This individual has a very interesting and rare behaviour, you can see the full video about it, in button below. Marina is involved in various projects regarding nature and marine life, including marine turtles, which are one of her favourite marine animals. 

Marina speaks in Spanish, French, Portuguese and English. She enjoys traveling and during her free time, Marina has fun in bio-agriculture, hiking, climbing and nautical sports. 

Meet Mr Liable and Marina Gardoki  

Víctor Ojeda Martín comes from Barcelona (Spain). He is a biologist specialized in evolutionary genetics and genomics.

He is very interested in research. His passion to study the marine life started during his master project analyzing the interannual variations on the genetic structure of a crab in the Iberian coasts.

Afterwards, he collaborated with the University of Barcelona working on very different topics such as monitoring invasive ascidian or relating the genetics of fruit flies with local warming, and always continuing with the genetic studies of the crabs.

Then in 2016 he arrived in Azores, where he studied the phylogeny of a genus of red algae distributed around the world. After finishing this study, he found a chance to be part of Futurismo team in 2017. In the company, he learnt a lot about cetaceans, and he got really motivated to be part of the biologists’ team.

During Futurismo tours, we not only make the guests happy, but also, we collect data about what, where and how do we see the cetaceans.

Recently last year, Victor realized that on our whale watching trips we have great opportunities to collect biological non-invasive samples, such as whale faeces. He got really motivated to go forward with this topic, getting information from several researchers and preparing and testing methodology to collect those samples from large whales. This info will be useful to study diet, reproductive status, exposure to parasites and biotoxins, individual genetic identification and assessment of microplastic ingestion.

It keeps him motivated, and he motivates all the rest of the team!

Victor speaks Spanish, Portuguese, English and Catalan.

Iñaki Cabo Ibarzabal grew up in the Basque Country (Spain). He studied Environmental Science in Barcelona and he finished his career in Istanbul.

He loves to travel, so he worked and travel around the world for some years, discovering different cultures, countries and people. He has been living in places such as Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, France, Denmark, Canary Islands, etc. During this amazing journey he gained knowledge and he grew up personally and professionally. All these trips led him to the Azores, where he discovered his own oceanic paradise.

Since 2018, he is one of the most energetic and enthusiastic guides for whale watching in Futurismo.

One of his passions is environmental education. Children love Iñaki and love learning with him when Futurismo team visits the schools of Ponta Delgada!

When you talk with him, after the second sentence you can see how passionate he is about cetaceans and nature.

He loves to go hiking (so the Azores are the perfect place to do so!), crafting and spend time surrounded by his friends. He speaks Spanish, English, Portuguese and French.

Watch the video about Iñaki Cabo  

Carmen comes from Murcia (southern Spain).

She studied Biology in Spain, Sardinia and Uruguay, getting out of her comfort zone very early to gain a lot of knowledge about different environments.

She arrived in the Azores in 2016 to do an internship in the University with agricultural projects. Later, she joined another project to monitor the water quality in lakes and streams in the archipelago.

After living for a while in the Azores, she felt the call of the ocean, and in 2018 she boarded on cargo ships to look for cetaceans around Macaronesia.

This way, she participated on the Cetus Project run by the Universidade do Porto / CIIMAR gaining experience about cetaceans.

She has joined the Futurismo team in 2019. In her leisure time, she loves to go hiking, play some music and take care of her garden.

Carmen speaks Spanish, Portuguese, English and Italian.

Carine Zimmermann from Switzerland is considered a migratory species, usually to be found in proximity of whales and dolphins. Since her early childhood, she has been fascinated by these sea creatures.

Her passion thrived her to fulfill her vocation, and she never stopped learning. This let her to become a professional seafarer who gathered quite a of bit of experience. Starting as a whale watching guide in 2006 in the Strait of Gibraltar, later in La Gomera and La Palma (Canary Island), then in the Dominican Republic, Iceland, she finally ended up in the Azores.

First, she was in Pico and since 2017 she has been working for Futurismo in São Miguel. Carine continuous contributing to research and mainly raising awareness about cetaceans and their conservation.

She has a background in environmental consulting and – communication, as well as in photography. Our polyglot is always happy to answer your questions about anything related to sea-life in different languages as she speaks German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and is learning a few more.

If you like to know the names of the cetaceans in your languages, chances are quite high that it will be one of the 20 most common ones on board which she can tell you.

Miguel is Azorean. He was born in São Jorge, where he grew up by the sea.

He has been always linked to nautical sports, such as scuba diving, surfing and sailing, developing a great interest about the marine environment.

Therefore, he studied Marine Biology in Peniche (mainland Portugal) and finished his degree in Vigo (Spain).

After his studies he came back to his beloved paradise, the Azores, where he has joined Futurismo team in 2019. He is keen to share the beauties of the Azores with our guests and shows them the wonders of our seas.

He speaks Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

Cristina was born in southern Spain (Murcia) where she did a degree in Environmental Sciences. She worked in various LIFE projects on wildlife conservation, for example, related to turtles, birds, invasive flora or even dragonflies. She has done an extensive work as environmental educator mostly with children. She started sailing in the Mediterranean Sea where she became familiar with cetacean and seabirds research.

She arrived in the Azores in 2016 with an internship to work with marine life at the University. She started to work in Futurismo in 2017, and nowadays she continues as a guide for whale watching and swimming with dolphins’ tours. She loves to spend her free time working on her vegetable garden and she knows a lot about birds.
Cristina speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English.

María Huamán Benítez comes from Madrid (Spain). She has studied Conservation Biology in Spain and arrived in the Azores in 2015 to do an internship with the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA).

She worked with seabirds such as shearwaters and terns, endemic plant species that belong to the Laurel forest and with one bird species that can be only found worldwide here in the north-east of São Miguel, the Azores bullfinch.

She has been very active regarding environmental education, both with locals and tourists, and specially with children. After almost three years in the island, she joined a monitoring and observation program onboard tuna vessels in the archipelago: Programa de Observação de Pescas dos Açores (POPA). With this program, she got involved with cetaceans and trigger her interest on research. It was on the fishing boats, spending long times out in the big blue, when she fell in love with the Azorean Ocean.

Right after, 2019, she decided to join our biologists’ team in Futurismo. María brings good vibes and plenty of energy to the team. She is resourceful and her smile is always shining.

She loves to spend her free time hiking, snorkeling and looking for birds around our beautiful paradise.

So, if you see her onboard and you are interested on birds, go and talk with her. She won’t disappoint you! She speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English.

Mário was born and bred in São Miguel and is one of the earliest members of the team.

He began working for Futurismo in 2000 as a skipper and he is now the main skipper of our catamaran “Cetus”. But being a skipper isn’t his only job, as he also enjoys working on aspects related to the mechanics of our fleet of boats.

When he goes to the sea he is is always vigilant and often spots even the smallest blow of a whale. He is very interested in the sea and he likes to get together with the biologists to talk about the marine life and the adventures he has experienced (there are many).

Since he was young, Mário has loved the sea and he never missed the opportunity to sail our waters.

Mário speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish, French.

You have to meet our skipper Mário Medeiros  

Fernando was born in Angola and has been living in Portugal since a young age. His connection with the sea began in the 90s, when he was a diver in the Portuguese navy. After leaving the navy he was a professional diver for about 20 years and in 2001 he went to Brasil to train in professional saturation diving. In 2003 Fernando moved to the Azores to be a dive instructor. Since 2010 he has been working as a whale and dolphin watching skipper and he joined Futurismo’s team in 2017. Besides his passion for the sea he also enjoys photographing wildlife.

Languages: Portuguese, English, Spanish

Languages: Portuguese, English

Ana has a degree in modern and applied languages and has been working in the company for several years. She is responsible for reservations and the functioning of our main shop and back office. Ana enjoys working as part of a team and is always in a good mood. Her passion is travelling and when possible she likes to explore other parts of the world.

Languages: Portuguese, English

Dina has a degree in social work and has much experience in customer service. She enjoys what she does and her main objectives are to focus on our visitors’ interests and giving them all the information they need to get to know the island. Dina receives each client with professionalism and a good mood. She also has great interest in travelling and nature./p>

Languages: Portuguese, English

Natalia’s training and experience is in the area of hospitality. During the past 2 years she has been working in Futurismo’s office and she stands out for her good work in accounting and administrative management. Natalia has an interest in travelling.

Languages:Portuguese, English

Milton is one of of our lookouts who is origninally from São Miguel. He started out as a fisherman on tuna boats, where he dedicated two hard years. He helped in constructing two tuna fishing boats and from there his interest in being a lookout began. After 8 years of being a lookout for tuna fishing boats he decided to look for “bigger animals”. So, Milton joined Futurismo’s team in 2016 as a lookout. He adores being in the outdoors, taking his binoculars and seeing what the ocean has to offer every day.

Languages: Portuguese, English

Roberto is the lookout that has been with Futurismo for the longest. Thanks to him we get to see so many animals during our whale and dolphin watching and swimming with dolphins tours. He began working for Futurismo in 2007, and since then he is one of the key members of the company. Roberto has years of experience and well trained eyes for finding and understanding whales and dolphins up to 45 km off the coast. In his free time he enjoys fishing.

Languages: Portuguese, English

José Coelho is a sea lover. He was born in the North of Portugal mainland and in 2004 he moved here to São Miguel Island. He has been working in Futurismo since 2018 and he is part of the team of our lookouts. They do an extraordinary work and they have a key role so we can find animals at sea. Friends and colleagues like to call him by his last name: Coelho (“Rabbit” in Portuguese). Between 2004 and 2018 he was skipper in the Naval Club of Ponta Delgada and also practiced diving and sailing. His career began early, with 17 years old as a volunteer in the Portuguese Navy, and in 1992 and 2002 he specialized in Communications course and became a Primeiro Marinheiro (“First Sailor” in Portuguese). During these 10 years he had the opportunity to travel through the Mediterranean, between northern Europe and Africa. He embarked on the Portuguese frigates Vasco da Gama and Álvares Cabral and also on the Baptista de Andrade corvette.

Laura González comes from Galicia, in Spain and she is passionate about the Ocean, and of course, about whales and dolphins. Laura is a marine biologist and oceanographer, who has concluded her PhD thesis on cetacean distribution around São Miguel, (Azores) in the University of Vigo in 2019.

She has focused on the oceanography around the island, habitat preferences of the most sighted baleen whales and also whale migration. You can find some of her publications in her profile on ResearchGate.

Laura worked on her Doctorate with data collected by Futurismo’s biologists during whale and dolphin watching tours for 7 years. Her work in Futurismo allows her to make one of her dreams come true combining research and fieldwork. She began working for Futurismo in 2010 and 8 years later, Laura started to coordinate the biologist’s team. She’s a professional and very dedicated to cetacean research.

In 2015 she worked on the Cetus Project (Universidade do Porto / CIIMAR) monitoring cetaceans in the Atlantic from cargo boats.

She founded the citizen-science project “Sail & Whale” in 2016, which intends to get long-term useful cetacean data involving citizens, sailors and scientists. So far, she has collected more than 600 sightings all over the Atlantic! She speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English, and a bit of Italian. Kayaking, diving, sailing and horse riding are among her passions here in the Azores.

Meet Laura González