Highlights of today: orcas and striped dolphins

What a day! During the morning tour we could enjoy a lovely flat sea to the eastern side of the island where we saw common and Risso’s dolphins not too far from each others. The common dolphins were socializing with some individuals leaping out of the water. This idilliac scene was interrupted by the news of ….Orcas! Orca is a visiting species in the Azores meaning they are not seen on a regular basis, so when they are spotted it is always an exciting news 😀

We went to see these big dolphins, yes they are dolphins (!) but the sea conditions to the West were a bit different, the sea was more rough.  They were difficult to spot when surfacing, but we got to see them from distance blowing and taking a deep dive few times.

The second tour in the afternoon was quite dynamic since the protagonists of the tour were the striped dolphins. Acrobatic and fast swimmers they offered us a real show of jumps. In the middle of this large group of about 100 individuals there were also some common dolphins.

Hopefully the Orcas will stay around for some time still 🙂

Arianna Cecchetti

About Arianna Cecchetti

Arianna is a Marine Biologist and was Main Guide at TERRA AZUL since 2009, and Technical & Scientific Director until 2018. Originally from Italy, she sees herself more as a world citizen. Arianna deserves the very best, and we hope she can come back to share her passion for the sea with us again.

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