Humpback whale showing its tail 15 times!

Good day everybody! This morning we started with a completely flat ocean, and so we drove our boat on high speed all the way to Faial da Terra! Surprise surprise…. a huge Humpback whale female soon showed her blow somewhere on the horizon, as she was slowly traveling towards the East.

The whale was active, taking very short dives with an interval of 1 to 2 minutes and showing her large fluke at least 15 times! Over the course of 45 minutes she traveled 7 Km Eastwards. The whale was possibly feeding, since this is often the case when they show the tail.

 

 

On the way back we found a huge group of Common dolphins – with an estimated number of about 150. They were resting/ socializing with each other and our other Terra Azul boat that just finished a swim with them!

 

 

The afternoon was equally fantastic! We left the marina to meet a curious young Fin whale! Almost the same size as our bigger boat (that is roughly 11 meters), this young Fin whale never left our side. Swimming very calmly and even rolling on its back underwater, it was always very easy to see as its lower jaw on the right side is white.

 

After leaving the whale we met a big group of Common dolphins. Altough they were a bit cautious around the boats due to the presence of very young calves, they kept socializing and showing themselves close to us. At the same time, the Swimming with Dolphins tour was swimming with another group of Common dolphins 🙂

The late afternoon tour headed out with a very calm sea. Our boat found again the Fin whale from the tour before and it was showing its white belly. It was already travelling and surfaced every few minutes, so we could follow the route very well.

Not far away a very active group of striped dolphins showed up. As they very feeding, there were many Cory’s Shearwaters around. We could see some very spectacular jumps and their energetic behavoir.

What a wonderful day!

Stay tuned for upcoming blog entries!:)