Whales on the left, Dolphins on the right, Turtle in front: Jackpot!

Some days just make it seem so easy, when we all know that it is not! To use the expression of one our guests today: “It was like putting one single coin in a slot machine and hit a jackpot”.

Take a beautiful boat, load it with beautiful people, drive it onto a beautiful glassy Ocean and …

 

 

… not even ten minutes and you stand alongside a massive Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) resting at the surface. After another ten other minutes it lifts its tail and flukes, accompanied by a chorus a “wow” and a battery of camera clicks … but a Sperm Whale clicks way louder! Our hydrophone tracks it down in his search for preys until we decide to move slightly offshore where our vigia have spotted some blows.

 

Today’s Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) mama had a quite distinctive dorsal fin with a big notch ideal for photo-identification 😉

 

And here we are, with a mother and calf Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) that cruise towards the West next Terra Azul boat. They then cross our way and keep travelling on our right until we reach a large aggregation of Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis) surrounded by hundreds of Cory’s Shearwaters (Calonectris borealis).

 

The Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) calf encountered today had an unmarked dorsal fin.

 

Whales on the right, dolphins on the left, we slowly make our way back towards Vila Franca do Campo. One of our guest would also love to see a turtle … not even five minutes later, there it is! A quite large juvenile of Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) pops up in front of Terra Azul boat before to take a dive.

I can almost hear the jackpot bells ringing… 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

 

Lorenzo Fiori

About Lorenzo Fiori

Lorenzo is Main Guide and Technical & Scientific Director at TERRA AZUL. He is originally from Italy, holds a PhD about behavioral responses of humpback whales to swim-with-whales tourism activities in Tonga.

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