During our briefings we always start our tours with an amazing video that narrates how the ocean is a wonderful place where change is constant regarding the shape of this blue sphere.
The waves are part of the scene and sometimes they can be almost nonexistent yet sometimes the set changes and height becomes evident.
Dolphins love this due to the fact that they use the force of a wave to increase speed and decrease their energy loss.
Sightings of the Striped Dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) riding the waves is breathtaking, how exciting is it to observe the leaps of these majestic creatures using their natural environment at their advantage. The great picture above perfectly explains the feeling.
The waters were shared as well with the Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis) swimming in another direction than the striped dolphin. Tours were many species of dolphins are seen are great due to the fact that there is no better way to understand the staggering difference there is among species.
The four colored beauty of a Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis)
We are not dolphins so “Riding” a wave for us is not the same, so slowly we made it back into calmer waters where we found a group of 7 Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) . We love to explain how even in the Bottlenose species there are differences regarding the dolphins that live in coastal areas and the Oceanic kind that inhabits the waters of the Azores.
Being bigger and darker this less curious beauties are truly kings of the Atlantic Ocean that surrounds the Azores.
Bottlenose Dolphin the Oceanic Kind
So there is no better classroom than the open Atlantic Ocean to learn about the biological differences one can find in the Dolphin Family. 😉
