Today we had such a wonderful morning! The sea was flat, the light was beautiful with a mix of sunshine and dark clouds threatening rain. And, most importantly, unexpected animals!

Our first species of the morning were Short-finned Pilot whales!

 

Short-finned pilot whales

 

Of course it is not a huge surprise as this occasional species can be seen a little bit throughout the year, and there is usually a peak aorund November. But we hadn’t seen them in a while and it is always a pleasure!

Today we had a huge group of about 60 individuals including some very young calves 😀

 

Short-finned Pilot whales with a young calf

 

Shortly after leaving the Pilot whales we had a glimpse of another occasional species: Beaked whales! These animals are famous for their shyness and today was not an exception. Just a couple breaths and off they went again so it was all very quick and not possible to identify the species of beaked whale.

No tour would be complete without a resident species, so we finished with a playful group of Bottlenose dolphins. They didn’t seem to mind us too much today as they were busy playing with each other, but that didn’t stop some juveniles from checking out the boat 😀

 

 

 

Keep tuned for more news of our tours! 😀

Catarina Fonseca

About Catarina Fonseca

Catarina is Marine Biologist and was Main Guide and Technical & Scientific Director at TERRA AZUL from 2014 to 2017. She is dedicated, knowledgeable and a passionate friend to animals and humans. We hope she can come back soon to wildlife experiences with us. , and everyday works on ensuring the highest educational and conservation standards during spractice. She also contributes collecting Data collection for MONICET – The Azores Islands Cetaceans Research & Conservation long-term monitoring project.