Whales and Dolphins predict the Weather Forecast

Forecast is such as an important part of our lives!

Is it going to rain? Is it going to be sunny? Should I bring a jacket or wear my favourite shorts?

When going out at sea, forecast previtions become a part of your routine, every day looking at the wind, the cloud conditions, the sea conditions and so on.

We know that a few days of bad weather are upon us and going at sea might not be a possible. We knew conditions where safe to experience the ocean today! Our lookouts assessed the situation and determined that it was safe to go out and observe the animals that had been spotted from the coast.

We encountered a lovely pod of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), about 60 or more individuals, just using the waves to travel, getting curious about our boat and showing off that they are a lot more comfortable with waves than we are 😉

We love dolphins, every single dolphin is so unique and each species is special and behaves differently every day. The dolphins this morning were travelling outside of the island.

We navigated 4 miles out of the island to find two travelling Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus), their behaviour was clear, like a submarine breaking the waves the animals allowed us to travel with them to then dive into the depths of the most fascinating world- the depths of the blue desert.

Sperm whales diving into the deep waters of Azores

Once heading back another travelling group of Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis) fastly heading in the same direction as the other animals, we could observe their colors while leaping out of the water.

Common dolphin showing its own rainbow pattern! – Delphinus delphis

 

These animals are so fascinating and smart that one might even say they all know bad weather is coming and are leaving the waters were they are usually found, of course this is not a scientific statement!

Yet there is no doubt all of these animals were travelling, and that is quite cool. One can then really observe how fast they are.

Also not to worry these animals will definitely be here since they are our resident species and have quite wide travelling ranges even amongst the different islands of the Azores. Pods of dolphins and Sperm Whales are known to enjoy our Archipelago and just enjoy the fact that travelling amongst the different islands for them, it is definitely easier than for us 😉

Soon good weather will arrive and we can’t wait to head back to the waters and have a “Whale of a Time” ! 🙂

Anaïs Builly

About Anaïs Builly

Anais Builly is Marine Biologist and Master of Biology, Ecology and Ecosystems, and of Bioproducts & Bioproduction of Marine Ecosystems, studied in France and South Africa. She is also Marine Wildlife Guide & Community Manager at TERRA AZUL. She is passionate about conservation of marine mammals, and loves being out in the ocean everyday.

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