

|18102020| Spottie's day
|ENG| The wind arrived early today but nothing that will stop our expedition! We went straight to the south of #Picoisland where the spotter had seen some dolphins splashing around. When we arrived at the area we saw a group of spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) with a lot of calves and juveniles! We can tell the difference because the young ones are more grey and have almost no spots. After we went to look for more animals and we found a whale shark (Rhincodon typus)! Thi


|16102020| Whale shark followed by a group of chunky bottlenose dolphins
|ENG| Today was another lucky day, where we could see the biggest fish ever, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus). This last month has been crazy with whale shark sightings! Every day we get surprised by their presence so close to the coast and for staying this long in this area (south of Pico island). We also could see a group of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). It was a small group of no more than 15 animals. The group was very active, interacting a lot with each othe


|15102020| 2 species of dolphins and one big sei whale
|ENG| Another day, another adventure! Today we went to the south of #Picoisland, since we had the wind coming from the north this was the most protected area. Our first sighting was a group of risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus), it was a small group, around 15 animals. In the group, we could easily distinguish who was older and who was beginning his life! The rissos's dolphins are easily distinguished due to their skin pigmentation. Younger animals have a dark coloration with


|11102020| Biggest fish in the world and biggest toothed whale
|ENG| Today was a big day full of big animals! For the past few days, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) have been sighted in the south of Pico! These are rare sightings, the whale sharks in the Azores are normally seen in Santa Maria Island. Today we went to try to find them! In this tour, we follow the code of conduct that is established by WWF (World Wide Fund), for the snorkel with whale sharks. If you want to know more about this code of conduct you can drop a visit to www.a


|10102020| The comeback of the false killer whales
|ENG| The season is ending and all the team is enjoying every second! Our experienced spotter, Antero, which is on the south of #Picoisland, had sighted whales and dolphins on the south of Pico so as soon our Naturalists were fully equipped we went for our adventure! Already in the south of Pico, our first sighting was a group of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), our chunky resident friends :) It was quite a big group, having around 100 individuals. During the sightin


|06102020| Sperm whales are back
|ENG| Besides the autumn had already arrived, the good weather is staying! After a few days not seeing sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), today we saw 6 individuals, including 2 calves! The sperm whales really like to eat squid, so to find them they do deep dives (going more than 1 km depth sometimes). When they do these deep dives they always show their tails. After a few minutes of seeing the sperm whales at the surface, all of them deep dove and we got to see all of th


|04102020| Biggest fish in the world plus our spotties
|ENG| Fall arrived and we are already at the end of the season. Right before we leave the harbor to go for our expedition, our skipper spotted a great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) in the water. This species of bird does not have the Azores archipelago in its normal distribution area, being considered these sightings as accidental. Maybe it just got lost or wanted to check how nice #FaialIsland is! In Portugal's mainland, it is possible to see them between September and Apr