The afternoon started by heading straight North to find a group of Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus). There is always time for a stop for a pod of the resident Risso's Dolphins (Grampus griseus) that crossed our path. They were resting: this species hunts at night and rest during daytime. After this fleeting encounter we continued to the area where the lookouts were spotting Sperm whale's blows. First, we found a female and a juvenile, then a second pair that turned out

It was our first record of Sei Whales (Balaenoptera borealis) this year, the third largest rorqual after the Blue and the Fin Whale, reaching 18 meters long in the Northern Hemisphere. In Portuguese "Baleia Sardinheira" for their preference for small pelagic fish such as sardines. They can be found in open ocean waters in temperate and sub-polar regions. Despite being hunted in the 60's and 70's, they are the most poorly understood of all baleen whales, maybe due to their off

The afternoon expedition led us to a pod of 40-50 bottlenose dolphins that were particularly close to shore, over depths ranging from 40 to 11 meters. The pod remained particularly close to shore, near the bay of the Nature Reserve of Castelo Branco, of the Faial Nature Park (Parque Natural do Faial). A subgroup of females and juveniles remained tightly clustered together throughout the observation, while more active juveniles and adults were jumping and apparently foraging f

The morning expedition lead us off shore towards a windy area for observing a transiting fin whale. The conditions were not easy so the calm seas and social common and risso dolphins made our expedition memorable. #naturalistpt #atlanticnaturalist #azoresnaturalist #azores #whalewatchingazores #birdwatching #dolphingwatching #dolphinazores #faialtour #faialwhalewatching #Pico #Picowhalewatching #azoren #acores #portugal #bluewhale #spermwhale #finwhale #baleenwhale #pilotwhal

Two blues across the channel. It is uncommon to see large whales crossing between the 4nm wide channel separating Faial and Pico Islands. Depth's average is less than 150m, with banks and shallows. However, two large blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) decided to cross the channel today. Duas Baleias Comuns atravessando o Canal Faial Pico. Não é comum verem-se grandes baleias a atravesar o canal de 4 milhas náuticas que separa as ilhas do Faial e do Pico, com profundidades mé