Saturday 15 April 2017

Azores whale-watching

Whale-watching highlights from a week spent in Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores - enjoying five boat trips with Futurismo who provided us with a wealth of stunning cetacean experiences and solid interpretation every time out!


Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis)


A pod of four Orca (Orcinus orca)

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

A group of three sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)

fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus)

The Futurismo guides had never seen a fin whale do a belly roll before! They said it was highly unusual for this species to behave like this. This particular fin whale was the last cetacean of our trip, and as such quite a special way to end.

In keeping with recent holiday tradition, we missed seeing the first blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) of the season, found by Futurismo on the afternoon of our departure, whilst we were soaking up the rays by the hotel pool. Whilst we waited to kick off to the airport for our return flight. As we queued for check in I discovered the sighting whilst idly thumbing through Facebook.

However, this did not depreciate our week's experience, and only heartened us that we had unfinished business with the Azores, and another good reason to return to this stunning island of Sao Miguel.

Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)>)


iPhone footage of a pod of bottlenose dolphin can be seen on YouTube at:

bottlenose dolphin pod, Azores - April 2017

iPhone footage of a humpback whale diving can be seen on YouTube at:

humpback whale diving, Azores - April 2017

iPhone footage of a Azores gull, in Porta Del Garda harbour can be seen on YouTube at:

Azores gull (Larus michahellis atlantis), Porta Del Garda, Azores - April 2017

1 comment:

  1. Wonderful Report! A really exceptional trip, if you had seen blue whale too I think you wouldnt havnt any luck left for future trips! Fantastic pictures and great to see the belly roll.

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