Azores : On the water

Update from our marine conservation volunteering holiday in the Azores archipelago, working on whales, dolphins and turtles

The expedition is underway with participants from six countries arriving to Horta on Monday. Some great weather conditions meant we hit the ground running with training on equipment use and data collection amongst the avocado and banana trees at the expedition base.

After the training was completed, the weather became more challenging for Tuesday afternoon’s test run on the water. Despite the conditions, within four hours we’d covered 57 kilometres, recorded common and bottlenose dolphins and three sperm whales (including a calf displaying suckling behaviour). The team did well on the data recording, especially Tracy, who is in danger of earning herself a permanent slot as POPA master.

Expedition scientist Lisa has been giving evening lectures, and after last night’s species identification lecture, everyone was keen to put their new knowledge to the test. However, the cetaceans weren’t making it easy. Despite almost double the distance covered, and deploying the hydrophone – so we could potentially hear what we couldn’t see – day two on the water proved less fruitful (with only common dolphins recorded).

Such is the unpredictability of wildlife. Spirits amongst the team are high and the weather looks good for day three on the water.

Update from our marine conservation volunteering holiday in the Azores archipelago, working on whales, dolphins and turtles