Azores : Patience pays off

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

Having welcomed group 2 on the expedition, we embarked on the first two days of orientations, equipment and scientific survey training. This all went to plan until it was time for our first session on the boat – the weather (and sea conditions) had other ideas!

This lead to an impromptu afternoon on shore, followed by a day sorting existing data and images. An important task , which gives real context to the field surveys. But soon the howling winds abated, meaning we could head out to sea on Monday.

The wait was worth it; with multiple sperm whale records and more common dolphins. We were also able to record both Risso’s dolphins and striped dolphins for the first time in 2023. Great effort considering we were still working in 4-5 m swell and the various species weren’t making it easy to record them, let alone obtain good photo ID imagery. A special thanks to Cord, Bendine and Nina for stepping up to the task in the way you did.

With the weather set to continue to improve (for the next few days at least), we look forward to even more sightings now that we have our sea legs, hopefully.

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