Azores : Blue!

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

After a much needed day off exploring Faial and Pico, and recharging all ‘batteries’, it was time to embark on a final day at sea for group 2. Conditions dictated that we would head south of Pico due to the increasing winds.

With the now customary common dolphin sighting, we were soon in the company of more sperm whales. This meant the team could seamlessly start documenting each individual and record flukes as they dived – for once the whales were largely behaving. They were soon joined by a group of bottlenose dolphins – not uncommon to see these dolphins hassling sperm whales. With two species to document, it was all hands on deck and kept Gernot very busy on camera.

The look-outs soon reported a possible baleen whale, not to far away, so off we went in pursuit. This turned out to be a pair of Sei whales, another new record for the expedition, as we had hoped in the previous blog! They only surface once (briefly) so can be a tricky species to find. We were then directed to another baleen whale sighting which also turned out to be another pair of Sei whales.

These encounters were relatively brief, which meant we could soon return to the sperm whales. A few individuals later, our skipper (Siso) spotted a large blow – this turned out to be a blue! A single blue whale gave us a great sighting as it almost circled the boat. A great last whale sighting for group 2.

With over 540 km travelled over 5 days at sea, the group has been able to almost double the species list for the expedition – now standing at 9 species. Numbers of encounters and individuals have also increased. A great effort by all.

So, as we bid group 2 farewell, we wait to welcome group 3, and hope they too bring the luck with the whales and the weather. Safe travels all.

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