1st Blues of 2011

Yesterday I went to sea for the first time in 2011 aboard the University's boat. I was the "official" photo-id person, and the University biologist was going to try for some biopsies. The weather conditions were not optimal and the lookout had not seen anything when we left the harbour. Yet by the end of the day we had observed 4 blue whales and quite a few common dolphin! We should have been back to the harbour by 1800, except that yours truly spotted the 4th blue whale blow about 3/4 of a mile out to sea from our position on our way home. Since only 1 biopsy had been taken, the university is trying to determine the sex of the animals that pass by earlier in the season, we decided to try for 1 more, as there was still a bit of light. Unfortunately, this last blue was more interested in feeding like 2 of the previous whales than cooperating with us and we had to abandon our attempts after about 45 minutes. So we didn't return to the harbour until 1915 having left at 945! I was definitely cold, my feet got wet during our first encounter, although they didn't feel cold until we were headed for home and tired after a very long day. My arm is definitely feeling it today; keeping my 100-400mm lens held upright and steady to take id photos takes its toll early in the season! Muscles that haven't been used since December had to remember how to keep balance on a boat, this takes a lot more effort than you can imagine (especially with all the rolling about there was yesterday)! But in the end it was all worth it, hopefully they will keep coming through for another month or two!

Blue whale surfacing and just starting to blow

 

Blue whale, notice the depth of the animal below the water!

Now the id photos will be sent off to the North Atlantic Blue whale catalogue, to see if the whales have been seen previously around the Atlantic. Fingers crossed!

The Whales are Waiting!

The season is fast approaching and I think that if I blink, it will be here! There have already been reports of whales being seen along the south coast of Pico, where a lookout scans the sea during the winter to pass the time. Anteiro has already seen sperm whales, some baleen whales, possibly blue or fin and a humpback whale last week. My friend Karin from the end of Pico also called me this morning and had sperm whales close to shore where she studies Risso's dolphin and a fin whale yesterday. Just over a month to go now and I for one can't wait to get started!

2011 Dates & Prices

Due to a few technical problems our 2011 dates have not been published on the website. Any questions, email info@whalewatchazores.com 

WHALE WATCH AZORES TOURS 2011

                                                         €                      Duration in nights                           

MO4 - WE13 APR                  Fully Booked                         9                           

SA16 – MO25 APR                Fully Booked                         9                            

TH28 APR – SA7 MAY          Fully Booked                         9                            

TU10- TH19 MAY                  Fully Booked                          9                             

SA21MAY – MO30 MAY          €1,520                                  9                           

SU5 – TU14 JUNE                      €1.520                                  9                             

TH16 – SA25 JUNE                   €1,520                                   9                             

MO27 JUNE – WE6 JULY         €1,640                                  9                          

FR8 – SU17 JULY                      €1,640                                  9                             

TU19 – TH28 JULY                    €1,640                                  9                            

SA30 JULY – MO8 AUG           €1,640                                 9                                 

MO15 – WE24AUG                   €1.640                                  9                             

FR26 – SU4 SEP                         €1,520                                  9                             

TU6 – TH15 SEP                         €1,520                                  9                            

SA17 - MO26 SEP                      €1,520                                 9                            

WE28 SEPT – FR7 OCT             €1,520                                 9                              

5 Night  SHORT BREAK TOURS

TH16 – TU21 JUNE                       €840                                 5                             

MO20 – SA25 JUNE                     €840                                 5                            

MO27 JUNE– SA2 JULY              €840                                5                            

FR1 –WE6 JULY                           €895                                5                             

FR8 – WE13 JULY                        €895                                5                             

TU12  - SU17 JULY                       €895                                5                            

TU19 – SU24 JULY                       €895                                5                             

SA23 – TH28 JULY                       €895                                5                             

SA30 JULY- TH4 AUGUST          €895                                5                            

WE3 AUG- MO8 AUG                  €895                                5                             

          *** All Accommodation in 4 STAR HOTEL ***

    Single room supplement is 175 / 295€ (9 night tours
                                   low/high season) 
              95 / 175€ pp (5 night tours low/high season)  

Weather

Well while most of you on the mainland of Europe are suffering from snow, ice and cold, I am suffering from too much wind! And also cold - if you can count 12-14 degrees as cold! Probably not, considering that in many places it has been below 0 for some time. There has even been snow on the top of Pico! That does not usually arrive until Feb/March!

 There has been no whale watching from Faial since the 19th November, although we did not actually see any whales, we did find some Risso's dolphin.

I have had two rather exciting rides over to Sao Jorge which is about 20 miles from Horta. Conditions were not favorable for spotting! The first trip the waves (4m) were coming from the NW, so we had a nice ride over, but was not so pleasant on the way home and the second trip was the reverse - the wind and waves were from the E - so it should have been a pleasant trip home, except that we were driving in the dark and the waves kept trying to skew the boat around! I did manage to spot 2 dolphins in phosphorescence! I have no idea what type of dolphin they were, although the most likely suspects would be common dolphin - but I was unable to see anything but a couple of bodies and then they vanished! I am sure they were enjoying the waves more than we were!

Well I think it is now time for a cup of tea!

2010

Well the 2010 season has now finished, although I am still hoping for 1 or 2 more days out at sea. I am always hoping for more days out at sea! Was able to get out on the 11th November and saw sperm whales. It was a group that I have seen before, once in December. So maybe they are a winter group, as opposed to some of our regular summer groups.

2010 was a great success, with animals seen from the end of March until now! Sightings included the regulars: Sperm whales, Bottlenose, Risso, Striped, Common and Spotted Dolphin, Pilot and false killer whales, even a sighting of Orcas in March! One lonley pygmy sperm whale was seen in September.  We had an amazing encounter with a group of Northern Bottlenose Whales, where instead of disappearing as usual, they hung around and we had a really good chance to observe them.

We also had a few extended encounters with what were probably Sowerby's beaked whales as well over the course of July and August.

The baleen whales returned this year and we had quite a few sightings of blue, fin and sei whales. The most exciting discovery though was a humpback whale that we saw in May had been seen in the Cape Verde Islands at the end of March!

 

One solitary Bryde's whale was observed for 2 days in a row and then disappeared. This species hasn't been seen since a group of them spent most of the summer of 2007 here.

Many of  the "regular" groups of sperm whales were observed, with the exception of "19's" group. This whale was first observed here in 1987! Maybe they spent more time off the volcano at Capelinhos where we didn't visit very often this year. I am hoping to see her next summer. So if you have seen her, let me know!

 

I am always grateful for any images like the above to match to the catalogue of sperm whale flukes I have from around the Atlantic. I collaborate with researchers from around the Azores as well as in the Caribbean, Norway and Mediterranean. So far we have found 3 male sperm whales that were seen in the Azores that were seen in Norway, and 1 female has made a journey from the Azores to the Canary Islands and back to the Azores again! With more images, detecting movements of these deep water ocean animals is possible, without disturbing them.

So for now it is back to data entry and matching photos for me. Hopefully I will be back soon with an update!

Welcome to the Whale Watch Azores Blog

Welcome to the Whale Watch Azores Blog. An occasional record of what we get up to, coupled with a few piccies, sightings lists and info on the cetacean research and holidays we run.

We hope you enjoy your visit.