A fluke wave good bye

So, I went out on my last trip of 2011
And we sat out in full speed towards Faial da Terra - far east
There they said Sperm Whales was in the water
but they had made a short dive - so we waited
and waited...

Then I saw a mist... a white mist on the water. I was all quiet.
The mist appeared again and I started to point towards the mist - still quiet and a bit chocked
I never thought the whale would come

The guides saw that I was pointing towards something and we slowly moved closer
There it was, the Sperm Whale

It took many blows and moved slowly away from us
and then I heard the guide say "here she goes!"
And then the fluke came up and this was the big Good Bye for this year
It dived down into the deep and was gone

We went back but on the way we saw Common Dolphins hunting
Just like in 2007 and it felt so good to see them again before I was leaving the island

Now, I wait for the next trip back to Azores and the cetaceans
To keep an eye on them :)

Whale of a wall

Swimming with a yellow dolphin

Well, not totally yellow ;) a yellow stripe!

So, we got out on our next tour and find a huge pod of Common Dolphins
We were the first down and we saw them - so beautiful and graceful

I have no words on how wonderful this was

And then when it was time to back the skipper told us to do one last swim
Everybody lined up on the right side
but me and my friend jumped in on the left side

After swimming through the boats bubbles and we stayed quite in the water they came,
five of them was checking us out
and when we came up again - last
the guide asked us if we saw them - yes, we did
and he said, I know, you were the lucky left side, right side saw nothing

And, yes, I felt lucky :)

Then the pod left us, and we left them alone

Nothing to do - swim with dolphins!

It was Saturday and bad weather,
so we decided to swim with dolphins again

The weather was to bad, so we didn't swim with any dolphins
but we saw a few Bottlenose Dolphins

So, we went back early to land and we got our money back
but we booked another swim the next day instead

Into the ocean again

After a quick lunch we set out to swim with dolphins

First we encountered some Bottlenose Dolphins, and they checked us out a lot,
but never came as close as in 2007

So we went futher out to se another group, of Spotted Dolphins this time,
they were not all that friendly either,
but one came closer then the Bottlenoses and a two calves were checking me out,
but did not come close

They are wild animals, so I don't expect them to either,
they choose to do what they want to do
And I'm only there as their guest

My first Whale

First we went WhaleWatching in the morning,
and we saw Spotted Dolphins

On our way to se Sperm Whales we saw Pilots Whales

The first time I saw a real whale and there were three of them,
but far away and not raising their flukes,
but I was happy anyway just to see them :)

 Lunch!

Bird of prey

Azorernas flagga :)

I'm back!

In 2011 I finally had the chance to go back to the dolphins

I arrived on the 25th of August and the day after in the morning I was out

And it was a big day for me, at first me encountered a big pod of Spotted Dolphins,

And later some Bottlenose Dolphins
but it ended with Pilot Whales :)

A new species for me and they are almost as close to an orca you can get,
except for False Killer Whale

They were big and beautiful,
and not as black as I thought
They were dark grey and brown, and so calm, but still playful dolphins
I'm in love!