“Itinerary”
Every tour has a different itinerary, depending on the location of the animals, frequency and species of cetacean seen and ocean conditions. As a guide, on 5 and 9 night tours we would expect to have 3 and 6 full days of whale and dolphin watching respectively. We generally leave port at 9am and return around 4 pm, so you can relax at your hotel before dinner each evening. You will have a chance to explore one or two of the Azores’ central group islands during your tour on shore days that are usually taken every third day. We give you an orientation talk for each island and we can organize island tours if you require them. Car, moped and cycle hire are all available and some islands have horse riding too. No shore activities are included in the cost of the tour. All visits to Pico or São Jorge involve taking a short ferry ride. Boat charters are also available.
“Tour Leaders”
The project leaders for these tours will be Lisa Steiner and Norberto Serpa. Lisa first came to the Azores as part of the IFAW research team on “Song of the Whale” where she was responsible for the cataloguing and matching of sperm whale fluke identification photographs, and for analyzing all other sightings. Since then, Lisa has published several scientific papers on Azorean cetaceans and presented her work to the Marine Mammal and European Cetacean Societies. Lisa has worked on other research projects involving bottlenose dolphin in Alabama and Miami, humpback whales in Hawaii, minke whales in Scotland, fin whales in the Cape Verde islands and
a Northern Right whale search in Bermuda. Lisa is the on-board naturalist during all tours and will be able to answer your questions.
“Physeter”
For our trips to sea we use the amazing motor catamaran “Physeter”, a specially modified 40ft (12m) fiberglass vessel built in Cornwall in 2001. Because she has two hulls she is highly maneuverable and very stable and the latter makes it easy to move around her decks when at sea. Good stability means you are less prone to sea sickness, can be comfortable while watching the animals and photography is easier. Her top deck (the “flying bridge”) offers great views of the whales without needing to go too
close. The foredeck is a brilliant place to watch the dolphins from and when sitting, your feet dangle just a few feet above them, swimming along right underneath you. There is seating for 12 inside the airy cabin if you want to get out of the sun or breeze. Although we will be cruising at very leisurely speeds for most of our days at sea, the quiet 325hp twin Caterpillar diesel engines and low wash hulls give us the speed to get to places very quickly when necessary. As well as being quiet above water, the power delivery and special hull designs mean she is acoustically very quiet underwater. Using our hydrophone we have discovered that when travelling at 2-5 knots (cruising speed when with whales and dolphins) her propellers are virtually silent, so we are disturbing the animals as little as possible. As the catamaran has two hulls this means the dolphins now have twice as much fun when bow riding! The vessel is equipped with a fridge for cold drinks, gas hob for tea and coffee breaks, and a toilet. “Physeter” is inspected annually by the authorities and complies with all Portuguese safety regulations for passenger carrying vessels.
“Research”
The sperm whale is the main subject of our research and individuals can be identified
from the profile of the trailing edge of their tails (or flukes). This is their version of a fingerprint and everyone is different. Once a whale is located we follow it quietly and carefully and photograph its tail as it “flukes up” and dives. The photograph can then be compared with previously collected tail photos and this process is known as photo identification or photo ID. Using this method we have identified 1324 individual sperm whales in the Azores since 1993. Add the 510 individual whales identified
by the IFAW team between 1987 and 1991 and you have the second biggest sperm whale photo ID catalogue in the world. By analyzing this catalogue annually we have discovered dozens of individual whales that have been seen in the Azores in more than one year (the record is 9 different years for one animal!) and working with sperm whale researchers around the Atlantic, we have discovered five animals seen in the Azores that have also been spotted in the Canaries, Madeira and Norway respectively.
Individuals spend around 45 -50 minutes deep underwater actually eating, and then around 8-12 minutes on the surface, recovering from their last dive and preparing for the next one. Groups do not dive simultaneously so there are often whales surfacing every 10 or 15 minutes. When they are on the surface they swim along slowly sometimes suckling the young calves, which do not dive deeply. A wide variety of other behaviors can sometimes be observed, including breaching, lob tailing, spy hopping, and socializing. Research on the whales and dolphins will be continuing while you are on board as a guest. This will include: recording surface times, noting behaviors, group size, and presence of calves, group heading, and the position of the whales. As well as the sperm whale photo ID work, we also do photo ID on the bottlenose dolphin and Risso’s dolphin populations of the Azores. The Azores bottlenose dolphin photo ID catalogue has now grown to over 800 animals. Our research also involves the occasional catching and tagging of loggerhead turtles for turtle researchers During the tagging procedure which takes place on the aft deck and lasts for about 8 minutes, you will have chance to see the loggerhead turtles up close and it’s very easy to get a good photograph of these interesting creatures. In addition
to cetaceans, turtles and birds we regularly have sightings of other marine life such as sharks and sport fish such as marlin and swordfish.
If you will just be in Horta for a few days, give us a call or send us an email. We offer day trips from 9am until around 4pm. Price - 100 euros per person or 180 euros for 2.
If you want a quote on a trip " Unique Whale and Dolphin Tour in the Azores - 5 Nights " fill out the form and we will inform you as soon as possible.