Whale Watch Azores

19/04/2025

This male s***m whale had a lucky escape from an entanglement around its fluke sometime in the past! Looks to be healed now. Phew!!

17/04/2025

How Do Whales Navigate Without a Map? 🐋Whales migrate thousands of kilometers every year — often along the same routes, to the same spots — with near-perfect accuracy. No GPS. No signs. Just vibes? Not quite.

Here are 5 theories scientists are exploring:
Magnetic fields: magnetite in the brain may help whales “feel” their way.
Celestial cues: stars and sun might help orient, though it’s still debated.
Ocean landmarks: changes in currents, salinity, and seafloor features act like an underwater map.
Social learning: young whales might follow experienced travelers.
Song maps: humpbacks' songs can travel for miles, acting like acoustic road signs.

Even with a changing, noisy ocean, whales still find their way. 🐳Want to dive deeper? Check out the new post by Eline van Aalderink on the blog: https://whalescientists.com/whale-navigation/

16/04/2025

Colassal squid filmed!! WOW!! Where was the s***m whale that could have had a snack??

Stunned scientists say the extremely rare squid can weigh up to 500kg (1,100lb).

13/04/2025

Risso's dolphin appeared out of nowhere when we were following a humpback whale this morning. They then disappeared just as quickly! With Norberto Diver, Pedro Feijo & Craig Turner

08/04/2025

Always amazing to see giant blue whales moving through large waves without a problem! With Norberto Diver. Tiago Redondo Pedro Feijo & Pedro Pinto.

07/04/2025

It isn't always about the whales!! We had a relatively rare sighting of an Icelandic gull (Larus glaucoides) the other day!! Beautiful bird!!

23/03/2025

We added a humpback whale to our list of sightings yesterday!! With Biosphere Expeditions, Norberto Diver, & vigia Carlos

20/03/2025

Biosphere Expeditions is off to an amazing start!! We started the day with a group of orcas before moving onto several blue whales a couple of fin whales as well as a large spread out group of bottlenose dolphin & false killer whales!! 😮 Thanks to vigias Antero & Carlos on the south of Pico for the orcas & Carlos for the blue & fin whales!! With Norberto Diver, & the 2 Pedros!! :)

05/03/2025

Man's best friend helping scientists to find whale p**p!! 😮😮

On their second job ever, Collette Yee and her partner were assigned a difficult job: locate transient whale p**p in the ocean before it sinks. Luckily, Collette was partnered with Jack, a blue healer mix trained to sniff out cryptic odors from things that conservation biologists have trouble collec...

04/03/2025

A few blue whales off Varadouro, Faial today. This one was kind enough to put the Capelinhos Volcano behind it! 💙 With CW Azores, skipper Ricardo Ventura and vigia Martins (again!)!!

03/03/2025

The day started off with a touch of yellow on common dolphin to the south of Faial. One of the dolphin had an injury at the base of the dorsal fin and tail stock. Then we were off to see a blue whale. This one was speeding quite fast to the SW in the direction of the Condor Bank, maybe there is food out there. On the way back we spotted a mellow loggerhead turtle basking at the surface. Thanks to Biosphere Expeditions for funding the trip, with CW Azores, Ricardo Ventura & Hans van Dam. Thanks to Vigia Martins for spotting the blue.

27/02/2025

Finally! My first day out at sea!! And I was not disappointed!! 1 blue whale turned into 2!! And we were even lucky enough to see a fluke just before we headed home. Thanks to CW Azores, Ricardo Ventura and vigias Martins & Antero.

16/02/2025

Happy World Whale Day!!!

02/02/2025

And the video to go with the article! :)

02/02/2025

Isn't this an interesting behaviour?? 😆

Male Amazon river dolphins have been documented rolling upside down and firing a stream of urine into the air. As if that isn’t bizarre enough, other males will usually seek out the urine as it arcs back down to the water, possibly to receive social cues in a similar way to how land mammals use scent marking.

Claryana Araújo-Wang at CetAsia Research Group in Ontario, Canada, and her colleagues documented the unusual behaviour while studying Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis), or botos, in the Tocantins river in central Brazil.

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2466289-amazon-river-dolphins-may-send-messages-with-aerial-streams-of-urine/

Image: Claryana Araújo-Wang