Our last two days in the Azores had us back in Sao Miguel, this time staying in the main city of Ponta Delgada. Here we had scheduled whale watching with Sea Colors Expeditions, and it was truly one of the highlights of the trip. The weather was perfect, the water was calm, and our guides Jasmine and Paulo were knowledgeable, gracious and wildly generous with their time. And they spoke English, as did our entire boat of people, making this much more informative and engaging for us than the other expedition we had done on Pico.
Sea Colors says to plan on two and a half to four hours on the water, depending on conditions and travel time to track the whales. We were out there for nearly six hours, right into the evening, and it was magical. We had two separate sitings of fin whales — the first a lone whale, and then a group of three or four. Second in size only to the blue whale, these are massive baleen whales (approximately 65-80 feet long and weighing almost 80 tons) are an awesome site. They can be spotted from up to 30km away by the blow, which is actually harder to see when you get close up, but the sound is something to remember. Again, they used a spotter on land, who was actually driving west to track them for us as they were moving.
We also saw lots of common dolphins, and a pod of them stayed with our boat for about 40 minutes, riding the bow. Rachel gets credit for spotting the loggerhead turtle. Jasmine had warned us that they are shy, and it would likely dive to get away, but this one stuck around, and we were really able to see him.
The water was so calm. Here’s a view of the western end of Sao Miguel from the boat. Skies were clear and blue, but that cloud hung to the island its full length. We saw this our entire visit, on both Sao Miguel and Pico. Everyone seemed to think that’s what happens with all islands. 