Azores Experiences - Whale Watching & Jeep Tours

As the whale watching season comes to an end, there are many things I want to talk about. Some are meaningful, others, not so much… I´ll be putting it down to “paper” in weekly instalments, I promise. But the first one is about something that has been eating at me… Dolphin Snorkeling… “Why did you stop?” “What did you see?” “Did you see behaviour changes?” “Don´t the dolphins love people?” “They seem to like when are around them…” “I did it and they loved seeing me!” Atlantic Spotted Dolphin - Stenella frontalis These are some of the comments, questions and insights I have gotten since we stopped this activity, late 2019. Well, there are a few aspects in need of attention. Yes, I have seen behaviour changes. But this is a personal view, there is no meaningful scientific study on this, sadly. My conclusion is that people, as much as they love Nature, feel they are entitled to the experience because THEY have the right motivation, THEY deserve it because THEY have their hearts in...

It was one of those May afternoons, grey, misty, somewhat breezy. It had been raining and the hole town of Horta was wet. Not really in the mood for a day at the sea, but it was not a great day weather wise. We had a few returning guests –Sally and Paul, who are friends–   supposed to stay for 12 days and take two trips per day. Yes, 2 trips per day! They wanted to give it a try. Together with some other participants, including Jaime from Spain –or the “Crazy Spaniard”, as we named him…– with 6 passengers on board. Things looked promising! The lookout gave us the information we were expecting, Sperm whales spotted, south of Pico island, not far from the coast. Off we went. Usual logistics, experienced customers, me as the Skipper, Marc and Nacho as guides and photographers. After some time, narrowing the Sperm whales position with the very useful hydrophone, a big male surfaced. Full speed, approach, slow down… Creep up behind the giant, no reaction. “Cool!”, we all thoug...