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The Azores means pretty much one thing to the avid whale watcher - Sperm Whales. That’s what brings us to these remote islands, strung out like beads halfway across the Atlantic. Of course Sperm Whales are not the only appeal of a holiday in the Azores, but the chance to see lots of Sperm Whales - and see them very close - is irresistible.
Sperm Whale pod
The weather in the Azores can be fickle, so when the sea is calm, you seize the chance to get out to sea, and that is exactly what we did on our ‘Whales & Dolphins of the Azores’ holiday, which ended yesterday. On our first four trips out to sea the whale and dolphin sightings came thick and fast - we saw bow-riding Bottlenose, Risso’s (also breaching) and Common Dolphins in quick succession ... and then the whales came! I’ve actually lost count of how many - I’ll have to consult my notes - but on our fourth pelagic alone we saw 10! And it was on that fourth trip that we really hit the whale watching jackpot.
10 Sperm Whales in one 3-hour trip is good. Seeing mothers with calves - the calf swimming fast to keep up with the adult and dipping under the surface to suckle - that’s really good. Then we caught up with a Sperm Whale with a calf which was being hassled by a Bottlenose Dolphin. The calf swam tight up against the adult female (either its mother or a ‘baby-sitter while its mother was diving) trying not to leave its side, as the dolphin in turn pressed itself up against the calf, clearly trying to block it or separate it from the adult whale. Getting even better, we thought!
But the best was indeed kept for last on this occasion, with the two Sperm Whales in this underwater footage providing a fitting finale to a superb afternoon’s whale watching. From above we could just see that there were two Sperm Whales swimming slowly alongside our RIB apparently oblivious to our presence. It wasn’t clear at the time what was happening from a behavioural point of view; we just watched in awe as the whales swam beside us, only metres away. We speculated on whether it was a mother with her calf staying under the water, or two females; however when we reviewed this underwater footage, shot on a small camera attached to a monopod, it became clear that the lower of the two whales was in fact a subadult male, while the one to the left and visible from our RIB at the surface was a mature female.
Sperm Whales are highly tactile and it’s normal to find them touching each other when they’re socialising at the surface - the fact that we saw 10 that afternoon points to this having been a social group, spread across a relatively small area south of Lajes (Pico Island) with some members diving and others resting and socialising at the surface between dives. We’re not sure what the male’s intentions were - whether he’s making a tentative sexual approach, or perhaps trying to suckle (at the end of the footage). A male Sperm Whale of 15 years old was once discovered with milk in its stomach, so it’s not impossible it was trying to suckle. We think the male here is about 5 years old, and as males reach breeding maturity at about 25 years old, he’s too young to be a serious contender for mating; however, he could be beginning to practise some sexual behaviour here with a mature female who tolerates his behaviour for a short time before diving into the depths. We enjoyed watching the way the young male appears to dive off in the opposite direction, but then the camera shows him heading back towards the female again before they both go out of sight!
Other highlights of this tour included seeing Cory’s Shearwater chicks on the nest, visiting Sperm Whale biologist Dr Malcolm Clarke at his home and museum, spotting the American vagrants Least Sandpiper and Semi-palmated Plover at Lajes; excellent company, tasty food (including a unique vegetarian dish of lettuce crepes with mulberry and yoghurt sauce!) and wines, plus a chance to try Amora, the local blackberry liqueur recommended by our look-out, Antero, along with listening to his ideas on making small wooden doors to protect the Cory’s Shearwater chicks in their nests from local cats/rats during the day ... we’ll keep you posted on that one!
To find out more about our 'Whales & Dolphins of the Azores' tour, click here.