Pico 2009

We enjoyed Pico so much last September that we decided to come back. Serge and his team had said that end April / beginning of May would be a good time for the whales so we came out for the first week in May. Again, we booked with Archipelago Azores who, once again, did us proud. Our car for the week (which struggled with the hills!) was a Toyota Yaris who we called Deutscher because his letters were DE.

Warning - if you don't like whale and dolphin pictures then stop looking after the sunset as most of the photos following that are of marine life. We went to whale watch and that is what we did most of the time! There is the odd photo here and there of something other than something you find in or near the sea but you have to look carefully to find them!

We stayed at Pocinho Bay - a beautiful place on the west side of the island. It wasn't far from the capital, Madalena, and was brilliant for sunset watching. Our hosts were lovely, our stone cottage very comfy (as was the guest lounge, especially the hammocks), breakfast was great and the 14 acres of grounds beautiful to walk around so a great success.

There were lots of sitting areas where you could either relax or have a picnic. Mathilde and Frida would be happy to share if you'd let them but they were both very well behaved dogs after they'd woofed at you then remembered who you were!

There was a lot of colour in the garden but the vast majority of it was in a more traditional style with the low walls, presumably made from volcanic stone. We finally found out the purpose of the fields split into lots of little areas is - this is a traditional way of farming grapes and olives.

Jose and Luisa had renovated the site really sympathetically, keeping the character of the vineyards whilst creating a space of peace and tranquility - lovely!

The view across the road was lovely. the island opposite is Faial - one day perhaps we'll visit there too.

We arrived on the Sunday and went straight off to Espaco Talassa for whale watching but the sea was so rough that the trip was cancelled so back we went and tested out the hammocks, reading our books and generally getting rested up.

Having only had a snack at dinner time we thought we should eat so drove up the coast a little way to Ariera Grande as the Ancourodora had been recommended. We enjoyed the sun reflecting on the sea for a while before we went in to eat.

After dinner we drove back to Pocinho and sat in the special area they have for sunset viewing - spectacular!

Monday came and a call to Serge told us that the sea was still rough but not quite as bad as yesterday so they would reassess in half and hour. That's how long it took us to get there so off we went. Whilst we were driving over, the spotter had seen some sperm whales so we elected to go out even if it meant we got a bit wet and bashed around. We were so pleased we went.

It's unusual to see bottlenose dolphins in such a large group - maybe they stayed together so they didn't get lost in the strong waves or maybe they were just feeling sociable. Joana told us that they'd been like this for a few days.

The dolphins were lovely but the Sperm Whales were the treat of the morning. We reckon we saw just about double figures in different groups / pairs / singles during the morning so a really special trip.

We both missed getting a photo of the whale that jumped but managed to get a tail or two despite the high waves. I got an awful lot of photos of rough sea as well but they've all been deleted!

When I get time I'll compare these tails with the ones we took photos of in September and see if they are the same whales. Sperm Whales live around the Azores so it could be them.

There were a few pairs. Generally the sperm whales that are seen around the Azores are females as the males disappear as soon they they become "teenagers" whereas the females in the family stay together their whole lives.

All the time we were there another photographer, Alexander Goebels, was there as well. He had a permit to dive with the whales and take photos of them under water. Check out his website.

Serge and Marte also own a really good cafe / restaurant / hotel next to the whale watching centre (Whale'come Inn) so that was a good place to sit and dry out while having something good to eat.

Having spent time at sea (and because the afternoon trip was cancelled due to the weather) we decided to drive the long way round and go inland a bit. Everything looked lovely and fresh and bright green.

Tuesday dawned grey, cloudy, dull, cold but not raining or too windy so we set off for Lajes. The boat was going out as the spotter had seen some sperm whales but they were a long way away to the East (and the wind was easterly). The ride out was long, bumpy and very wet but worth every bit of discomfort when we finally got to the whales. There was a group of 5 females and a calf. A couple of them were away from the rest so were lob-tailing to attract attention. They probably got more attention that they expected as a huge male came to join them while we were watching. The group were just ambling along, socialising and didn't seem to mind that we were around (we were the only boat mad enough to brave the waves). The calf wasn't sure what we were so he/she came up to have a very close look and click-clicked at the boat to ask us who we were and what we were doing there then gave us a nudge as if to say "are you coming to play?" A wonderful experience to be so close.

Another interesting creature we saw on our journey today was a Portuguese Man o' War (aka Medusa). These jelly fish are incredibly pretty but also very poisonous. Thet have really long tentacles below the surface (up to 10 metres) that they wrap around their prey (including humans if you get in the way). They then poison the prey and off you go to hospital! Hard to believe something so pretty can be so dangerous!

We also saw an odd dolphin here and there but they got lost in the waves so no photos today.

And now ... to the whales ... all of them are Sperm Whales so I won't label them unless there's something specific to say about the photo.

Family Group with Baby in the middle.

This is the baby who came to say "Hello" - the white bit in the bottom of the photo is our boat! As our boat was a 12 seater Zodiac Baby Sperm Whale seemed ever so close!

The little circle on his body was probably made by a giant squid tentacle!

Mr. Sperm Whale - the scratches will have been caused in various battles, possibly by a giant squid as that's what sperm whales like to eat!

Baby on his / her way to have a closer look at us.

By the time Tuesday afternoon came around, it was a familiar story - too rough to go out. If there'd been some whales or dolphins close by we might have been tempted but there was nothing to be seen (probably hiding behind the high waves) so we hung around for a bit waiting for this final decision to be made then made our way back home via Madalena for a warm, dry night in.

Wednesday dawned and the sea was calm! A different day and a different experience altogether. It was still a very grey, overcast, cloudy and chilly day but we went out in both the morning and the afternoon and saw Common Dolphin, Risso's Dolphin, Sei Whale and ... Blue Whale (Hurrah!)

The land from the boat showed the strip of white houses near the coast with all the fields behind up the hills.

There were quite a few buoys around the place, marking such as lobster pots so the fishermen knew where to find them. At first it looked like there was a lot of rubbish floating on the water until we realised they were labelled and clearly belonged to someone and served a purpose.

Starting with the dolphins. We came across a couple of Common Dolphin pods - one on each trip. Neither were particularly playful or friendly but there were some divers about so it could be that they were a bit nervous.

Not sure what happened to my photos today but a lot of them look a bit grey (other than the Blue Whales and those photos are blue!). The sea was fairly grey (reflecting the sky) but I don't remember it being quite this colour. Jonathon's photos are also fairly grey - but a slightly different shade of grey. Ho Hum ...

We weren't sure whether this pectoral fin flapping was telling us to clear off as the group had several babies with them but we left them alone just in case.

Risso's Dolphin (with baby)

Moving on to the whales ... both Sei Whales and Blue Whales are baleen whales which means they don't have teeth. They live on krill - tiny little organisms that live in the sea. They suck in a whole load of sea water then filter it out through their baleen plates, keeping the krill in to eat and getting rid of the water.

Another difference between the baleen whales and the whales with teeth is that the baleen whales have two blow holes whereas the toothed whales only have one of the side of their head.

The baleen whales pass the Azores on their migration route. At this time of year they travel from South (breeding ground) to the North (feeding ground). The Sei Whales are known as the Ferraris of the whale population as they can travel up to 25 knots (50 km/h). The pair we saw today were strolling along at about 5 knots so pretty slow for them. They were probably just munching or having a rest for a whilebefore making their way North again.

Blue Whale

We have never seen a Blue Whale in the wild before and there were two of them. the larger one was c.20 metres long. The small dorsal fin looks tiny compared to the huge body.

The Blue Whale is the largest creature on Planet Earth and it was what we were really hoping to see on this trip so it was a real privilege to see them.

Blue Whale.

Whereas you can tell which Sperm Whale is which by the nicks etc in their tail, the Blue Whales are identified by the dots close to their dorsal fin as each of them has a unique pattern.

A quick bowl of soup to warm us up at Serge and Marte's cafe then back to Pocinho Bay to check the photos, update the website etc. making sure we got plenty of rest for the next day. Lie in allowed on Thursday as we only went out to sea in the afternoon.

As we had loads of time to get to Lajes, we had a very leisurely breakfast, chatting to our neighbour who was something to do with Unesco and so had lots of interesting stories. We then drove through the middle of the island, admiring the pretty roadside flora.

The hydrangeas were just starting to come into flower and there were plenty of other flowers to admire as well.

As we drove along, Jonathon suddenly let out a shocked cry - the car behind us had just blown up and smoke was billowing out of its engine. The people got out OK and we carried on.

A little bit further along and we came across about 25 black and white cows and a very large (but slow) bull who seemed to be taking themselves for a walk. We had no idea who they belonged to or where they should be but they seemed to be in no imminent danger so we left them strolling along.

One thing that struck us this time was the number of calves in the fields with their mums - it was lovely to see them all as we drove around. There seemed to be a lot more goats this time too (and even the odd sheep).

Back on to the water and off we went. No whales today but three different dolphin species. The sea was lovely and flat and it all seemed very calm after the excitement of the day before.

The Risso's Dolphins were stolling up and down doing nothing much at all. In contrast. the Striped Dolphin were so fast you could hardly see them as they zipped through the water. The Common Dolphin were doing their usual "hide from the cameras" tricks but stayed around a little bit longer this time.

We couldn't go to the Azores without at least one photo of a Cory's Shearwater, not least as a whole load of them came in to roost just near our cottage with their familiar "ang ang ang aahhh" cry. Basically this means, "I'm home dear, where are you?". Fine at dusk but did they really need to let each other know they were going back to sea at daybreak (about 5.15 a.m.) as they flew past our window!

corys
Cory's Shearwater

They use the sea as their runway and scamper along until they have enough speed to launch into flight.

It was a shame that there were no whales to be found on this trip but there was one more to go, we had been very lucky up to now and the dolphins were great to see.

Dinner at Serge and Marte's and we were delighted to be able to say "Hi" to Jeremy and Anne-Lise (who we stayed with last time) as they were also there. After dinner it was back to base to pack and we got ready to go back to the UK (but not before one more whale watching trip).

Friday morning dawned and the sun was shining, the sea crystal clear and like a mill pond - what a change! The termperature actually got above 20C (just). Didn't entice the whales to come and say hello though - Dolphin Watching today instead.

However, we did see all four species of dolphin that are found around the Azores at this time of year and some of them came pretty close to the boat and did some showing off so a pretty good trip.

Jonathon got a lovely photo of a Portuguese Man o' War (Medusa) and you can see its tentacles under the water.

We hadn't even really got out of the harbour before the other boat (we weren't with Joana on this trip) had found a turtle. The team take them out of the water, give them a health check and measure them. tag them then release them. This is part of a scientific programme and they've discovered that the Azores turtles travel from Florida then eventually go back, presumably to retire.

We also saw a turtle in the water but Pedro wasn't as fast as Joana so we didn't get that one on to the boat!

Before we get to the dolphins, here are a few seabirds that we saw during the week. First, the common old Seagull. The one on the left was standing on a big piece of rubber tubing - no idea where it came from or what it was doing there but it made a good perch.

The photos immediately below here are Cory's Shearwaters and the other two are Atlantic Tern

One of the reasons there were plenty of dolphin around was probably because there were a lot of mackerel - a favourite food of the Common, Striped and Bottlenose Dolphin. The Risso's Dolphin eat squid instead.

So ... a few dolphin photos ....

Striped Dolphin - yes there is one amongst all the splashing!

A final goodbye to Pico - the volcano from which the island takes its name and off we went.

The journey home was an overnight stay in Ponta Delgarda (Sao Miguel) and then a direct flight (SATA) to the UK but via Manchester before arriving at Gatwick which was a bit of a nuisance but still better than a ferry to Faial, flight to Lisbon and then flight to London so we can live with it.

One last request - if I've labelled any of the animals incorrectly, please could someone let me know!

Pico 2009
	We enjoyed Pico so much last September that we decided to come back. Serge and his team had said that end April / beginning of May would be a good time for the whales so we came out for the first week in May. Again, we booked with Archipelago Azores who, once again, did us proud. Our car for the week (which struggled with the hills!) was a Toyota Yaris who we called Deutscher because his letters were DE. Warning - if you don't like whale and dolphin pictures then stop looking after the sunset as most of the photos following that are of marine life. We went to whale watch and that is what we did most of the time! There is the odd photo here and there of something other than something you find in or near the sea but you have to look carefully to find them!
We stayed at Pocinho Bay - a beautiful place on the west side of the island. It wasn't far from the capital, Madalena, and was brilliant for sunset watching. Our hosts were lovely, our stone cottage very comfy (as was the guest lounge, especially the hammocks), breakfast was great and the 14 acres of grounds beautiful to walk around so a great success.


	There were lots of sitting areas where you could either relax or have a picnic. Mathilde and Frida would be happy to share if you'd let them but they were both very well behaved dogs after they'd woofed at you then remembered who you were!

There was a lot of colour in the garden but the vast majority of it was in a more traditional style with the low walls, presumably made from volcanic stone. We finally found out the purpose of the fields split into lots of little areas is - this is a traditional way of farming grapes and olives.		Jose and Luisa had renovated the site really sympathetically, keeping the character of the vineyards whilst creating a space of peace and tranquility - lovely! The view across the road was lovely. the island opposite is Faial - one day perhaps we'll visit there too.
		We arrived on the Sunday and went straight off to Espaco Talassa for whale watching but the sea was so rough that the trip was cancelled so back we went and tested out the hammocks, reading our books and generally getting rested up.
Having only had a snack at dinner time we thought we should eat so drove up the coast a little way to Ariera Grande as the Ancourodora had been recommended. We enjoyed the sun reflecting on the sea for a while before we went in to eat.


After dinner we drove back to Pocinho and sat in the special area they have for sunset viewing - spectacular!

Monday came and a call to Serge told us that the sea was still rough but not quite as bad as yesterday so they would reassess in half and hour. That's how long it took us to get there so off we went. Whilst we were driving over, the spotter had seen some sperm whales so we elected to go out even if it meant we got a bit wet and bashed around. We were so pleased we went.	Bottlenose dolphin
Bottlenose dolphin		Bottlenose dolphin
Bottlenose dolphin	Bottlenose dolphin	Bottlenose dolphin
It's unusual to see bottlenose dolphins in such a large group - maybe they stayed together so they didn't get lost in the strong waves or maybe they were just feeling sociable. Joana told us that they'd been like this for a few days. The dolphins were lovely but the Sperm Whales were the treat of the morning. We reckon we saw just about double figures in different groups / pairs / singles during the morning so a really special trip.	Sperm Whales
Sperm Whales
Sperm Whales		Sperm Whales
We both missed getting a photo of the whale that jumped but managed to get a tail or two despite the high waves. I got an awful lot of photos of rough sea as well but they've all been deleted!	Sperm Whales
Sperm Whale		When I get time I'll compare these tails with the ones we took photos of in September and see if they are the same whales. Sperm Whales live around the Azores so it could be them.
There were a few pairs. Generally the sperm whales that are seen around the Azores are females as the males disappear as soon they they become "teenagers" whereas the females in the family stay together their whole lives. All the time we were there another photographer, Alexander Goebels, was there as well. He had a permit to dive with the whales and take photos of them under water. Check out his website.	Sperm Whales
Sperm Whales
Serge and Marte also own a really good cafe / restaurant / hotel next to the whale watching centre (Whale'come Inn) so that was a good place to sit and dry out while having something good to eat.
	Having spent time at sea (and because the afternoon trip was cancelled due to the weather) we decided to drive the long way round and go inland a bit. Everything looked lovely and fresh and bright green.
Tuesday dawned grey, cloudy, dull, cold but not raining or too windy so we set off for Lajes. The boat was going out as the spotter had seen some sperm whales but they were a long way away to the East (and the wind was easterly). The ride out was long, bumpy and very wet but worth every bit of discomfort when we finally got to the whales. There was a group of 5 females and a calf. A couple of them were away from the rest so were lob-tailing to attract attention. They probably got more attention that they expected as a huge male came to join them while we were watching. The group were just ambling along, socialising and didn't seem to mind that we were around (we were the only boat mad enough to brave the waves). The calf wasn't sure what we were so he/she came up to have a very close look and click-clicked at the boat to ask us who we were and what we were doing there then gave us a nudge as if to say "are you coming to play?" A wonderful experience to be so close.
	Another interesting creature we saw on our journey today was a Portuguese Man o' War (aka Medusa). These jelly fish are incredibly pretty but also very poisonous. Thet have really long tentacles below the surface (up to 10 metres) that they wrap around their prey (including humans if you get in the way). They then poison the prey and off you go to hospital! Hard to believe something so pretty can be so dangerous! We also saw an odd dolphin here and there but they got lost in the waves so no photos today. And now ... to the whales ... all of them are Sperm Whales so I won't label them unless there's something specific to say about the photo.

		Tail waving
Spy hopping
Mr. Sperm Whale		Tail Waving
Family Group with Baby in the middle.
	This is the baby who came to say "Hello" - the white bit in the bottom of the photo is our boat! As our boat was a 12 seater Zodiac Baby Sperm Whale seemed ever so close! The little circle on his body was probably made by a giant squid tentacle!
Mr. Sperm Whale - the scratches will have been caused in various battles, possibly by a giant squid as that's what sperm whales like to eat!		Lob tailing
	Tail waving	Spy hopping
Baby on his / her way to have a closer look at us.
By the time Tuesday afternoon came around, it was a familiar story - too rough to go out. If there'd been some whales or dolphins close by we might have been tempted but there was nothing to be seen (probably hiding behind the high waves) so we hung around for a bit waiting for this final decision to be made then made our way back home via Madalena for a warm, dry night in.
Wednesday dawned and the sea was calm! A different day and a different experience altogether. It was still a very grey, overcast, cloudy and chilly day but we went out in both the morning and the afternoon and saw Common Dolphin, Risso's Dolphin, Sei Whale and ... Blue Whale (Hurrah!) The land from the boat showed the strip of white houses near the coast with all the fields behind up the hills.
There were quite a few buoys around the place, marking such as lobster pots so the fishermen knew where to find them. At first it looked like there was a lot of rubbish floating on the water until we realised they were labelled and clearly belonged to someone and served a purpose.
Common Dolphin		Starting with the dolphins. We came across a couple of Common Dolphin pods - one on each trip. Neither were particularly playful or friendly but there were some divers about so it could be that they were a bit nervous. Not sure what happened to my photos today but a lot of them look a bit grey (other than the Blue Whales and those photos are blue!). The sea was fairly grey (reflecting the sky) but I don't remember it being quite this colour. Jonathon's photos are also fairly grey - but a slightly different shade of grey. Ho Hum ...
Common Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin	Risso's Dolphin	Risso's Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin	Risso's Dolphin	Risso's Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin		We weren't sure whether this pectoral fin flapping was telling us to clear off as the group had several babies with them but we left them alone just in case.
Risso's Dolphin		Risso's Dolphin (with baby)
Risso's dolphin
Sei Whale	Moving on to the whales ... both Sei Whales and Blue Whales are baleen whales which means they don't have teeth. They live on krill - tiny little organisms that live in the sea. They suck in a whole load of sea water then filter it out through their baleen plates, keeping the krill in to eat and getting rid of the water. Another difference between the baleen whales and the whales with teeth is that the baleen whales have two blow holes whereas the toothed whales only have one of the side of their head. The baleen whales pass the Azores on their migration route. At this time of year they travel from South (breeding ground) to the North (feeding ground). The Sei Whales are known as the Ferraris of the whale population as they can travel up to 25 knots (50 km/h). The pair we saw today were strolling along at about 5 knots so pretty slow for them. They were probably just munching or having a rest for a whilebefore making their way North again.
Sei Whale
Sei Whale
Blue Whale We have never seen a Blue Whale in the wild before and there were two of them. the larger one was c.20 metres long. The small dorsal fin looks tiny compared to the huge body. The Blue Whale is the largest creature on Planet Earth and it was what we were really hoping to see on this trip so it was a real privilege to see them.	Blue Whale. Whereas you can tell which Sperm Whale is which by the nicks etc in their tail, the Blue Whales are identified by the dots close to their dorsal fin as each of them has a unique pattern.
Blue Whale
A quick bowl of soup to warm us up at Serge and Marte's cafe then back to Pocinho Bay to check the photos, update the website etc. making sure we got plenty of rest for the next day. Lie in allowed on Thursday as we only went out to sea in the afternoon.		As we had loads of time to get to Lajes, we had a very leisurely breakfast, chatting to our neighbour who was something to do with Unesco and so had lots of interesting stories. We then drove through the middle of the island, admiring the pretty roadside flora. The hydrangeas were just starting to come into flower and there were plenty of other flowers to admire as well.

As we drove along, Jonathon suddenly let out a shocked cry - the car behind us had just blown up and smoke was billowing out of its engine. The people got out OK and we carried on. A little bit further along and we came across about 25 black and white cows and a very large (but slow) bull who seemed to be taking themselves for a walk. We had no idea who they belonged to or where they should be but they seemed to be in no imminent danger so we left them strolling along. One thing that struck us this time was the number of calves in the fields with their mums - it was lovely to see them all as we drove around. There seemed to be a lot more goats this time too (and even the odd sheep).

Back on to the water and off we went. No whales today but three different dolphin species. The sea was lovely and flat and it all seemed very calm after the excitement of the day before.
Risso's Dolphin	Risso's Dolphin	Risso's Dolphin
The Risso's Dolphins were stolling up and down doing nothing much at all. In contrast. the Striped Dolphin were so fast you could hardly see them as they zipped through the water. The Common Dolphin were doing their usual "hide from the cameras" tricks but stayed around a little bit longer this time.	Risso's Dolphin
We couldn't go to the Azores without at least one photo of a Cory's Shearwater, not least as a whole load of them came in to roost just near our cottage with their familiar "ang ang ang aahhh" cry. Basically this means, "I'm home dear, where are you?". Fine at dusk but did they really need to let each other know they were going back to sea at daybreak (about 5.15 a.m.) as they flew past our window!
Cory's Shearwater	Cory's Shearwater	Cory's Shearwater They use the sea as their runway and scamper along until they have enough speed to launch into flight.
Common Dolphin	It was a shame that there were no whales to be found on this trip but there was one more to go, we had been very lucky up to now and the dolphins were great to see.	Common Dolphin
Striped Dolphin	Striped Dolphin
Striped Dolphin
Dinner at Serge and Marte's and we were delighted to be able to say "Hi" to Jeremy and Anne-Lise (who we stayed with last time) as they were also there. After dinner it was back to base to pack and we got ready to go back to the UK (but not before one more whale watching trip). Friday morning dawned and the sun was shining, the sea crystal clear and like a mill pond - what a change! The termperature actually got above 20C (just). Didn't entice the whales to come and say hello though - Dolphin Watching today instead. However, we did see all four species of dolphin that are found around the Azores at this time of year and some of them came pretty close to the boat and did some showing off so a pretty good trip. Jonathon got a lovely photo of a Portuguese Man o' War (Medusa) and you can see its tentacles under the water.
	We hadn't even really got out of the harbour before the other boat (we weren't with Joana on this trip) had found a turtle. The team take them out of the water, give them a health check and measure them. tag them then release them. This is part of a scientific programme and they've discovered that the Azores turtles travel from Florida then eventually go back, presumably to retire. We also saw a turtle in the water but Pedro wasn't as fast as Joana so we didn't get that one on to the boat!
Seagull	Before we get to the dolphins, here are a few seabirds that we saw during the week. First, the common old Seagull. The one on the left was standing on a big piece of rubber tubing - no idea where it came from or what it was doing there but it made a good perch. The photos immediately below here are Cory's Shearwaters and the other two are Atlantic Tern	Seagull
Cory's Shearwater	Cory's Shearwater	Cory's Shearwater
	Tern	Tern
Mackerel	One of the reasons there were plenty of dolphin around was probably because there were a lot of mackerel - a favourite food of the Common, Striped and Bottlenose Dolphin. The Risso's Dolphin eat squid instead. So ... a few dolphin photos ....	Bottlenose Dolphin
Common Dolphin		Common Dolphin
Common Dolphin	Common Dolphin	Risso's Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin		Risso's Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin	Risso's Dolphin	Risso's Dolphin
Striped Dolphin	Striped Dolphin - yes there is one amongst all the splashing!
	Striped Dolphin	Striped Dolphin
Striped Dolphin	Striped Dolphin
Striped Dolphin	A final goodbye to Pico - the volcano from which the island takes its name and off we went. The journey home was an overnight stay in Ponta Delgarda (Sao Miguel) and then a direct flight (SATA) to the UK but via Manchester before arriving at Gatwick which was a bit of a nuisance but still better than a ferry to Faial, flight to Lisbon and then flight to London so we can live with it. One last request - if I've labelled any of the animals incorrectly, please could someone let me know!

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