Ocean Life In The Azores

We got up early for breakfast at the famous Peter's Sport Cafe. Apparently you haven't sailed around the world unless you know this place. I believe this is their mascot, a pink whale which sits above the building facing the harbour.

We were the first customers of the day. I had tuna quiche and a cod fish ball (food mentioned in this post pictured here). It was delicious and cheap for EUR 4.70 with a coffee.

Then we had our whale watching tour. We set off by dinghy and went south of Pico where the skippers where lead by whale spotters on land. They are enthusiastic about marine life and knew the animals well even down to their behaviours.

Did you know a sperm whale can stay underwater for 40 minutes before it resurfaces for air? A skipper got out an underwater microphone to detect a whale and we waited. After 15 minutes, there was a mighty blow of white spray in the horizon and we moved closer. We saw a sperm whale and a northern bottle nose whale. The highlight was when the skipper was describing exactly a whale's movement before it deep dived into the water. Its blows twice in quick succession and dips it's body down, revealing it's massive tail in the air.

See that tiny white speck in on the right side of this pic above? That was a whale. My iphone didn't capture them well but I got photos of dolphins. We saw Risso's dolphin which are white, Atlantic spotted dolphin and the common dolphin. The latter were social creatures and came up to us. I don't know if it was them who spotted us first but suddenly many dolphins were "skipping" towards us. Beautiful and amazing! They followed us until they couldn't keep up with the speed of the boat.

Afterwards we had lunch alfresco by the town beach. Another seafood triumph. Grilled tuna steak with potatoes and salad. Grey clouds were rolling in so we had to make it to our next stop quick before it rained.

We went to the Geological Museum of the Volcano in Capelinhos, situated where there was a volcano in the 1950s. The volcano effectively pushed out the headland and caused the area look like Mars even to this day. It's dusty and barren with hardly any signs of life except the people visiting the museum and the lighthouse unharmed by the volcano. It will take hundreds if not thousands of years before it becomes lush like the rest of the island.