Donnerstag, 28. August 2008

Annette and the bottlenose

What a fun to meet the bottlenose. Today they were jumping , even higher than the boat. Annette was lucky to get this wonderfull pictures.




Samstag, 23. August 2008

new species in the azores

During the last day´s our vigia Anteiro Suarez spotted some dolphins that he could not identify. So he sent one of our boats there. It was La madrugada with Skipper Leonildo on board who saw a group of about 20 animals.
Fraser's Dolphin (Lagenodelphis hosei) have never been reported in our waters. But this year the water is extremly warm and that might be the reason for this species which is normally found between between 30° S and 20° N. We are about 1.000 miles more north. Maybe it is also a result of global warming. Only today we saw pictures from the satelite the the greenland glacier has an enormes crack. Let´s wait and see what reactions show up. For me the presence of species that life more in tropical waters and now show up in azorean waters is a north and south expansion of species. During the last years already other ceatcea have been sighted that we never saw before such as Bryde Whales and Longfin Pilot Whales.



Fraser Dolphins' are about 1 m long and 20 kg weight at birth, growing to 2.75 m and 200 kg at adulthood. They have a stocky build, a small fin in relation to the size of the body, conspicously small flippers. The dorsal fin and beak are also insubstantial. The upper side is a grey-blue to grey-brown. A dirty cream coloured line runs along the flanks from the beak, above the eye, to the anus. There is a dark stripe under this line.

Freitag, 22. August 2008

Feeding time for everybody

Sometimes there is enough food for everybody, small and big, water and air animals. When the Chicharro (=horse mackerel, tracharus picturatus) come in huge quantities, we can observe big feeding balls with different species of dolphins, shearwater birds and sometimes tuna. This time there was even a fin whale participating, first looking around for food and then going straight for the fish ball.

Emanuel with the swimming boat in the middle of the spectaculo...

Where is the fish?? Good underwater observation skills are crucial for good catches

Too heavy stomach for take off hm ;)

Finally in the air!

Spotted dolphins hunting for the fish... The dolphins are the only one able to collect the fish in a compact ball close to the surface, which demands long and constant work until the feeding event is finished.
The fin whale coming up... a speciality of the fin whale is the different colours of the lower jaw. Grey colour on the left side, white colour on the right side (see the pictures below).





Finally... the fin whale in the middle of the shearwaters and dolphins, taking a piece of the chicharro cake!

Laura zu Besuch bei den Pottys

Auch Laura war gestern dabei als der Pottwalbulle vor Nord Pico seine Schau machte.......Fluke zeigen war angesagt und laura hat es VOLL erwischt....

Donnerstag, 21. August 2008

Sperm whales acrobatics - de luxe sunset trip

Sometimes the sperm whales around Pico are in good mood - like yesterday in the late afternoon. We spent over 1 hour with a single male off Pico north coast, which apparently liked our attention. He spoiled us with various acrobatics, breaching (jumping), spyhopping (head out of the water) and flukes in the wind... Looks like Patagonia hm?!? ;)



Mittwoch, 20. August 2008

swimming wiith dolphins

Pico is the best spot in the world to swim with wild dolphins. We have 5 species around Pico and 4 are good to swim with us. They are wild, life in freedom and not in captivity. Whenever the want the can dive or swim away.
We are visitors in their home and they allow us to be their guests......come to Pico and enjoy with us.
Photos by Annette Scheffer



Fingerprints

The fluke of the spermwhale is like a fingerprint. We can identify each animal because each fluke is different. Angel from Barcelona sent this pictures and we will archive them in our libary. If you made fluke pictures during your stay at Pico please send them to us. We also need the date and time if possible when you took them.




Artikel im Reisemagazin

Einen Artikel im Reisemagazin online über Pico gibt es in Kürze. Hier ein Vorgeschmack.
http://mag.i-magazine.de/swf/HjWOoIMqbY

Daniels impressions at Pico in the nature

Our Montain ca be seen from fare.




Cory´s shearwaterbirds



The dolphins are behiiiiiiind.



today the group of spotted dolphins was about 1.000 ( onethousend ) individuals.
Yes, Pico is one of the best spots in the world to meet them !






a stop along the coast of northern Faial




jumping fast to reach the boat




and enjoy bowriding in front of our boat...







Thank you Daniel Isenrig from Switzerland

Pico Impressions

Carola and her mother had a short trip last week to visit Pico. Let´s share some impression



Common Dolphins at the north coast of Pico. We meet them all year long, as they are residents.






Wild Ginger flowers are bloooming in August and lend´s a wonderfull smell to the Island



Lucy is the latest newcommer at Pico Sport. She has booked a flight to Frankfurt at August 29th and will be home in Fröndenberg at Dr. Ronny´s house. Lucky her !

Double dive

2 sperm whales on the way down to the depths of the Mid Atlantic just a few miles off Pico South coast.