Nuno Sa with Pico Sport

Pico is one of the best spots in the world to explore the biodiversity of marine life. Most of the time we think about the big animals like whales and dolphins.

Nuno Sa is a wildlife photographer that looks into other corners as well. Sometimes its a little hole or a cave where you find surprising creatures.....

Nuno worked with Pico Sport twice in 2011 and in June 2012 an expedition around Pico Island is in preparation to explore more than 30 dive sites....

Now enjoy and see what divers and snorkler`s might experience in a Pico visit.

Nuno says that the Azores have a great chance to become one of the Top 10 dive spots in the world. The new dive programms developed during the last 3 years, diving at Princess Alice Bank and Banco Joao Castro, the extroordinary diving with blue sharks and mako sharks, snorkeling with smooth hammerheads are unique.

Now we are working to motivate the government to open marine parks and protect the enviroment, to allow the coatel fish species to reproduce and create a garden of Eden for marine life, biodiversity and snorklers and divers from around the world.

Nuno Sa is a finalist of the 2011 BBC Wildlife Photographer of the year and has good chances to win the competition. His winning shoot is a blue shark taken at Condor bank close to Pico.

The shot above is his latest picture taken in August 2011 and we hope many more will follow.

If you are interested in diving at Pico come between June and September. The offshore diving at Princess Alice and the blue shark banks are available from July to September.

Join the newest product of Pico Sport on our diving liveaboard, Katamaran Tonia. Only of exclusive 6 divers we do 1 week cruises only to the TOP HOT SPOTS.

more Infos and request at

www.scubaazores.com

www.whales-dolphins.net

e mail to

whales@gmx.net

frank@scubazores.com

Voluntäre bei Pico Sport

Die Azoren - ein Naturtraum, mitten im Atlantik. Das größte Whale Watching Unternehmen auf Pico - Pico Sport - bietet ein Sprungbrett für junge Menschen um ihren Alltag im kalten Deutschland zu verlassen und sich ins Abenteuer zu stürzen.
Es gibt viele verschiedene Geschichten, wie man ein Teil des Pico Sport Teams wird.

von links: Lisa, Frank, Friederike

Mein Name ist Friederike, ich bin 21 Jahre alt und war schon fünf mal auf den Azoren. Angefangen hat alles mit einem Familienurlaub auf Texel. Auf Empfehlung der Nachbarn ging es im nächsten Jahr mit der ganzen Familie zur berühmten Delfinschule von Pico Sport. Zum ersten Mal kam ich in den Genuss Wale und Delphine in freier Wildbahn zu beobachten und es wurden mir die ersten Grundlage über Meeressäuger beigebracht. 2006 stand der nächste Familienurlaub auf den Azoren an. In diesem Jahr erinnern ich mich gerne an den „Orcaalarm“. Morgens um 6 Uhr wurden wir aus dem Bett geklingelt. Man konnte nur das Wort „Orca“ aus dem Telefonhörer verstehen. Also ging es mit einem Affenzahn raus aufs Meer. Nach langer Suche wurden wir mit einer wunderschönen Schule dieser anmutigen Tiere belohnt. Diesen Glückstag werde ich nie vergessen. Süchtig nach diesen Momenten startete ich im nächsten Jahr in meinen Schulferien ein Praktikum bei Pico Sport. Ich arbeitete als Guide auf den Booten und versuchte mein erlerntes Wissen aus den vorherigen Jahren an die Gäste weiter zugeben. Durch die atemberaubenden Ereignisse sprudelte ich auch noch zuhause voller Begeisterung. Ich steckte meine lange Freundin Lisa an und wie es der Zufall so will, wurde auch sie als Marinero ins Pico Sport Team aufgenommen.

Lisa:
So fing also mein Abenteuer auf den Azoren an. Ich bin 20 Jahre alt und kam 2009 mit Friederike das erste Mal zu Pico Sport. Die Aufregung am Anfang schlug schon nach den ersten Ausfahrten in Begeisterung und Faszination um.
Die unglaublichen Erlebnisse solcher Wal- und Delfintouren begleiten mich das ganze Jahr und so beschloss auch ich wieder zukommen.
Ich studiere Medizin, trotzdem haben die Meeressäuger einen so bleibenden Eindruck hinterlassen, dass ich meine Semesterferien nutze um diese fantastischen Tiere in ihrem Lebensraum beobachten zu können und sie den Gästen näher zu bringen. Auch Friederike nutzt jetzt die Zeit neben ihrem Studium der Agrawissenschaften um weiter bei Pico Sport zu arbeiten.

Heute:
2011 zog es uns beide wieder nach Pico. Dieses Jahr wurden wir von einem ausgesprochen netten Team empfangen und durften zu Beginn die neue Base in Lajes do Pico betreuen. Neben den Whale Watching und Delfin Schwimm Trips, gibt es bei Pico Sport viele Profi Fotografen, die die Vielfalt der Azoren für ihre Aufnahmen nutzen. Mit den Teams verbringt man als Marinero ganz außergewöhnliche Tage.
Besonders spannend finden wir die Möglichkeit an internationalen Film- und Fotoproduktionen teilzuhaben und Erlebtes später auf Leinwänden, DVD´s oder in Zeitschriften wieder zu finden.
Frank Wirth, Gründer von Pico Sport, versucht immer wieder junge Menschen für sein Team zu begeistern, ihnen Chancen zu geben, sowie wissenschaftlich und nachhaltig mit ihnen zu arbeiten.
Der Alltag hier auf Pico wird von immer neuen Herausforderungen und Erfahrungen geprägt. Man kann nur sagen, jedes Jahr gibt es wieder neue Überraschungen und Erlebnisse. Doch eines bleibt Jahr für Jahr erhalten: Das Glücksgefühl draußen auf dem Wasser - das Blau des Meeres, das Grün und Schwarz der Insel im Hintergrund und die beeindruckendsten Tiere der Welt. Nicht nur durch die Beobachtung der Tiere, sondern auch der intensiven Kontakt zu den Gästen, lernt man jede Saison etwas neues dazu. Auf ein nächstes Mal bei Pico Sport!

www.whales-dolphins.net
www.scubaazores.com

Unexpected visitors!!!

Yesterday, the 28th of August was one of those days that were EXTRA exciting, since our boats and customers out on the water had some unexpected visitors... Our whale watching charter had a Humpback whale around for a few hours feeding only a few miles north of Pico. We had some amazing activity as the photos do show.

Photos by Leonie Mahlke

Pico Sport's divers had a very unexpected visit from a Minke whale while they were diving with Blue Sharks. The whale was very curious and stayed around very close for about 5 minutes. Awesome!!!!

Also Claudia and Manfred, our Austrian professional film makers had an amazing day out on the water, with the Humpback whale at the start of the day, Blue Sharks at lunch time, Atlantic spotted dolphins around dinner and a few curious Sperm whales at sunset...!!! Big smiles for customers AND crew all day!!!!

Sperm whale breaching

Today 19:00

a sperm whale breaching close to a whale watching boat at the south coast of Pico. The picture was taken on a Pico Sport Whale Watching trip on board the Blöack Pearl . Skipper Leonildo took the great shot.

www.whales-dolphins.net

Pottwal news

Pottwale verbessern die Klimabilanz

Pottwale entfernen laut einer Studie jährlich rund 400.000 Tonnen Kohlenstoff aus der Atmosphäre - und zwar auf indirektem Wege: Ihre Ausscheidungen regen das Algenwachstum an.

Trish Lavery von der Flinders University in Adelaide und ihren Kollegen sind bei der Untersuchung einer Pottwal-Population im Südpolarmeer auf durchaus erstaunliche Bilanzrechnungen gestoßen.

Wie sie in den "Proceedings of the Royal Society B" schreiben, leben in dieser Region rund 12.000 Tiere, die ihr Geschäft meist in den lichtdurchfluteten Bereichen des Meeres verrichten. Diese Angewohnheit bewirkt eine Nährstoffumverteilung von globalem Ausmaß. Über den Kot der Meeresriesen gelangen nebst organischen Verbindungen jährlich rund 50 Tonnen Eisen in die oberen Meeresschichten, das Phytoplankton reagiert auf diese Düngung mit regem Wachstum.

Die Bilanz: Jährlich werden der Atmosphäre dadurch 400.000 Tonnen Kohlenstoff entzogen - rund doppelt so viel, wie die Pottwale des Südpolarmeeres wieder via Atmung abgeben. Fazit: Walfang ist nicht nur in Bezug auf die Artenvielfalt verwerflich, er hemmt auch die Selbstregulation des Klimas.

science.ORF.at

Pico Sport sustainable

Pico Sport burns thousend´s of liters of fuel every season. To compensate we are planting threes.

The owners of Pico Sport operate Rhino watch safari Lodge in kenya.

Maisha is now an ambassador for climate justice and will plant 1 Million threes in kenya....

here a video from the academy we had in kenya in July 2011

http://www.plant-for-the-planet.org/en/node/16277

The Return of the Fin Whales

We are heading towards September and slowly the number of whale watchers is decreasing. August has been a very busy month (hence the silence from our whale watch crew on FB… ;-)) and apart from a few stormy days, the weather has been amazingly sunny and calm. The water visibility has been incredible, which made the dolphin swims a very special experience to all those that joined us. And also the whale watchers had amazing days out on the ocean. We have been fortunate to encounter at least 1 newborn Sperm whale calf of not more than 3 metres long, very curious to the surrounding boats. Also the dolphin pods showed high numbers of small calves.

Heading into September we observed the first returning Fin whale off the North Coast of Pico Island a few days ago. High, stable numbers of the big Baleen whales migrate through the Azores in the spring months heading up to their northern feeding grounds. On top of this northward migration, the last few years have shown Fin whales coming through the Azores in September feeding on the sardine runs in the Atlantic. When the sardines run close to shore, we have the exciting opportunity to encounter large pods of dolphins, many birds and sometimes up to 10 fin whales in the area. Here at Pico Sport we are keeping our fingers crossed for more fin whale encounters in the following weeks!!!

Danielle Dion photo

Photo by Robert M. Lehmann

Blue sharks at Pico island

Now it becomes clear.

Pico will be the Nr. 1 spot for the be very close to sharks. No other shark species comes as close as the Blue Sharks.

The french photographer and author Joe Bunnie is with us and took this 2 shoots yesterday . The sharks stayed more than 2 hours with him....on very close encounter.

You will see some of the Pico Blues in his new book +/- 5 Meter which is comming in to the market by the end of this year....and you will be surprised.....

soon more information on www.scubaazores.com

frank@scubaazores.com

Fullmoon at Pico

The summer is almost over. 4 more weeks and the season is done. It was a year of new experiences....

The fullmoon nights are impressive when the moon rises high above Mt. Pico. Its one of these nights where you sit at the Ocean, listen to the sounds of the sea and the shearwater birds, a nice glass of Pico wine and a fresh fish on the BBQ.....what a wonderfull place this is.

Pico Sport Whale Watching and Scuba Diving is preparing already the new season and invites YOU to come and enjoy our Island and the treasures of Nature with us.....Come an discover the secret.

whales@gmx.net

web cam online

Since today you can see what happens at Pico Sport. From my office window we see the Veranda of our base and the Ilheus Islands.....

click here

www.picosport.pt.to

Breaking news for 2012 Pico Diving season

Live aboard Dive Cruises in the Azores

The first time in the diving market in the Azores a Dive Cat will start to sail on Scuba Diving Cruises in the Central Islands of the Azores. From June 30th 2012 until the end of September 2012 the 13,5m Cat will operate under the flag of Pico Sport to explore the most exciting dive sites of the Atlantic Ocean.

The 7 day cruise includes 16 dives at the Blue and Mako shark spot´s , an overnight at Princess Alice Bank and an overnight at the most thrilling dive spot of Banco Joao Castro.

The rest of the nights we will anker in the ports of Faial, Madalena, Lajes or Velas. This allows us to enjoy the local cousine. The long distance sails will be done during the night so you wake up at the dive spot.

The Cat is also available for charter weeks.

In May, June and October we will offer sailing cruises from Faial, Pico to Sao Jorge, Graciosa and Terceira. We are sure that specially in may some blue whales will cross our route.

send us an e mail to request more details and be part of the newest Scuba Dive Product in the Atlantic Ocean...Only available for exclusive 6 divers per cruise !!!!!!!

whales@gmx.net

3 D Film Team at Pico

Once again Pico Sport is arranging a filming with a 3 D Film Crew. Today the Heli Team arrived and we are shooting 3 D from a remote Helicopter....a new experience for us as well.

Rare visitors!

20^th July- dolphin swim with Pico Sport, always a new adventure!

What was supposed to be a dolphin swim turned out to become an extraordinary whale watching trip!

On a sunny morning in July we left the harbour in Lajes, where Frank recently opened a new shop. We are operating from both Madalena and Lajes now, the two largest cities on Pico Island.

Once on the water, we soon encountered a pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis), which is endemic to the temperate and tropical areas of the Atlantic Ocean. We put the swimmers (two at a time) in the water and they had a really good time with the animals. After a while, one of our vigias got exciting news: He had spotted rare Northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus)! This species is also endemic to the North Atlantic Ocean and belongs to the group of the beaked whales (Ziphiidae).

Beaked whales are one of the least known groups of mammals because of their deep-sea habitat, mysterious habits, and apparent low abundance. It was hunted heavily in Norway and England, leaving an estimated population of approx. 10,000 animals.

We took off and approached them very slowly and carefully. There were four or five animals traveling together, showing impressive blows!

As we were aiming to continue the ‘dolphin swim’, we looked for some bottlenose dolphins due to the advices of the vigia. We found false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) instead! A few of the approximately 30 animals surrounded the boat, definitely very curios, and surfaced right next to the boat. One of the bigger males (they can grow up to 6 meters) even rubbed its belly against the boat- outstanding!

false killer whales

The False Killer Whale has not been extensively studied in the wild; much of the data about it has been derived by examining stranded animals.
We could not find any words to describe this very special encounter! It was the first time in 2011, that false killer whales were seen in the Azorean waters.

After all we had seen that day, we also found a pod of short finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), the second largest member of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae).

Both false killer and pilot whales belong to Blackfish, which consists in 6 species of cetaceans (orca, long and short finned pilot whale, melon- headed whale, pygmy killer whale and false killer whale) They are commonly called whales but classified scientifically in the Delphinidae or oceanic dolphin family.

Four species in one trip, two rare sightings, close encounters – What an incredible day!

Book your dolphin contact with Pico Sport

whales@gmx.net

shark weeks in Pico

The shark weeks in Pico are doing very very well. Flat sea, 40m visibility, blue sharks, Mako sharks and Mobula rays

the onliest place in Europe where you can see this wonders of nature...

Thanks you Michael Webersberger for this excellent pictures, takes during the shark weeks with Pico Sport.

www.whales-dolphins.net

book your shark week 2012 with us NOW.....

Beaked whales

Beaked whales are rear to be seen. Yesterday Michael Webersberger was lucky when this whale was interested in the boat on our way from princess Alice to Pico Island. He came so close twice that we had time enought to hold the cameras in to the water from the boat.....what a luck to get a shoot of a seldom animal like this.

We think its Mesoplodon Mirus, True´s Beaked whale...

Everthing is possible in the waters around Pico island....a true meetimg place of Cetacea and other creatures of the sea.....

discover the secret with us

www.whales-dolphins.net

Princess Alice Season

The shark weeks at Pico are running.

In this wonderfull programm we include 2 day trips to Princess Alice Bank where the Mobula Rays meet. Yesterday we met around 50 animals in Christal clear waters....comming right in front the camera of Michael Webersberger...

The shark weeks are up until the Mid of September. Next year we will start around the 10th July with this programm. make sure you book your sharkweeks 2012 right now with Pico Sport.....dive with the shark explorers !

www.whales-dolphins.net

Voluntär bei Pico Sport

Ein Voluntariat bei Pico Sport

Mein Name ist Valentina, ich bin 22 Jahre alt und komme aus Österreich.

Vor einigen Monaten habe ich mich bei Pico Sport als Volantaire beworben und habe nun das Glück für zwei Monate mitarbeiten zu können. Hier untersuche ich grade den Tentakel eines Riesenkraken den wir treibend an der Oberfläche gefunden haben.....Pottwale tauchen hier bis 2500m tief und jagen diese Lebewesen. manchmal findet man dann Reste der Mahlzeit auf dem Wasser.

Ich bin nun seit zwei Wochen hier auf Pico und das was ich bis jetzt gesehen und erlebt habe hat all meine Erwartungen übertroffen, es ist einfach unglaublich was man hier alles erleben kann.

Jeden Tag kommt es zu neuen Herausforderungen neuen Erlebnissen die einem nur bereichern können.

Ich hatte auch die Ehre die ersten fünf Tage ein professionelles österreichisches Kamerateam zu begleiten. Wir waren täglich bis zu 10 Stunden am Wasser und hatten atemberaubende

Erlebnisse mit Walen, Delfine, Haie, Schildkröten, Schwertfische, und vielen mehr.

Auf dem folgenden Bild sehen wir Manfred Hochleitner mit einem Pottwal. Eine absolut irre Begegnung. Manfred filmt für eine ORF / Discovery Produktion und arbeitet seit 2 Jahren mit Pico Sport an diesem Projekt. Pico Sport arbeitet ständig mit Film und Fototeams aus aller Welt und gilt als das weltweit erfahrenste Unternehmen wenn es um Wal und Delphinaufnahmen unter und über Wasser geht.

Ich bin schon sehr gespannt, was mich als nächstes erwartet, denn das schönste hier ist

"we never know".

danke an Frank, Claudia und Manfred

Sowerby's beaked whales!!!

Two of our whale watching trips over the last few days have had the special and exciting opportunity to view the elusive Sowerby's beaked whale!! A quick glimpse before diving again, but the unmistakable head made it clear it was beaked whales we were seeing!!


Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens), aka North Atlantic beaked whale, is a slender cetacean that measures between 4-5 m in length and weighs between 900-1,100 kg. They have 2 teeth in the lower jaw that protrude in males. The dorsal fin is small and curved with a rounded tip. The flukes are dark in color and unnotched. The flippers of Sowerby's beaked whale are curved and relatively long compared to other Mesoplodon species. Sowerby's beaked whales are slate to blue-gray on the dorsal side, lighter on the ventral side with occasional gray or white spots.

Little is known about Sowerby's beaked whale, however some have been observed surfacing head first at a steep angle after which the animal spends about 1 minute breathing. They then dive for 10-15 minutes, and have been observed resurfacing up to 800 external link m away.

Beaked Whales (Family Ziphiidae)
These medium-sized to moderately large whales have a single pair of grooves on the throat. There is a distinct snout, and often the few teeth present are visible only in adult males.
These whales are deep divers and are rarely seen. Many species are known only from a few specimens, and little is known about the life history and biology of the group. All members of this family, except Blainville's beaked whale, are difficult to distinguish from each other, and study by museum experts is usually necessary for identification.

Based on data collected from strandings, Sowerby's beaked whale, Mesoplodon bidens, is found in temperate and subartic waters in the eastern and western North Atlantic.

Sowerby's beaked whale likely feeds on squid, octopus and fish.

Summer whale and dolphin watching

What an excellent kick start of July for whale and dolphin watching! The last few days have been great; the sea couldn't have been any calmer, the visibility clearer, the sun warmer and the animals more abundant. Our customers and the crew have been lucky to witness Sperm whales in active, social surface behaviours. One group of 3 whales showed the juvenile in the group rolling onto its side, spy hopping and showing its odd-looking narrow lower jaw, tail lifting, and rubbing against the other members of the group. A few whale watching boats were silently follwing, until the whales stopped moving and slowly started drifting in our direction. The enguines were shut down and the whales given free path to go their way. All 3 animals spy hopped before slowly passing close by the boats while observing us. Back on their way to the deep blue... Wow!
And then the dolphins...! Big groups of common and Atlantic spotted dolphins interacting with the boat. A group of bottlenose dolphins came bow-riding and the amazing visibility made up for a great encounter! And the presence of striped and Risso's dolphins finished off some beautiful days. All dolphin groups seem to have many new born calves in their midst, some with their foetal folds still visible, which indicated that they are only a few days old.!! How special to be able to view these newcomers!!

Summer whale watching is here!! Join us!!

With Pico Sport to Patagonia!!

Discover the secret´s of Patagonia

Every October Pico Sport Lda. travels to Patagonia for amazing wildlife travel opportunities! We have been visiting this special place for the last 19 years, and one of our main reasons to travel in October is the huge gathering of Southern Right whales in the area. From early June to the beginning of November, hundreds of right whales come near the shore to mate and breed. The largest concentration of whales in the area takes place in September and October. Besides the great opportunity to watch these animals, our trips also take you into interesting fishing villages, we visit Penguin colonies, have the chance to observe Commerson's dolphins and much more... Getting excited?!?! We still have some spaces available from the 9th-23rd of October! Contact us at whales@gmx.net or infopicosport@gmail.com for more info!

For more Patagonia photos also visit our Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com

Plant-for-the-Planet

The children's initiative Plant-for-the-Planet was founded in January 2007 and originated from a school project on climate change by Felix Finkbeiner, then 9 years of age. In his project’s conclusion Felix developed the vision of children planting one million trees in each country worldwide thus creating a countermeasure to global carbon emissions. In the following years Plant-for-the-Planet grew into a global movement with currently about 100.000 children in over 100 countries engaged in the initiative. They see themselves as global citizens campaigning for climate justice, which in their eyes includes a total reduction of the emission of gases affecting the climate and the fair distribution of emission rights among all people.

On July 14th Rhino Watch Lodge is welcoming Felix and his Family in Kenya. We will have a children's academy with 500 children and a planting session of 200 trees patronized by Maisha Wirth and Rhino-Watch-Lodge, their local partner in Kenya. Rhino Watch Lodge will maintain a long time relationship with the children of the Plant-for-the-Planet and support their tree planting projects in the future.

Frank Wirth: "We are very honoured that our operation in Kenya has the opportunity to host this event and to become a partner of Plant-for-the-Planet. My daughter Maisha will do everything in her power to plant one million trees in Kenya. For each liter of fuel we burn in our Pico-based operation we will plant in Kenya. Everyone of you can help and donate a tree. You can also come to Kenya, visit Rhino Watch Lodge yourself and plant you own tree... Email us for more information."

See Felix's recent speech at the Launch Ceremony of the International Year of Forest 2011 in New York on February 2nd: http://plant-for-the-planet.org/videos

Also follow his Africa journey on their blog: http://blog.plant-for-the-planet.org/