Blue whale watching in the Azores, Pico Island
Highlights
Pico Island, Azores | Five half day Blue Whale watching outings | Expert whale researcher guide | Guided tour of Pico Island | Learn about marine wildlife research techniques | Fin Whales | Humpback Whales | Dolphin watchingDescription of Blue whale watching in the Azores, Pico Island
This Blue Whale Watching holiday in the Azores is a stunning May event, as this is the best time for seeing migratory Blue Whales off the Azores. Your base will be the Azorean island of Pico, a third of which is a nature reserve, with a volcano at its core. You can choose to stay in our 4**** hotel near the harbour, a charming 4**** upgrade hotel surrounded by lush gardens or our guest house villa with pool, all with stunning sea views.The main focus of the week is to see Blue Whales of course, and you will be travelling with an expert local researcher guide, Rui, with daily timings of your five half day trips planned carefully by him to benefit from best sea conditions. Your whale watching excursions will be on board a RIB Zodiac research boat, which travels comfortably in choppy waters and also able to stay clear of the busier tourist vessels. You will have a chance to become totally immersed in the whale research process during this exciting Blue Whale month of May, learning about data collection, whale behaviour, feeding habits and also get to hear the sounds of the Blue Whale using hydrophones. Our guests are always bowled over and inspired by Rui’s knowledge, as well as his commitment to responsible whale watching.
We have a great record of whale sightings, not only of Blue Whales but also Fin and Humpback Whales, as they are attracted to the nutrient rich waters around Pico during this time. We have also been lucky enough to see an Orca pod on one trip and other wildlife wonders include seven species of dolphin, turtles and Manta Rays.
Travel Team
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Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
The way the boats approach the whales follow local regulations to protect the marine life. We only use licensed boat operators who are very sensitive to the well-being of the dolphins and whales. There is a good spirit of cooperation amongst the boat companies and agreements to respect the animals as a priority.Research is ongoing on the boats, so these trips are helping to build our knowledge of these fantastic animals. Many of the skippers are professional photographers and maintain a comprehensive photo ID database, in particular sperm whales, bottlenose dolphins and pilot whales. The more we can learn about the whales and dolphins of the Azores the better we can understand things like their migrations and social structures. All this moves us closer to protecting them and the marine environment in a more knowledgeable, effective way.
Guests are encouraged to send in any photos they have taken on the whale watching trips that can be used in the ongoing photo identification projects. Every trip has a huge emphasis on conservation and sustaining the marine environment so future generations may also have the privilege of seeing marine mammals in the wild.
The Impacts of this Trip
We only work with local suppliers who employ at least 80% local people which means financial benefits to families here. The land based lookouts whose immense skill at tracking the animals previously earned money from whaling now earn money from tourists - an enormous change that we are passionate about supporting. Many of their adult children now skipper the whale watching boats and work within the small scale tourism.
Our whale watching company offers presentations in local schools to educate the children about the marine life on their doorstep with an emphasis on conservation. They are also planning to host an Azorean Whale Festival to promote the islands as one of the key locations worldwide to see whales. We donate a percentage of our profits to the World Cetacean Alliance (WCA), helping to protect whales and dolphins worldwide.
All the activities we recommend locally are run by Azoreans and are designed to maintain good relationships between visitors and the local people. For example, we sell and promote only local crafts to our guests to support local craft makers and artisans and to spread tourism income to many islanders. Our favourite restaurants are all run by Azorean people, and we do recommend that our visitors try the delicious local cuisine while supporting sustainable local fishermen in particular.
As well as whale watching we offer geological and cultural tours hosted solely by experienced local guides with an in-depth knowledge of their island and its landscape. We support the local vineyards where guests can sample the fantastic Azorean wine and take these locally produced gifts back to people at home.
The way the boats approach the whales follow local regulations to protect the marine life. We only use licensed boat operators who are very sensitive to the well-being of the dolphins and whales. There is a good spirit of cooperation amongst the boat companies and agreements to respect the animals as a priority.Research is ongoing on the boats, so these trips are helping to build our knowledge of these fantastic animals. Many of the skippers are professional photographers and maintain a comprehensive photo ID database, in particular sperm whales, bottlenose dolphins and pilot whales. The more we can learn about the whales and dolphins of the Azores the better we can understand things like their migrations and social structures. All this moves us closer to protecting them and the marine environment in a more knowledgeable, effective way.
Guests are encouraged to send in any photos they have taken on the whale watching trips that can be used in the ongoing photo identification projects. Every trip has a huge emphasis on conservation and sustaining the marine environment so future generations may also have the privilege of seeing marine mammals in the wild.
The Impacts of this Trip
We only work with local suppliers who employ at least 80% local people which means financial benefits to families here. The land based lookouts whose immense skill at tracking the animals previously earned money from whaling now earn money from tourists - an enormous change that we are passionate about supporting. Many of their adult children now skipper the whale watching boats and work within the small scale tourism.
Our whale watching company offers presentations in local schools to educate the children about the marine life on their doorstep with an emphasis on conservation. They are also planning to host an Azorean Whale Festival to promote the islands as one of the key locations worldwide to see whales. We donate a percentage of our profits to the World Cetacean Alliance (WCA), helping to protect whales and dolphins worldwide.
All the activities we recommend locally are run by Azoreans and are designed to maintain good relationships between visitors and the local people. For example, we sell and promote only local crafts to our guests to support local craft makers and artisans and to spread tourism income to many islanders. Our favourite restaurants are all run by Azorean people, and we do recommend that our visitors try the delicious local cuisine while supporting sustainable local fishermen in particular.
As well as whale watching we offer geological and cultural tours hosted solely by experienced local guides with an in-depth knowledge of their island and its landscape. We support the local vineyards where guests can sample the fantastic Azorean wine and take these locally produced gifts back to people at home.
1 Reviews of Blue whale watching in the Azores, Pico Island
Reviewed on 19 May 2018 by Richard Christie
Im not normally inclined to book group holidays because I’m not really the sociable kind although in fulfilling my wife’s long held dream to go Whale Watching I had little choice given how everything is structured. After some research I decided the Azores was the place to go therefore I booked one weeks holiday through Amanda finally settling on Pico Island as the destination.Whale researcher Rui is the man on the ground working full time gathering data about the Azorean whales in order to collaborate with other researchers around the world for the enrichment of wider knowledge. This passionate, hard working, sharing and kind approach sums Rui up to a tee. He is literally the nicest guy you will ever meet and if you ever fancy learning what Rui doesn’t know about whales, forget it because you will discover it to be a minuscule amount of knowledge.
His care of our group together with handling the individuals within was a lesson in itself, all very polite, calm and done with caring humour although he ensured any jokes were always on him. Rui’s assistant Maria could be similarly described and was always caring, smiling and super enthusiastic.
The 3 hour trips out to sea were truly amazing with many sightings of Blue, Sperm and Fin Whales together with several dolphin and turtle species. There were numerous other creatures to be expertly described by Rui ( the mans knowledge is unbelievable) therefore these trips were simply out of this world and went by like a flash. We were also educated as to the role of the spotters (and were fortunate to meet one spotter) who guided us to the animals, again learning how all this is achieved was a real pleasure. Regarding going out on the boat, I was very worried about getting seasick as I’m not good on the water, however just taking some travel sickness pills sorted that out and I didn’t have any issues at all.
Rui also conducted short seminars after the trips recapping on what we had seen and allowing us time to consider and ask questions. These were activities Rui didn’t need to undertake, however his passion and enthusiasm won’t let him pass on the opportunity to share his fascination for these animals and all things nature in general.
We had two group meals with Rui, one at the outset and one at the end which again were great company and great food together with more opportunities to ask questions if we wished.
Our hotel was the the 4**** luxury upgrade option which occupies a stunning location together with very good accommodation although I would recommend hiring a car for the week as we did, thereby providing a much greater ability to get about the island during the afternoons. We also had a really good island tour which was very informative together with a trip to the lava tubes which again was awesome.
Having read the above I’m sure any reader can now understand why I have taken the time to write this appraisal of our holiday, in short it was amazing and my thanks go to everyone involved with putting it all together and Rui & Maria in the azores for their hard working diligent attention to detail in order to ensure everyone had a great time therefore I wouldn’t hesitate to book with you guys again.
Regards
Richard Christie
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