Sperm whale

Dear Readers, today dawned bright, sunny, and, most importantly, calm, and so at 9.15 we all donned our life jackets and got (very carefully) into our RIB boat for several hours at sea. Getting into and out of an RIB can be tricky when you’re older and stiffer, but the captain and crew could, I’m sure, manoeuvre a baby elephant into position without too much trouble, so we are all easy by comparison. And once on the water, off we go, and quickly encounter our first sperm whales.I think I’ve explained before that the resident sperm whales here are a group of females with their calves and juveniles, and they’re occasionally visited by the males. The females grow to about 36 feet long, while the males grow to about 52 feet. The babies are 13 feet long at birth. The young animals stay at the surface while their mothers dive to eat the squid that forms the main part of their diet – they can reach depths of up to 2km in search of them, which is even harder when you think that sperm whales are naturally very buoyant animals. They have various mechanisms that protect them from getting ‘the bends’ when they surface, but if they come up suddenly (for example if frightened by one of the undersea explosions much favoured by navies around the world) they can still be killed by the sudden change in pressure. Fortunately the whales around the Azores lead largely peaceful lives, with the biggest excitement likely to be the visit of a testosterone-fuelled male.

Anyhow, as sperm whales don’t make for the world’s most exciting photos, here instead is a little video. You might want to grab some seasickness pills first.

And we were visited by some more common dolphins, and again, here they are in action…\

On the way back we had a quick look at the island of Faial (where we arrived on Saturday). Below is the old lighthouse of Faial, badly-damaged in the earthquake of 1998. Nowadays it’s been replaced by a tiny little light.

Lighthouse on Faial

And below is theChurch of Nossa Senhora da Graça on the coast of Faial, the island opposite Pico where we’ve been staying. The churches of the Azores have a very distinct style, and are usually plastered white with details in darker volcanic rock. Most of the doors in Pico are either green or red, and this seems to be the case in this church too. It was also badly damaged in the earthquake of 1998, but has since been repaired.

Well, Readers, that’s all for now – we have another trip out in about twenty minutes, and some of us need to top up our suntan lotion. I shall report back!