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Swimming with dolphins has always been your dream.
It's now time to make it come true.
The dolphins you will be swimming with are wild dolphins. They are not provided with food,
nor they are trained. They
stay close to humans just because they want to.
Our trips to swim with the dolphins have a 97% success rate. Hard to guess who is watching whom!
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AZORES - THE NEW FRONTIER OF TOURISM AMONG WHALES AND DOLPHINS
In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the Azores (Portugal) are a group of nine
islands situated about half way between Europe and North America.
The uniqueness of their landscapes, nature and richness of marine fauna is tightly
connected to the origin and geographical position of the archipelago; in fact, the Azores
are the emerging part of a submarine mountain chain known as Mid-Atlantic ridge
and their water temperature is mitigated by the Gulf Current.
Marine life in the Azores is incredibly abundant, for the joy of those
who wish to make close encounters with whales, make true the lifetime dream of swimming with
the dolphins and have fun scuba diving and snorkelling.
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Go last minute for a lifetime experience!
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1 week in B&B, Swim with Dolphins + Whale Watching at € 455
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Dolphins and humans meeting in the ocean.
The real magic is the awareness that such an encounter takes place spontaneously,
and decisions such as "how long for" and "how close" are entirely up to the dolphins.
Come swim with the dolphins!
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Between March and May our base in the Azores becomes the stage of a Mother Nature's
wonder: the
migration of baleen whales, among which is the Blue Whale. Don't miss the chance to meet
the biggest animals that have ever lived on Earth!.
Book your first row seat!
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Diving the crater of a volcano, or a pinnacle in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, among the mantas
of Princess Alice.
Big pelagics, turtles, dolphins: the thrill of scuba diving the mid-atlantic ridge is second to none.
Dive with us!
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MORE THAN 20 SPECIES OF WHALES AND DOLPHINS CALL THE AZORES HOME
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You are guaranteed to encounter Sperm Whales, Common Dolphins and Bottlenose Dolphins
throughout the year.
In February and March the plankton cycle creates the conditions for an extraordinary
explosion of life, prelude to the arrival of the mysticetes (baleen whales) such as
the Blue whale (the biggest animal ever to live on our planet), the Fin whale,
the Sei and the Humpback whales.
Each year the mysticetes leave the Azores around the beginning of June, just in time for
the Atlantic spotted dolphins, the Risso’s and the Short-finned pilot whales to take over.
The Azores are privileged by the presence of such a large number of cetaceans
to make this archipelago an unparalleled whale watching destination on our planet.
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" To the dolphin alone, beyond all others, nature has given what the
best philosophers seek: friendship for no advantage. Though it has no need of man yet it is the friend
to all men and has often given them great aid. "
(Plutarch)
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OUR WORK WITH PROFESSIONALS
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CetaceanWatching is proud to provide state-of-the-art support services to TV Teams,
professional photographers, videographers and researchers who intend to issue
a special permit from the Government of the Azores to film and photograph
sperm whales, baleen whales, and big odontoceti (toothed whales) underwater.
Click here to know more...
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DIVING THE AZORES
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More and more scuba divers come to the islands of Pico and Faial to discover
a totally different environment for scuba diving, made of underwater volcanos and pinnacles,
teeming with invertebrates, marine mammals and fish.
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Learn about cetaceans and whale watching in the Azores
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Whales, dolphins and porpoises are collectively called cetaceans, since they all belong
to the order Cetacea.
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The order Cetacea is divided into 2 suborders: Odontoceti and Mysticeti.
Dolphins and porpoises, along with other species such as the sperm whale, the beaked whales, the narwhal and the beluga are Odontocetes
- i.e. they have teeth.
On the contrary, proper whales (mysticetes) do not have teeth. Instead, they have
a large number of comb-like keratin plates, called baleen,
hanging from the upper jaw. Baleen plates act like a sieve, allowing whales to filter
the plankton and small fish they feed upon.
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Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are mammals. They are warm-blooded
and give birth to live offspring, which are breastfed.
Unlike fish, cetaceans are unable to extract oxygen from the water and therefore need to
periodically surface in order to breathe.
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Cetaceans breathe air at the surface of the water through their blowholes, the equivalent of our nostrils.
Mysticetes (baleen whales) have two blowholes while odontocetes (toothed cetaceans) have
only one blowhole.
Unlike humans and most other mammals, they are unable to breathe through their mouth, which makes it possible for them to feed
underwater while keeping their respiratory system free of water.
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Cetaceans use their tail to swim. Unlike fish, the tail of whales, dolphins and porpoises lies in an
horizontal plane and it is moved up and down rather than from side to side.
Muscles actively work when the tail is raised, while they rest (or almost completely rest) when the
tail is lowered.
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More of this...
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