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While whales were once hunted in the Azores, whaling
officially ended in 1984, when the last operating whale factory
(processing sperm whales) was finally shuttered. These days,
after agriculture (pineapples raised in greenhouses and the
famed Azorean dairy products, tourism is the Azores’ biggest
money maker. And most travelers who venture here have
heading out on a whale watching tour at the top of their list.
According to officials with the Azores Promotion Board, the
Azores are a permanent home or point of passage for more
than a third of the world’s whale and dolphin species. The
spring months are the best time to see migrating baleen
whales such as fin whales, sei whales and blue whales while
the summer months delight visitors with regular sightings of
Atlantic spotted dolphins, pilot whales and striped dolphins.
Throughout the year, chances are high of seeing sperm whales,
common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and Risso’s dolphins.
Nature always has its own plans, of course, and on any given
day you never know what you might spot.
“We saw a sperm whale mother and calf. We also got to
see another sperm whale surface on its back and open its
giant mouth wide,” recalls Porto-native Gabriela Seabra, who
traveled from mainland Portugal to island hop in the Azores
during the autumn months. “Our skipper joked that the whale
was on its way to the dentist and said that being able to peer
into its mouth like that was quite rare.”
Sperm whale sightings in general, however, are not rare in
these magical islands, where the toothed whales are the most
famous year-round residents and are commonly sighted on
whale watching tours. The animals feed on giant squid and
routinely dive down over 3,000 feet in pursuit of their prey,
often staying underwater for as long as 90 minutes.
Azores