Michael Nolan, Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
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Daily Expedition
Reports
26 Sep 2014
At Sea towards Madeira, 9/26/2014, National Geographic Explorer
Aboard the
National Geographic Explorer
Azores, Madeira & Beyond
We enjoyed nice calm conditions as we sailed towards Madeira. Throughout the day we heard several excellent presentations. We also had a chance to catch up on editing the numerous photos of our time in the Azores. The day’s highlights were the two exciting marine mammal sightings of sperm whales and then a blue whale!
In the mid-morning, the announcement was made that the eagle-eyes on the bridge had sighted a sperm whale. Sperm whales are the largest of all the toothed whales and are regularly seen around the Azores. We were fortunate to see a small group of four whales just resting at the surface, including a calf of the year near. Sperm whales are the deepest divers of all the marine mammals, reaching depths close to two miles deep and can stay sub-surface for close to two hours. After all that time, they need to spend at least 20 minutes or more resting at the surface, slowly breathing to get ready for the next dive. We saw the calf rolling over a bit and the whales were right next to the ship so we had a fantastic look at their massive heads, wrinkly bodies and broad flukes.
Then just before recap there was another call about a large baleen whale sighted just ahead of the ship. National Geographic Explorer definitely brakes for whales so the ship turned and after a good look we discovered that it was the largest animal to live on the planet, the mighty blue whale! North Atlantic blue whales can reach lengths over ninety feet. They were hunted close to extinction during the whaling era and it is a rare sight to see one in these waters.
The whale was turning on its side and lunging through the water feeding. The ship was also slowly turning in circles so the whale was probably feeding on plankton that our propellers were bringing up to the surface. We had fantastic looks at the whale as it slowly swam alongside and even under the hull of the ship.
It was a very exciting day at sea but it is not often you can say that you have seen the largest of all the toothed whales and the largest animal on the planet in the same day, especially in the North Atlantic!
Stephanie is a marine mammal scientist who began her career studying finback and humpback whales from a small isolated lighthouse island off the coast of Bar Harbor, Maine. This project—an effort to identify individual whales by matching dorsal fin ...
Michael Nolan was born in Bitburg, Germany to an Air Force family stationed there. His first experience of the ocean came at age 12, when he learned to snorkel in the Italian Mediterranean. At age 17 he moved to Tucson, Arizona and became a PADI SCUB...
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Today’s scenic highlight was a visit to Capelinhos, the site of a massive series of volcanic eruptions on Faial in 1957-58. Villages were buried in ash and over 2 kilometers of new land were added to the island. Miraculously, no one was killed. The views over the towering bluffs of ash and pumice were dramatic, as were videos of the eruptions presented in the nearby volcano museum. The museum is creatively built underground at the base of the historic lighthouse, which somehow escaped destruction during the eruptions. Another highlight of the day was the whaling museum in the town of Horta. This museum is located in the former whaling factory, “Fabrica da Baleia de Porto Pim,” where sperm whales were rendered into oil and “meal” – ground bones and meat that were used for cattle feed and agricultural fertilizer on the islands. Whaling officially ended in the Azores in 1987, though it had ceased to be a major activity by the 1970s. We’re pleased that whale-watching is now one of the major tourist attractions of the islands.
Our first day of exploring took us to the island of Pico. A group of us enjoyed a beautiful hike through the vineyards, embracing the light rain that makes these islands so green and lush, and finished with a taste of local wine. Others headed to Lajes, the historic center of whaling and home of the best whaling museum in the Azores.
Four options offered everyone aboard National Geographic Endurance an opportunity to choose an expedition suited to their interests for exploration of Sao Miguel, the largest island of the Azores. While some guests chose to explore Ponta del Gada on their own, most of us headed off to explore various places on the island. Three coaches and a van carried all of us from the ship to different destinations on Sao Miguel. One group headed off to the northeast end of the island to explore part of the native laurisilva forest and search for the endangered and endemic priolo, or Azores bullfinch, in the Terras de Priolo Reserve. Others headed directly to Terra Nostra Garden to try swimming in the iron-rich thermal lake. The rest of us traveled east from the current capital city in two coaches, observing the scenic coast on our way to Villa Franca do Campo, the former capital of the island. En route, we passed many farm fields lined by the now familiar lava rock walls that checkerboard all the Azores. A variety of crops thrived in the numerous enclosed plots, including bananas, taro, corn, and melons. We also spotted dairy cattle. A large, flat area that is protected from the winds by a mountain, offering good access to the sea, seemed like an ideal site for the capital when Sao Miguel was settled. A landslide destroyed the town in 1522, though. While the town was entirely rebuilt, Villa Franca never regained its status as the capital of Sao Miguel. Our coach drivers skillfully maneuvered down the town’s narrow, winding cobblestone streets interlacing the white-sided, red-tile roofed homes and buildings characteristic of all the island cities and villages we have visited. Our destination was the picturesque harbor filled with sailboats and a particular local pastry shop, Do Morgado Queijadas de Vila Franca Do Campo. Inside, we watched the preparation of the special pastries through large glass windows. Many of us sampled some of their treats along with small cups of espresso. From there, we headed farther east to the famed Terra Nostra Garden and its thermal springs. We met up with our fellow travelers who had enjoyed swimming in the warm, iron-red waters of the thermal lake at the edge of the garden. While the swimmers washed off the red hues of the mineral rich water, the rest of us wandered through the gardens along well-manicured, cobblestoned trails. Trees and flowers from all over the world, from New Zealand to China, have been planted here in the 200 years since the gardens were established in 1776. A beautiful new addition to the garden features native and endemic Azores flora, a stark contrast to the garden’s history of featuring plants from far flung lands. We admired and photographed some of the plants growing here, up to one thousand species. Heading farther east after the garden visit, we stopped briefly at Furnas to observe the unique geothermal cooking method used for our noon meal. As we watched, two strong men pulled up a huge steel pot that had been lowered into a concrete pit in the ground near a steaming, bubbling thermal hot spring. They judged the meal cooked and carried the pot off in a truck to a nearby restaurant. We soon rejoined our fellow travelers at the restaurant. We enjoyed local wines and a hearty stew of potatoes, taro, carrots, kale, cabbage, and tender beef. This was all topped off by fresh pineapple and pastries from Do Morgado Queijadas. We left fueled for our afternoon activities. The morning’s swimmers headed off to hike along a trail around Lagos de Furnas. The trail meandered past a beautiful church and through another garden of cultivated trees and flowers. The birding group headed back to Sao Miguel for an afternoon exploring Ponta del Gado. The rest of the group made a visit to the Cha Gorreana tea factory. Here we observed the entire process of tea manufacturing with interpretation by our local guides. Surrounded by hills draped with lush green rows of thriving tea shrubs, the tea processing occurs inside a large white building filled with interesting machinery designed to dry, sort, and process the tea leaves prior to packaging the orange pekoe, black, or green tea. A scenic trip along the precipitous north and west coast of Sao Miguel took us back to the ship where we ended our day with the Captain’s Farewell Cocktails and a delicious dinner topped off with a decadent chocolate dessert. The night was not yet over, as the Alfredo Gago da Camara performers were aboard to entertain us in the Ice Lounge after dinner. This professional local Fado group features a singer and three musicians who played Portuguese guitar, classical guitar, and bass. It was a fitting end to a full day of exploration.