Towards the Flores islands
The 4th day of the expedition, June 6, was dedicated to navigate towards the Flores island, on the occidental part of the Azores Archipelago. Scientists took advantage of the hours without fieldwork to update information about the dives in their databases and the teams of the scientific cameras have been reviewing hours and hours of filming and identifying the species that appeared in the field of “vision “of the lens.
On the way we spotted a Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis), an “Endangered” species according the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Hours later, at the bow of the ship, a group of common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) opened our way, like scouts of the ship Santa Maria Manuela.
At night we reached Flores, we were all asleep.
Lajes das Flores
We woke up on the 5th day of the expedition, June 7, with a beautiful and warm day. Everything indicated that the dives would be wonderful. The spots chosen for the morning dives in the southeast of the island, not far from the Lajes das Flores, were not very exciting.
In the afternoon, the media team had a beautiful dive on a small seamount a few miles off-shore. The difference in abundance and biodiversity proved to be abysmal between the coast and this spot.
Photos 2, 3 and 4 by Emanuel Gonçalves
Photo 5 by Ana Raposo
Photo 6 by Manu San Félix
Back