Surprises

It was sunny but lightly drizzling when I met up with my friend. We were planning to go up to the Palheiro Gardens but the cloud up there looked unpromising.

While we topped up our bus tickets we noticed that it was sunny out to sea.

So we just decided to head out dolphin watching on a catamaran.

A lucky choice. Within ten minutes we’d seen our first pod of bottle nosed dolphins. They were close and happily entertaining themselves. (Main pic).

Shortly after that we were alerted to the arrival of a pod of spotted dolphins. More magic.

The guys were happy and came round with their books to show us exactly what we’d been lucky enough to see.

And then we saw the Pilot Whales - far bigger and lots of them.

And then some more, with a few bottle nosed dolphins for company.

And then even more, including a mum with a baby. Even the spotters were excited, and they got out their professional cameras with long long lenses. They hadn’t seen so many for absolutely ages.

Pure chance that we changed our plans because of the cloud on the mountains.

I took photos, we all did, but the excitement was watching, and sharing in their antics. 

And so to lunch.