Azores Whale Watching TERRA AZUL™ — Attraction in Vila Franca do Campo

I signed up for the swimming with dolphins tour with Terra Azul and had a mixed experience. On the positive side, the team was very pleasant, knowledgable, and respectful of the dolphins. Julia, a marine biologists, was with us throughout. She began with an informative session about dolphin behaviors, and we always watched the dolphin pods prior to entering the water to ensure that we were not disrupting any resting or feeding periods. When we entered the water, it was always only 2 people at a time. We were instructed never to touch the dolphins and instead to allow them to engage, if they desired. That being said, I had some concerns regarding passenger safety. Prior to any contact with dolphins, all passengers were asked to get in the ocean once we were decently away from the coast to ensure everyone felt comfortable in the deep water. During this, it was clear that 4 out of the 6 passengers on the tour should not have been allowed to swim. 2 of them were panicking as they didn't know how to swim at all and were relying on the buoyancy of the wetsuit to keep them afloat, and the other 2 people frantically rushed to get back in the boat as soon as they were in the water, unable to stay in for even 1 minute. After that, Julia and the skippers reminded the 4 passengers many times that they should only get in the water if they feel comfortable, and the tour was supposed to be fun and not terrifying, but all 4 passengers still decided to swim. When we found the first dolphin pod, the first 2 passengers were able to get in and out of the water safely, but returned to the boat immediately and did not try to see the dolphins. When we found another pod and the next 2 passengers got in, one of them immediately started screaming "help me!", and the other passenger was shaking so terribly it took her 5 minutes to climb the ladder back into the boat. While I understand that the tour operators did their best to discourage the 4 passengers from entering the water, my personal view is that 1) people that don't know how to swim should not be able to participate, and 2) that all participants must be able to stay calm in the water for at least a few minutes to be allowed on the tour as a prerequisite. It felt unsafe to be on a boat while a passenger was screaming for help, especially considering that it could have been avoidable if they had not been allowed to get in the water again. Note: due to water conditions, we were not able to spot a third dolphin pod for me and the last passenger to swim. Terra Azul offered rebooking for a different day or a...

Disclaimer: I am a biologist and I have swam with dolphins in Hawaii (open water), which was an amazing, non invasive experience. I was therefore looking forward to going on the swimming with the dolphins tour in Azores but was very disappointed with it. While we saw many pods of dolphins - Azores is amazing like that - The guide didn’t seem to have a clue about the animals nor about people’s safety. The ‘swimming’ part consisted on the boat following dolphins until it was in position for people to jump into the water and onto their path. I would call this ‘harassing’ dolphins, if I am honest. To make things worse the guide would shout ‘now’ for us to jump, often when the boat was still moving and turning. No sense of people’s safety. In line with that no life jackets were offered and no extra equipment was on board - for example my snorkel was leaky but there was nothing we could do.

I am quite sensitive to people doing these tours in a non invasive way to animals. It is true that we could have been luckier and the dolphins could have stayed around led by their curiosity. But at the time of the day we went they were feeding and not interested in playing. The company should plan tours accordingly and definitely let go if dolphins aren’t interested in staying around. Trapping dolphins with the boat in front of the swimming pod for tourists to jump into heir path is just crazy!

This isn’t just about dolphins: During our tour we saw a turtle and the guide immediately asked whether people wanted to jump into the water. The turtle was swimming away as fast as it could. I don’t know if people are aware that we shouldn’t go too close to these beautiful animals. And that in many places - like Hawai - it is actually illegal to get too close. For good reason.

I am hoping that the guides can start learning a bit more about the animals they are taking tourists to see and make the tours as enjoyable to animals and they are to people. Seeing these beautiful animals in their natural habitat should be enough for...

Beautiful animals, bad service.

I went on the 12:30 tour today (17/05/2024) looking forward to a great time. However, this became an unpleasent experience. The boarding process took forever, the tour started at 12:30 but it was at 13:10 by the time that we were all sitting on the boat (there was a 10min presentation, but still it was 30min just standing on the pier waiting... quicker to board an aircraft!).

Staying on the topic of boarding, the staff came up with a boarding system, six people at the time to occupy two rows. However, other customers were not following this procedure, they occupied only the side seats, nobody wanted the middle seat. This also caused an issue with people jumping the line to get the best seats, staff saw this but did nothing.

I sat on the right side on my allocated row, the people behind me discarted the empty seats next to me and sat behind me, then one sat on the opposite seat (leaving the middle seat empty). I later got told off by the captain for not sitting in the middle and 'denying other customers the right to board'. Apparently I was in the wrong even though I was in my allocated row and all three seats were free at the time. So I was forced to the middle seat even though the couple behind me were the ones that changed their seats. There should have been more control and authroity when allocating seats.

Lastly, the seats on this boat were very uncomfortable. I understand that this is a small jet boat, but even so it was a horrible ride. Hard seats, the metal bar stabs into the thighs, and being in the middle seat I could't stand up to stretch my legs which you could do on the side seats.

No whales but the dolphines and the scenery were amazing but because of the negative experience right at the start of the tour, I didin't enjoy it as much. I believe with some reorganisation the experience will be much...