Whale Watching off São Miguel

Which species pass São Miguel in which month, where the boats leave from, and everything we have written about a season that runs all year and peaks in spring.

Whale watching from Lajes do Pico: whaling history, the vigias, the season and seasicknessTravel Tips
Sep 26, 20266 min read

Whale watching from Lajes do Pico: whaling history, the vigias, the season and seasickness

Lajes do Pico hunted sperm whales into the 1980s and then started taking visitors out to watch them. When to come for blue, fin and sei whales and when for sperm whales, how to choose between a fast inflatable and a larger boat, the rules that keep boats 50 metres away, and how to get through three hours of Atlantic swell. Plus the Museu dos Baleeiros, opened in the old whaleboat houses in 1988, and the clifftop vigias that still guide the boats.