AMERICAN WHALERS CAME to the Azores, a
distant 1,564 kilometres off the coast of Portugal,
in the early 19th century. Although they did not
initially operate in these waters, the islands were
used for provisioning and supplementing crews
with young men from the archipelago. In time,
Azoreans took up whaling themselves, establishing
their own whaling stations along the coast.
Whaling in the Azores significantly declined
in the 1970s and officially ceased with the
International Whaling Commission (IWC) ban in
1986. Instead, a lucrative business now thrives
where visitors hunt whales with cameras rather
than harpoons.
Both technically and physically, sperm whale
imagery poses some of the greatest challenges to
the underwater photographer. In addition to being
extremely shy, sperm whales use echolocation to
detect sound and movement for up to several
kilometres. To avoid scaring them away with
engine noise and bubbles, boats must remain
far from the whales, and freediving is the only
practical way to approach them.
Sperm whales pose some of
the greatest challenges to the
underwater photographer
For five, long days we cruised the islands of
Faial and Pico in the Azores. Nine hours a day in
a small boat gets extremely tiresome, but it is a
necessary experience in order
01 As the giants
to gain close encounters with
congregated, I
the magnificent giant sperm
realised that I was
whales of the Atlantic.
fully accepted
01