Pico: the island that stopped hunting whales and started watching them

On a headland above Lajes do Pico, there is a small whitewashed hut with a view over the Atlantic. For decades, a watchman sat in places like this with a telescope. When he saw a whale, he fired a rocket, and crews ran for their boats. Today the same kind of lookout is still staffed, but the spotter is more likely to be on the radio, telling a tour boat where to head. Several of them, according to operators on the island, are former whalers or their descendants.

The Azores are nine volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic, and their whaling history is bound up with the world's. From the eighteenth century, American whaling ships recruited Azorean boys as crew. Organised sperm-whale hunting from the islands themselves took shape in the 1860s, after the wine and orange trades had collapsed, and it used open boats of about eleven or twelve metres, crewed by seven men. By one operator's estimate, around 12,000 sperm whales were killed before it ended; treat that figure as an approximation. Portugal banned commercial whaling in 1984, the factory at São Roque do Pico closed that year, and reports say the last sperm whale was taken off Pico in 1987.

What happened next is the part worth travelling for. In 1988 the Museu dos Baleeiros opened in Lajes do Pico, telling the story from the whalers' side. In 1989 a former whaler, João Vigia, and a French sailor, Serge Viallelle, started Espaço Talassa, which took the first paying visitors out to see the animals that the island's fathers had hunted. The Queimada lookout, built in 1939, was reopened in 1991 for whale watching, and regional rules followed in 1999.

Those rules are worth knowing before you book. According to one operator's summary, boats must keep at least 50 metres from the animals, no more than three boats may approach a group, and an encounter should last no more than 30 minutes. A good operator will say so unprompted, and will tell you plainly when a trip has found nothing.

What will you see? Sperm whales are resident year-round. About 28 of the world's roughly 80 cetacean species have been recorded in Azorean waters. Operators disagree on the best season: several put the big migrating whales, including blue and fin whales, in spring, between March and June, while summer is the most dependable season for Atlantic spotted dolphins. July is therefore a good month for dolphins and resident sperm whales, and a gamble for the largest species. Plan for at least two sea days, so a rough one does not end the trip.

Spend the rest of your time on land. The whaling museum in Lajes, the Museu da Indústria Baleeira at São Roque do Pico and the Porto Pim whaling factory on Faial each tell part of the same story. Pico is also winemaking country, and its black volcanic walls and low vines are part of the landscape. Take the short ferry across from Horta, or fly into Pico, and leave a few days free for walking.

How to go well: choose a small boat operator that follows the 50-metre rule, ask whether the guides come from the whaling families, and resist the urge to chase the whale for a better photograph. Whales are not an attraction here; they are neighbours who were once on the menu.