Espaço Talassa

Espaço Talassa is a whale-watching centre at Lajes do Pico in the Azores, and a practical point of contact between Philip Hoare and the sperm whales at the heart of his account. The evidence identifies the centre through its role in introducing Hoare to the animals, while placing that encounter within an Atlantic island history shaped by both whales and whaling.

Location and setting

The book locates Espaço Talassa at Lajes do Pico, on Pico in the Azores. The islands lie far out in the Atlantic, about fifteen hundred miles east of Cape Cod and a thousand miles from Lisbon. Hoare describes them as volcanic islands set along a much larger submarine ridge, a remote maritime setting that helps explain why encounters with whales here belong to a lived local relationship with the sea, not merely to a distant spectacle.

Role in Hoare’s encounter

In the acknowledgements, Hoare thanks Serge Viallelle for introducing him to sperm whales and recognizes Alexandra Viallelle, João Quadresma, Marco Avila, and others at Espaço Talassa in Lajes do Pico. He also thanks the Azorean government and the regional secretary for the environment for licensing his close encounter with a sperm whale. These details distinguish the centre’s documented contribution from the formal authorization: the book credits the centre’s people with the introduction, and the regional authorities with licensing the encounter.

Place in the book’s maritime history

The book’s index groups its treatment of the Azores around geography, history, and whaling from the islands, and separately directs readers to Hoare’s encounters with sperm whales. Espaço Talassa sits at the intersection of those strands: it is named in the contemporary context of Hoare’s encounter, while the surrounding islands carry a longer history of human engagement with whales. The evidence does not describe the centre’s organization or operations in detail; its significance here is specific and grounded in the assistance that brought Hoare into contact with the animals.