This portuguese group of Islands is in the central North Atlantic. Pico, in the central group at 380N, 280W is 11x25 miles with a mountain 2351m high at one end. The island was the centre of the commercial open boat sperm whaling of the Azores until 1987 when whaling ceased. Since 1994 whale watching has developed until there are now 10 companies on Pico.

Lajes do Pico, on the South side of Pico, has a museum about the whalers and their capture techniques and Sao Roque, on the North side of Pico, has a museum on the method of extraction of the commercial products of the sperm whale. It is fitting that we have now built a display on the South side at Sao Joao entirely devoted to the biology of the sperm whale and its principal food, the deep sea squids.