A minke whale! Conditions reverted to normal Cornish summer fare today with a brisk westerly wind and intermittent rain and drizzle.

The four hour trip this morning had some really great sightings despite the wet weather. During August, Risso’s dolphins become more unpredictable as they venture offshore then back again, feeding on squid as well as cuttlefish and octopus. We had some lovely sightings of a decent sized pod this morning, including some calves. One of the mothers was an individual who has been spotted in Falmouth bay as well as the Devon coast. We also had encounters with common dolphins, harbour porpoises and some fab views of breaching bluefin tuna! It was pretty wet at the time so Josh did well to get the photos he did.

This afternoon headed through the bay first finding a bit of a birdy, tuna-y mess of white water, before heading over to the island where we saw six seals hauled out. Given the brisk westerly wind we decided to stay under the shelter of the coast and head west a bit, back to the tuna spot. That was a good call – we could see the fish jumping from a mile or more away and as we approached they did so again. “Watch for the garfish” we told the passengers and sure enough the poor old garfish leapt to the surface fleeing for their lives. Then the tuna erupted from the depths – it’s such an incredible sight. In the sunshine, their bodies flash blue and gold, and you can see the yellow finlets. Even more excitement awaited when further offshore at the very edge of my binoculars I saw a whale surface….it then surfaced three more times, very close to us (apparently turning back to get a good look at us) before continuing westwards. This has been a poor season for whales compared to recent years – there hasn’t been nearly enough rain and south westerly winds (careful what you wish for!) We finished the trip with a brief visit from some common dolphins.