Skip to primary navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

Sightings Blog

bluefin tuna

Sightings summary for 2023

I have been looking back over 2023 and made some images to represent our sightings of different species. We recorded cetaceans on 81% of our trips last year, which is an amazing sightings rate. 10252 dolphins, porpoises and whales! We also saw grey seals on most trips, bluefin tuna and ocean sunfish. Each image has…

Wednesday 25th October

After today half term is going to get  pretty windy, so we were pleased to have two trips today. This morning’s Ocean Discovery passengers saw large groups of harbour porpoises feeding with gannets – they were even leaping and breaching like dolphins as they charged around after fish. We also had lovely views of seals…

Tuesday 10th October

Back out to sea today after a few days of holiday. The recent balmy sunshine was hidden by mist and murk first thing but it was clear enough to run the Bay Discovery trip. There was lots to see out there with about ten seals spotted on the island, a couple of Portguese men of…

Friday 15th September

We had a couple of extraordinary Ocean Discovery trips today in warm, sunny conditions. This morning we found so many common dolphins which were feeding, socialising and bowriding. They were even catching fish as they swam alongside the boat. In amongst them were some very large bluefin tuna, who were sending the gulls into a…

Wednesday 6th September

The water is full of crystal jellyfish suddenly, as well other species of jellyfish like compass. Until a few years ago these were rarely seen in our waters – another sign of warming seas. We had a four hour followed by a three hour trip and sightings were similar on both, though it was much…

Sunday 3rd September

Once again we saw hundreds of common dolphins throughout the day. We found harbour porpoises on both the morning and afternoon tours and saw sleepy grey seals in the morning. The bird life was once again spectacular as well as the usual suspects we also saw Cory’s, great and sooty shearwaters on both the morning…

Friday 1st September

After the cancellations yesterday due to the foul weather we had an extra long day today, with two Ocean Discovery trips and a postponed Bay Discovery at the end of the day. Sightings were brilliant on all three. On both the three hour trips we saw common dolphins and grey seals, and we had a…

Wednesday 30th August

It was dolphin soup out there today, with masses of common dolphins almost everywhere we went. We started the day with a four hour trip and headed along the coast first to have a look at the sights before heading offshore. With the dolphins we found all the shearwaters we see apart from Balearics –…

Saturday 26th August

These long August days are continuing – a three hour trip this morning followed by two 2-hour trips this afternoon. We saw a really good variety of wildlife. We sailed towards the Runnelstone on the northwesterly wind this morning and found lots of harbour porpoises feeding, common dolphins, tuna and lots of seabirds. On the…

Friday 26th August

It was a day of squalls and rainbows. Luckily the squally bits never lasted long, though we had some fairly sharp showers! This morning on the four hour trip we found harbour porpoises, lots of bowriding common dolphins, grey seals, bluefin tuna, and saw the blow of a large whale. This was too big for…