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 total frenzy as they fished near the surface. There were a couple of seals round the island too. This afternoon we saw more porpoises than I have seen ever, I think. There were possibly a hundred of them hunting, which attracted large numbers of gannets. All the literature suggests porpoises are shy and wary of boats – this afternoon they were doing laps of the boat, clearly checking us out. Maybe because there were so many of them. We also had a wonderful encounter with some common dolphins, who had some very small calves with them.