Friday 21st July

It was another day of great sightings. We had two 3 hour Ocean Discovery trips – it’s starting to get really busy now the holidays are here. This morning we encountered loads of common dolphins, Risso’s dolphins further offshore and another minke whale (no photo this time as it only surfaced once). We also saw grey seals and lots of seabirds, and also a large cruise ship as it came through the bay, sending the dolphins scattering. This afternoon we quickly found a large pod of common dolphins – they were resting and sleeping though so we sailed away and left them to it.  Some Risso’s dolphins came closer inshore this afternoon and we saw a group of them swim by, before finding more common dolphins were very busy feeding with lots of gulls and gannets. The speed they were hunting fish was phenomenal! To finish the trip we spotted large groups of gannets in the distance, and with them we found maybe even a hundred harbour porpoises. They were surfacing everywhere, delighting everyone with their “pffff” noises as they exhale. Porpoise time has arrived!