Friday 6th September

We had two Ocean Discovery trips today and the weather was an enormous improvement on yesterday’s wind and rain. This morning we had an extraordinary porpoise encounter. There were lots of gannets further east in an area where we have been seeing lots of porpoises so we headed over for a look. Sure enough we found some and they gave us some decent views before all melting away, the way they can do. As we were preparing to leave, just like that some bluefin tuna started feeding right next to us. And suddenly from every direction there were porpoises hurtling back to join in the hunt. “Hurtle” isn’t a verb commonly associated with porpoises, but they really were. In the calm quiet conditions, the noise was startling. Further out there were more tuna plus associated pelagic seabirds including great, Sooty, Cory’s and Manx shearwaters, and on our way in a few dolphins rushed over to bowride. Almost as soon as they appeared they rushed off again!

This afternoons Ocean Discovery started off with a stop to check on the seals at the island, a few of them had changed positions since the morning trip. We then headed to some Gannets we spotted in the distance, which were feeding. When we arrived the feeding had slowed but the gannets were resting on the water. They were focused by some harbour porpoises, most of which had traveled off or were very tricky to spot. Sailing south we followed  similar rote to the morning trip, before long we spotted a large group of common dolphins racing across in front of us. They were completely clearing the water as they rushed south and we could see them from quite far away. They then decided to join us for a short period and gave everyone great views as they “chatted” beneath the bow.  This led us to a huge raft shearwaters, including a Balearic shearwater nestled between sooty, great and manx. After watching some blue fin tuna splashes we turned for home. On the way we found another group of porpoises and they gave us some (well deserved) great views as they past the boat, one even doing a lap and inspecting us.