Monday 16th June
We had two Ocean Discovery trips today and had great sightings on both. This morning we found a small group of common dolphins who stayed with us a while, lots of feeding seabirds and an ocean sunfish. We also saw a herring gull divebombing a heron, which we haven’t witnessed before. This afternoon we watched…
Saturday 14th June
We had a lovely look at several harbour porpoises on this morning’s Ocean Discovery trip. While we see them very frequently later in the summer, views at this time of year are often more difficult and fleeting, but not today! We also saw some common dolphins, lots of seabirds and some grey seals hauled out….
Friday 13th June
The forecast was really mixed and uncertain for today. It did end up raining a bit, but not tall the time, but the camera mostly remained safely stowed. Sea conditions were pretty floppy after the wind overnight though, which made spotting conditions tricky. We saw another large ocean sunfish and a feeding grey seal, but…
Wednesday 11th June
It started calm this morning, perfect for spotting cetaceans. There were plenty of common dolphins in the bay, resting, socialising and then feeding. There were a couple of seals round the island, though the tide wasn’t low for a few more hours. Nearby we had some really lovely close views of a pair of fulmars…
Tuesday 10th June
Today we saw a fin whale! This was on the two hour Bay Discovery and not particularly far from shore. We occasionally see fin whales in August, but we have never seen one this early before. I just caught sight of a blow in my peripheral vision, which seemed far too big for a minke…
Monday 9th July
It all felt distinctly unpromising this afternoon with grey sky, grey sea and the threat of rain. However, despite the showers sweeping along the coast behind us, we didn’t get wet at all. We saw a few very lazy grey seals snoozing in the water by the island, before sailing offshore where we were “mugged”…
Sunday 8th June
We had an Ocean Discovery trip this morning and a Discovery Voyage trip this afternoon, and it was the morning people who had the most luck with the sightings. There were several seals hauled out on the island including two small juveniles and Kelp the old female we have been watching for so many years….
Friday 6th June
We had two Ocean Discovery trips today, and the threatened rain held off almost all the time. We have been really lucky with the weather this week considering what we could have got. This morning despite the rising tide there were still several seals hauled out on the island with a few more in the…
Thursday 5th June
Today we took the other Year 2 class out from a local primary school in three separate trips, and what a day they had. Seals, seabirds and some excellent sailing skills from seven year old novices – conditions weren’t easy with a brisk westerly wind and quite a swell coming into the bay. Not only…
Wednesday 4th June
We had the Year 2 children from a local school out on three separate 1 1/2 trips today so the whole class could come out – and the other class is doing the same thing tomorrow! They have been learning about pirates, smugglers, and sea shanties and we were treated to some renditions of those…
Tuesday 3rd June
This morning’s trip was originally supposed to be a four hour tour, but as forecast, there was a lot of south west wind overnight, which created some big chunky swell. So we kept it to three hours and didn’t go too far west, but even so, the surf was an impressive sight. We found some…
Monday 2nd June
On today’s boat tour, we had a surprise on leaving the harbour this afternoon when a very small minke whale popped up just in front of us, then behind us then was gone! People are often concerned when they see little whales on their own, but minkes wean and are independent when they are quite…