Sunday 23rd August

A five hour trip this morning and it was another cracker. There was just enough of a south easterly to have a great sail without it being choppy and uncomfortable, though a bit of splash never harmed anyone 😄. First we had a lovely view of a pair of seals on the rocks on the island, and another one who was nearby snoozing in the water. Heading down to the Tuna Spot as we’re now calling it, attention was diverted by lots of “ganneting” to the south. Sure enough scores of common dolphins were under them hunting. This feeding frenzy didn’t last long, but re formed to the west and we headed gently in that directed as we sorted out our sails. This time there weren’t just masses of seabirds and dolphins but also some very hefty sized tuna hunting with the dolphins. It’s very interesting watching the different strategies employed by the dolphins when they are hunting with tuna – way more bursts of extreme speed and aggression. Conditions were now perfect for a spinnaker run into the shore to check out the inshore tuna – the tide wasn’t quite making them fire, but there were a few big breaches as they chased the garfish. Around the cliffs we also heard the “Cheow!” call of choughs and the wild, plaintive mew of peregrine falcons. We then had a great sail all the way back to the harbour.

For the afternoon Bay Discovery the wind had increased a little more so it didn’t feel likely we’d find dolphins inshore, but our luck held and the two hour passengers had a lovely encounter with a small pod of common dolphins.