bluefin tuna

It was a dark, dingy morning but the rain held off for our Bay Discovery trip. There was a small juvenile seal tucked away on a rock on the island, and some big bluefin tuna jumping near Lamorna. Autumn is really the time to be seeing their antics from the shore – all along the…

We had a great day today with some of the Master’s students from Exeter University, who came out on the boat to try to spot some marine vertebrates. They certainly did that. We started off with some amazing views of bluefin tuna – real whoppers were breaching close inshore near some fishing boats. We also…

After a murky start this morning it turned into a beautiful atmospheric day. There was no wind at all, and banks of mist hanging around which slowly cleared. This morning we were really pleased to find large numbers of common dolphins around again, after a quiet few days. There was a large group of about…

The wind finally calmed today which was very welcome. On the first Ocean Discovery trip we had an amazing encounter with a single Risso’s dolphin. We initially spotted it sleeping, then waited stationary for a few moments and then it surprised us by noisily appearing right next to the boat. In the still conditions the…

We  had a four hour followed by a three hour trip today in windy northerly conditions. Even so, we had some great sightings – during the morning we initially found some common dolphins then sailed southwards where we found two minke whales feeding among the bluefin tuna and shearwaters. As we sailed back towards the…

What a couple of trips we had today in spite of (or maybe because of) the misty conditions, and with some really friendly and interested passengers. I do love September! Dolphins here, dolphins there, dolphins literally everywhere. Leaping tuna in the morning, shearwaters (again four species spotted), grey seals, harbour porpoises. This afternoon we had…

It was supposed to be a day off today but we put on a couple of late notice trips because of the windy days we have lost this week. It started off beautifully calm with some sunshine and we found some  grey seals initially. Heading further south we spotted a group of common dolphins who…

We had a spectacular day on the water today with awe inspiring sightings on both our morning Ocean Discovery and afternoon Discovery Voyage trips. We quickly spotted a big feeding frenzy of gannets from a distance first thing and as expected, underneath there were lots of hunting common dolphins. Amongst the gannets and dolphins there…

On this afternoon’s four hour trip, we saw the most amazing feeding frenzies of hundreds of bluefin tuna! Up until we saw the accompanying thousands of seabirds, things had been rather quiet inshore, so we headed off south and west. The seabirds gradually hove into view and they included gannets, all manner of gulls, Manx…

On this morning’s three hour Ocean Discovery tour we saw our first big feeding frenzies of bluefin tuna of the summer. This is an amazing sight (and sound!), as the tuna rush around hunting prey, and making the water look as though it is boiling. Occasionally they launch themselves out of the water and you…