catamaran

There was plenty of seabird action today, with big rafts of shearwaters and gannets who had been feeding very recently. There spotted a guillemot with a sandeel still in its mouth – at some point we will see some puffins. There was a grey seal around the island. The tide has been fairly unfavourable for…

We had a three hour trip this morning in the sunshine and a fairly brisk northwesterly wind, which we haven’t had for a while. It was quiet for cetaceans but we had great views of the seabirds and the coastline was looking spectacular.

We had a lovely trip in the sunshine this morning with some local people from St Ives and a family of visiting Texans. There was a punchy swell running ahead of the incoming wind and left behind from yesterday’s wind, but it was a great weather window. We watched some seals on and around the…

Another long busy day today, but August is nearly over so make hay! This morning’s four hour trip set off in the calmest conditions imaginable – no wind at all, but a long lazy swell kept the sea moving a little. After watching a few seals round the island, things were quiet in the bay,…

The fog slowly cleared this morning – blown away by a quickly strengthening easterly wind! We got our first Ocean Discovery trip, though cancelled the afternoon, taking advantage of the window between dense fog and increasingly choppy sea conditions and we had a lovely trip. We spotted common dolphins feeding with gannets, common scoters (sea…

It was a miserable mizzly morning today so we cancelled the four hour trip and went out for the Bay Discovery trip at 2pm when it cleared up a bit. There were more seals hauled out than we have seen for ages – a mixture of adult males, females and juveniles numbering 15 in total….

This morning’s Ocean Discovery trip was cold, grey and choppy but the wildlife made up for it. We had a tip there were lots of dolphins further south so headed that way quickly, but everything seemed quiet. We then sailed westwards into the bouncy sea, and suddenly lots of common dolphins rushed up and surrounded…

We had a busy day today with a Discovery Voyage followed by an Ocean Discovery trip. This morning we went a long way south and found lots of feeding shearwaters, and were ambushed by a small pod of juvenile common dolphins who enjoyed a spot of bowriding. Closer in we saw several seals hauled out…

We had to cancel yesterday because of the strong northerly wind, and it was still pretty breezy today. This is an offshore wind though, so close to the coast at least, it doesn’t make for rough conditions. On the morning Ocean Discovery we found some more Risso’s dolphins – a pair this time. They were…

We had a great couple of Ocean Discovery trips today in improving conditions after the strong westerly wind of the last few days. This morning we found several small groups of common dolphins in the bay, feeding with large numbers of Manx shearwaters. There are also guillemots and razorbills amongst the big rafts of shearwaters…