dolphin watching Cornwall

Back out on the water today after a day off in yesterday’s strong wind. We started early with a five hour Discovery Adventure, in more westerly wind than we have been used to, with greyer skies. A far more typical Cornish summer’s day in fact! However as predicted, this brought the seabirds back in, and…

It was another morning filled with cetaceans today, with two groups of porpoises and a big pod of about thirty common dolphins spotted. This was a four hour Discovery Voyage so we had plenty of time to explore over a wide area. The good thing about Penzance is, as soon as you leave the harbour…

July already – blimey. Is it me or are the seasons racing by? We had a four hour followed by a two hour trip today. For long periods this morning it was rather quiet, even though we sailed several miles south. There were some nice gannet, shearwater and kittiwake sightings, but it was only when…

It was a gorgeous day out on the water, and we had a three hour Ocean Discovery followed by a two hour Bay Discovery. We had great sightings on both. This morning we very quickly found some fins over to the east – Risso’s dolphins. It was one of those times when it looked like…

We had an Ocean Discovery trip this afternoon in bright breezy conditions. Stopping at the island on the way out, we saw two grey seals hauled out even at high tide and two more bobbing around, sleeping in the water. Hearing the curlews bubbling evocative call, we saw a flock of them flying past, their…

We managed to get both our morning and afternoon trips in today, despite the questionable forecast. This morning on the Bay Discovery the birds were clearly feeding over bluefin tuna, but the tuna weren’t showing themselves particularly and neither were the porpoises which were doing the same thing. There were lots of seals hauled out…

We had a full Ocean Discovery today, which is nice for October weekday. It felt very similar to yesterday – cool and grey, and everything was really quiet for about an hour. We passed what was initially mistaken for a skua, until we realised it was a peregrine falcon which was flying back towards the…

Autumn days like this feel like a gift from the gods, especially in the aftermath of wind and swell like we had at the weekend. On this morning’s Bay Discovery trip, we had an awesome encounter with a massive fin whale – this was feeding with what looked like over a thousand gannets, plus countless…

After the strong wind of the last two days (more strong wind) we were back out today and conditions were surprisingly benign. This morning we saw several grey seals round the island and a couple of groups of harbour porpoises, but on the whole it was rather quiet. This afternoon we tried a different route…

We had an Ocean Discovery followed by two Bay Discovery trips. Dolphins were again spotted on all three trips. Having got some close up fin shots today, some of these individuals were exhibiting some noticeable scars and nicks, especially on the dorsal fins. As more dolphins move into our inshore waters, they are more at…