dolphin watching

We had some phenomenal sightings today. This morning’s three hour trip saw certainly the most common dolphins I have seen all year (though I haven’t been on a couple of the other very dolphiny trips). But what made it special was seeing them doing so many different things. The group we found first in the…

It was warm today but cloudy, with a light westerly breeze. On this morning’s Ocean Discovery we went looking for bluefin tuna further offshore, and they were there but extremely mobile. They were accompanied by fast moving groups of feeding seabirds, including gannets, Manx shearwaters, kittiwakes and other species of gulls. We also found two…

We had spectacular cetacean sightings today with Risso’s dolphins on all three trips, and lots of porpoises on the first and the second. This morning’s Ocean Discovery saw the porpoises first and as has become customary in the last week or so, numbers were very high and they gave us some really close swim bys….

Such calm silky water, chockablock with plankton, jellyfish and – this afternoon at least – dolphins. Our four hour trip this morning was actually quite quiet until we found a group of common dolphins, though conditions were beautifully calm and clear. We did see a few seals bottling round the island, including a big male….

We had a our first five hour Discovery Adventure today and it was awesome! Conditions could not have been better for wildlife spotting. We hadn’t been going twenty minutes when the sightings started and at one point we didn’t know where to look – Risso’s dolphins to starboard, porpoises to port and common dolphins straight…

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…

We had a lovely couple of trips today – a four hour followed by a two hour. The weather here currently is warm but not too hot with a bit of breeze, so perfect. This morning we had several encounters with different pods of common dolphins, including some calves and juveniles. We had lovely views…

It was bleak and foggy this morning, but the trip was thoroughly brightened by some great wildlife sightings at the end of the trip. Fog often disorientates seabirds so they come closer to the coast and down onto the sea surface. We saw a couple of grey seals hauled out in a spot we have…

Back out on the water today after and extremely windy week. We couldn’t do the first five hour of the season as planned, but we were able to get out for a 3 hour Ocean Discovery, and we’re very glad we did. As often happens after strong westerly wind, there was lots of life about,…

We had a final Ocean Discovery trip to finish the half term this morning. After a quiet start to the season, this week has seen beautiful weather and a lot of very welcome visitors – both humans and animals! We watched some seals at the island at the start of the trip, including our favourite…