Monday 4th May
What a fabulous bank holiday Ocean Discovery trip we had this morning. The sea was absolutely mirror calm and shortly after leaving the harbour, tall fins were spotted in the distance. Risso’s dolphins! We suspected they were around somewhere yesterday based on the evidence of the gulls, and later heard that one of the fishing…
Sunday 3rd May
We were so lucky with the weather today – it was forecast to be wet, and we didn’t get a single drop out at sea, though the hills inland looked really misty and rainy. The moral of this tale is – ignore BBC weather. There are far more accurate forecasts. The seabirds are amazing at…
Monday 13th April
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…
Wednesday 22nd October
We had a Discovery Voyage trip this morning which is quite late in the year for us to be running this four hour trip. It was a cracker of a morning, starting clear and calm with a hint of low sunshine. Quite soon after leaving the harbour we started picking up fins in the distance,…
Wednesday 8th October
It was a murky day today but the wildlife brightened everything up. We started at the island watching seals start to haul out, then as we went south, we appeared to motor into a cloud which was pretty persistent for about an hour. We watched some fish boiling away at the surface and some kittiwakes…
Wednesday 24th September
We had another lovely day today. Bright sunshine and calm seas allowed us to search offshore. In the morning we found lots of different groups of harbour porpoises and had some lovely interactions in the calm conditions. We also saw a variety of seabirds including many arctic skuas, who were harassing kittiwakes for their catch….
Monday 22nd September
Dry and sunny today – a very welcome development. We had a three hour trip but sailed so far south west it turned into four hours! There was plenty of wildlife to be seen including large numbers of common dolphins and harbour porpoises (which were too quick to get photos of!) and sixteen seals hauled…
Tuesday 16th September
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…
Saturday 13th September
Conditions today were similar to yesterday’s, though with no rain and slightly less swell. This morning on our three hour trip we saw plenty of grey seals and seabirds including a sooty and Cory’s shearwater. We also found some common dolphins and had some clear (though brief!) views of harbour porpoises. There are a lot…
Friday 12th September
This weather 😱! There was a bit of a window this morning so we headed out, undecided about whether it would be two or three hours. We sailed southwards into increasing swell, looking for fins among the waves and the birds. One lady saw a tuna breach, but the rest of us were all the…