Penzance

This morning’s trip was cancelled because of the bad weather but we set off on the Ocean Discovery this afternoon wearing lots of waterproof layers in case of more rain. What a good thing we did, as we had a fairly Biblical downpour. However rain does not affect wildlife sightings, and there were small groups…

It was miserable weather this morning so we just had an afternoon trip today, and it cleared up nicely. We had a full boat with cracking sightings. Suddenly we are seeing porpoises again, which after a very quiet early part of the year for them, is very welcome. Shy, undemonstrative and small, they’re not one…

We had the second class of Year 2 children from the local primary school today – 3 x 90 minute trips and they all did very well in the occasionally drizzly blustery conditions. All three groups had great views of seven seals hauled out on the rocks and in the water, and lots of seabirds….

It was a mega busy day today in beautiful conditions. The first of the three trips set off in mirror calm conditions so we were hopeful for some good sightings. We soon got those with some lovely views of harbour porpoises – these diminutive cetaceans are so much easier to spot in calm conditions and…

We had a four hour trip this morning in windy conditions. The sea was flat though so we were able to head round into the Land’s End area, where the coast and sea colour looked amazing in the sunshine. We saw a couple of ocean sunfish (it’s so great to be finding them again), grey…

What an absolutely cracking day we had today. It seems as though summer has finally arrived with a shift in the airflow and warmer temperatures. In the sea as well, we are starting to see blue jellyfish and ocean sunfish, a sure sign that the fronts have come closer in from offshore. We found three…

It seems as though there are a few sunfish around at the moment. On Sunday afternoon’s Bay Discovery trip, though things were generally very quiet feeling in terms of birdlife and cetaceans, we saw a medium sized sunfish as we sailed across the Bay. This was travelling at the surface so we could see its…

After a couple of weeks of saying “We have normally seen sunfish by now – but there have been none so far” today we saw three in one morning. A decade ago we used to see so many during the summer, but they have been steadily decreasing the last three years or so. We got…

Our Discovery Voyage trip this morning was very productive, with perfect sailing conditions and sunny weather – though still cold! We had a great encounter with common dolphins further out, and Duncan spotted a minke whale though it was too quick for the passengers to see. Close to the coast we found a group of…

It was a cool and breezy day today, but there was sunshine and a flat sea, so perfect for our Bay Discovery and Ocean Discovery trips. We could see the white waves and the swell further offshore so kept close to the coast. On this morning’s Bay Discovery we sailed past St Michael’s Mount before…