Risso's dolphins

The water was like silk today – we have rarely seen it so calm. Heading south along the coast our plan was vindicated when we met a pod of Risso’s dolphins heading up into the bay. This was based their movements yesterday – Risso’s dolphins can sometimes be predictable! They swam past us fairly close…

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…

We have been port bound for a few days due to some strong wind and big swell, but we were back out today for two Ocean Discovery trips. There was still some chunky swell and strong breeze out there, but the sun came out and it was fun. This morning we watched the seals on…

We had a proper mixture of weather today with sunshine, breeze and drizzle. The wildlife sightings were great though. On the morning Bay Discovery a big mass of gannet feeding showed us where there were scores of porpoises feeding in the bay. The fish shoals were very mobile and the porpoises were in an incredible…

We had a lovely couple of trips today as the day steadily got warmer and sunnier. This morning’s Discovery Voyage passengers saw common dolphins further out after a few seals round and on the island. With the commons there were plenty of seabirds, including more variety than we have seen so far this summer: Manx…

The strong northerly wind meant we postponed the Discovery Voyage trip this morning, but it was ok for the Ocean Discovery at 2pm. We had a great trip despite the wind, with some very enthusiastic friendly passengers. They were rewarded with a fantastic Risso’s dolphin encounter – a  pod of at least 12 animals. They…

We had two Ocean Discovery trips today and both were great fun with some really friendly guests. This morning we had some lovely encounters with common dolphins – we watched them feeding with Manx shearwaters in the morning calm. We also saw a grey seal hauled out. This morning almost on leaving the harbour we…

A long day today with a four hour trip followed by a three hour. Things started off glassy calm though with quite a deceptive leftover swell from yesterday. After watching six snoozing seals, we saw a porpoise first thing followed immediately by a quiet group of common dolphins…followed by further groups of much more animated…

We had a Discovery Voyage followed by a Bay Discovery trip today. This morning we found a pod of at least 12 Risso’s dolphins down the coast. There were a couple of individuals in particular who we got good views of, and picked up some useful photos for photo ID purposes. We also had some…

What a day we had today on the last day of June. We found a dismembered cuttlefish on leaving the harbour on this morning’s Bay Discovery so were immediately on the alert for Risso’s dolphins. But it was common dolphins we found first – a medium sized group of adults and juveniles who  were keeping…