Risso's dolphins

We saw four species of cetacean today! On the morning Discovery Voyage a harbour porpoise was spotted very quickly, which was great because we haven’t been seeing too many of these lately. Numbers will build as we head through the summer. In the far distance we spotted some common dolphins but then much closer we…

We had an Ocean Discovery trip followed by a Discovery Voyage trip today. Despite being at low tide when the seals should have been hauled out on the rocks, it was pretty quiet this morning. There are a staggering number of pot buoys round the island at the moment, so a lot of fishing effort….

We had three Bay Discovery trips today, which is our shortest trip at two hours long. On the first two we had lovely views of a pod of Risso’s dolphins which were quietly resting in the bay. As ever with this species we gave them extra space, as they are not generally known for interacting…

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…