sailing

The autumn swells are definitely making themselves felt at the moment – it was startling how abruptly our glorious summer came to a screeching halt with the arrival of Hurricane Erin at the end of August. However our passengers still want to get out there and they are proving to be an enthusiastic and hardy…

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…

The wind and swell is playing havoc wit our schedule at  the moment, however we managed to sneak out for a Bay Discovery trip this morning. This was due to be a 3 hour trip but because of the wind and sea conditions we shortened it and stayed in the relative shelter of the Bay….

We had a very loud thunderstorm and lots of squally wind first thing so the morning trip was cancelled. Though the swell was still impressive it was ok to set off on the afternoon trip. We saw lots of seals round the island and the seabirds gliding over the waves looked amazing. Closer in we…

It looks as though today is the last day of this lovely long spell of weather we have had for the moment. This morning we had a birthday trip for a very special boy – happy 9th birthday Seb! We found common dolphins near the Mount and had a lovely sail with them accompanying us,…

It was breezier than expected today, with a southeasterly wind chopping up the sea nicely. This does mean a good wind angle for sailing away to the south though – everything seemed rather quiet inshore so off we went, and on both trips we found lots of common dolphins and feeding seabirds. There were a…

There were enormous numbers of common dolphins in the bay today, stretching right out further offshore too – estimated numbers of many hundreds. These were in many different smaller pods, again including lots of juveniles and calves. Again there were tuna feeding with them, though they weren’t showing as well as yesterday. Seabirds included common…

We had a couple of awesome trips today in warm, calm conditions. This morning we quickly found a grey seal fishing in the middle of the bay who looked at us in an unhurried way for a while before diving down again to continue. A bit further on we found a pod of common dolphins …

We had an Ocean Discovery followed by two Bay Discovery trips. Dolphins were again spotted on all three trips. Having got some close up fin shots today, some of these individuals were exhibiting some noticeable scars and nicks, especially on the dorsal fins. As more dolphins move into our inshore waters, they are more at…

It was a really long day yesterday with 2 Ocean Discovery trips followed by a Bay Discovery at the end of the day. Both the longer trips saw lots of common dolphins and a few sneaky porpoises, though during the afternoon especially we had to go a really long way to find them. It had…