Friday 27th June
I was unsure all week about whether Friday trips would be possible based on the wind forecast. We were able to head out on an early Ocean Discovery this morning in the end and we’re glad we did, because there was an amazing feeding frenzy going on in the bay. Hungry dolphins raced around herding…
Wednesday 25th June
We had a such a great day today. This morning after watching the seals on the island we spotted some intense gannet feeding a little further out, where there were large numbers of common dolphins with them. They were rushing round chasing fish as the gannets dived in from above and the shearaters flitted around…
Tuesday 24th June
The weather forecast decided yesterday it would be misty and drizzly today. I hoped it was lying but it wasn’t. However it was one of those summer days when a southwesterly wind and poor visibility brings in a lot of seabirds close to the coast. Most of them were Manx shearwaters and gannets, and one…
Monday 23rd June
We saw several grey seals hauled out on the rocks during the morning Ocean Discovery trip, including males, females and juveniles. Sailing westwards, we picked up a few shearwaters, gannets and guillemots but on the whole it was quieter offshore so we decided to go a different direction on the afternoon tour. The brisk north…
Saturday 21st June
Happy solstice. It started off murky and damp with a few rolls of thunder first thing so it was a good thing we had a later start than normal for this morning’s trip. The sun broke through and we started the trip by finding come common dolphins in the morning calm. We also saw a…
Friday 20th June
After the easterly wind of yesterday, it was rather quieter out there for fins today. We saw some amazing seabird feeding on both morning and afternoon trips though, with gannets, Manx shearwaters, kittiwakes and other gulls, and guillemots all feasting on small baitfish. It was surprising not to see any dolphins or porpoises with all…
Tuesday 17th June
A long day today with a Discovery Voyage (4 hour) followed by an Ocean Discovery (3 hour) trip. This morning we had lovely clear views of a harbour porpoise in the early morning calm. It circled repeatedly round the boat, just carrying on with what it was doing. Further offshore all was quiet apart from…
Monday 16th June
We had two Ocean Discovery trips today and had great sightings on both. This morning we found a small group of common dolphins who stayed with us a while, lots of feeding seabirds and an ocean sunfish. We also saw a herring gull divebombing a heron, which we haven’t witnessed before. This afternoon we watched…
Saturday 14th June
We had a lovely look at several harbour porpoises on this morning’s Ocean Discovery trip. While we see them very frequently later in the summer, views at this time of year are often more difficult and fleeting, but not today! We also saw some common dolphins, lots of seabirds and some grey seals hauled out….
Friday 13th June
The forecast was really mixed and uncertain for today. It did end up raining a bit, but not tall the time, but the camera mostly remained safely stowed. Sea conditions were pretty floppy after the wind overnight though, which made spotting conditions tricky. We saw another large ocean sunfish and a feeding grey seal, but…