sailing

The fog slowly cleared this morning – blown away by a quickly strengthening easterly wind! We got our first Ocean Discovery trip, though cancelled the afternoon, taking advantage of the window between dense fog and increasingly choppy sea conditions and we had a lovely trip. We spotted common dolphins feeding with gannets, common scoters (sea…

It was a long day with two Ocean Discovery trips and an evening Bay Discovery,  and there was lots of wildlife around to wish Josh happy birthday. There were common dolphins around all day, though we had to go a long way to find them on the afternoon Ocean Discovery. However we did find two…

Back out on the water today after a couple of windy days. It was still fairly breezy especially this afternoon, however the westerly wind was perfect for sailing offshore. This morning we very quickly found some common dolphins who bowrode with us for nearly an hour as we were sailing in the same direction they…

It was a miserable mizzly morning today so we cancelled the four hour trip and went out for the Bay Discovery trip at 2pm when it cleared up a bit. There were more seals hauled out than we have seen for ages – a mixture of adult males, females and juveniles numbering 15 in total….

It was a bit of a drab day today and it got much drabber still this afternoon. The wildlife sightings were great though. On the morning three hour trip, we first watched seven seals round the island as they hauled out on the rocks. Two of the females were in a very moany  mood –…

Unbroken sunshine and great wildlife sightings all day today. On the morning Ocean Discovery there was very little wind, so great spotting conditions. Very quickly we spotted a couple of Risso’s dolphins who were “logging” at the surface, sleeping. They are very vulnerable to boat collision from fast moving boats and disturbance when they are…

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 a great day today with two Ocean Discovery trips, lots of wildlife spotted and some big happy smiles. This morning we found a big pod of harbour porpoises in an area we used to find them frequently. They were feeding with some gannets and Josh managed to snap some of the fish in…

We had two windy trips today, an Ocean Discovery and a Discovery Voyage. This morning we watched several seals hauled out on the island before heading up the coast then sailing offshore. There were a few seabirds soaring past us including kittiwakes, fulmars and gannets, but it was largely quiet until by chance a large…