sailing

A lovely sunny bank holiday and an enthusiastic friendly bunch of people for our Ocean Discovery tour. They were rewarded near the end with a great encounter with some common dolphins, who swam around the boat and bowrode, given everyone some good views. Prior to that it had been rather quiet, though with some nice…

The wind switched to a northerly direction today so it was flatter (though chilly!) In the sunshine we found a small feeding frenzy of common dolphins, with lots of seabirds dipping in from above. We could even clearly the baitfish (sprats? photos weren’t clear enough to tell) jumping to try and escape the carnage. It’s…

We had a Discovery Voyage this morning. After the strong wind recently conditions were tricky for spotting wildlife but we know it’s out there because Duncan and Josh spotted a minke whale surface in the bay. Is it the same one that’s been hanging around for a while? There were countless seabirds out there, mainly…

We had a four hour trip today in bright cold conditions, perfect for sailing. We spotted two minke whales! One of them was probably the same one as we saw the other day and the second was a small juvenile, who do sometimes appear at this time of year. They were very fast, so no…

We had a four hour trip today in cold but favourable conditions. Heading over towards St Michael’s Mount first thing we found lots of feeding shearwaters, guillemots and Manx shearwaters who looked lovely in the morning light. One of the guillemots was a bridled version of the species. We then sailed southwards, getting some good…

We had a three hour trip today in nicer conditions than we have had this year so far. It was so amazing to see the sunshine glinting on calm saw! There were plenty of seabirds to be seen and the light was perfect for photography, including so many Manx shearwaters and guillemots, gannets, gulls, fulmars….There…

We had our first  four hour sail of the season this morning in rather more easterly wind than  was forecast. It built behind us as we sailed into the Land’s End area, where it was much calmer and we saw lots of bird life including some feeding Manx shearwaters, as well as some grey seals….

Lots of birdlife around again today, including several great northern divers and common scoters, neither of which we see very often. There were a couple of seals round the island, though it was high tide so most of them were off out to sea. Further offshore there were guillemots, gannets, razorbills and Manx shearwaters. April…

We had such great seabird sightings on today’s Ocean Discovery. Conditions were probably better than they have been so far this spring, with sunshine and calm blue sea (though the breeze was still chilly). There were thousands of Manx shearwaters out there flowing like a current from east to west, gliding past the boat and…

It was very chilly today in that cold northerly wind! Luckily that is forecast to drop overnight and tomorrow looks calm. We had nine passengers on a 3 hour Ocean Discovery this morning, and we had a great sail along the coast. There were lots of grey seals on the island including some juveniles, who…