sea safaris

It grew increasingly windy today, as forecast, so the second trip was shortened from three hours to two. This morning’s Ocean Discovery started calm enough, and there were a couple of really big feeding events spotted involving common dolphins, gannets, shearwaters and a few little storm petrels too. There was some big swell leftover from…

After a few days off due to strong wind we were back out on the water today. It was calmer though  it rained almost all day. However after a westerly blow like that, if you are prepared to put on your waterproofs and maybe get wet, there is often so much wildlife to be seen…

It was still hot today but here we had a refreshing easterly breeze – in fact by the afternoon we could have done with slightly less refreshing breeze, but it made for some great sailing conditions. This morning while it was still calmer we found plenty of common dolphins and some grey seals hauled out…

What can I say? Calm sea, hot sunshine, loads of common dolphins, loads of Risso’s dolphins, loads of harbour porpoises, loads of beautiful jellyfish, and some very hot grey seals! Now I need an ice lolly 🍡🍧🥵

We had an extraordinary day on the water today on our Discovery Voyage and Ocean Discovery trips – the bay was absolutely thick with wildlife. From the outset we saw loads of harbour porpoises, followed by lots of small pods of common dolphins everywhere we went. We also caught sight of our first bluefin tuna…

We had a Discovery Voyage followed by a Bay Discovery trip today. This morning we found a pod of at least 12 Risso’s dolphins down the coast. There were a couple of individuals in particular who we got good views of, and picked up some useful photos for photo ID purposes. We also had some…

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…

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…

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…

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…