sea safaris

Today we saw a fin whale! This was on the two hour Bay Discovery and not particularly far from shore. We occasionally see fin whales in August, but we have never seen one this early before. I just caught sight of a blow in my peripheral vision, which seemed far too big for a minke…

We had an Ocean Discovery trip this morning and a Discovery Voyage trip this afternoon, and it was the morning people who had the most luck with the sightings. There were several seals hauled out on the island including two small juveniles and Kelp the old female we have been watching for so many years….

We had two very windy three hour trips today, as that westerly breeze made itself felt. Passengers still had a great time though, with seals and seabirds being spotted this morning along with some elusive porpoises. The tide was high this afternoon so the seals had disappeared and we had an exciting ride in the…

It was a quieter day today with no fins seen, however we had a really lovely afternoon with a great bunch of people. We headed westwards along the coast first , as far as Porthcurno before sailing right out offshore. The endless easterly winds are over for the moment and we had a very sailable…

There was quite a lot of easterly wind today for our Discovery Voyage and Bay Discovery trips which made the sea choppy, but it was sunny and really warm. Sea conditions made spotting fins quite difficult – this morning we saw a few common dolphins briefly, and it looked as though there were porpoises feeding…

Another warm sunny day with an easterly breeze. We had one Ocean Discovery trip, which was fully booked. There were a few seals bobbing around in the water near the island as the tide rose, and we had some great close views of harbour porpoises who swam really close to the boat. There were some…

We had an Ocean Discovery followed by a Bay Discovery trip today. There was a bit more southerly wind than predicted, but at least it was warmer than earlier in the week! On both trips we found grey seals bobbing and snoozing round the island, and also good numbers of harbour porpoises. They are being…

It was another very windy day. While there was no swell and the horizon was flat, the offshore wind made it very cold and choppy so we couldn’t venture too far out. This morning we were again intercepted by a couple of common dolphins who seemed to be looking for something to do! Often common…

We had two Ocean Discovery trips today and the weather was an enormous improvement on yesterday’s wind and rain. This morning we had an extraordinary porpoise encounter. There were lots of gannets further east in an area where we have been seeing lots of porpoises so we headed over for a look. Sure enough we…

What a couple of trips we had today in spite of (or maybe because of) the misty conditions, and with some really friendly and interested passengers. I do love September! Dolphins here, dolphins there, dolphins literally everywhere. Leaping tuna in the morning, shearwaters (again four species spotted), grey seals, harbour porpoises. This afternoon we had…