sealife

After a murky start this morning it turned into a beautiful atmospheric day. There was no wind at all, and banks of mist hanging around which slowly cleared. This morning we were really pleased to find large numbers of common dolphins around again, after a quiet few days. There was a large group of about…

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…

The wind finally calmed today which was very welcome. On the first Ocean Discovery trip we had an amazing encounter with a single Risso’s dolphin. We initially spotted it sleeping, then waited stationary for a few moments and then it surprised us by noisily appearing right next to the boat. In the still conditions the…

It was another windy day, but we managed to get in a couple of Ocean Discovery trips. There was a good amount of wildlife to see, though the harbour porpoises this afternoon were tough to spot in the choppy conditions. They were there though! This morning there were also some leaping tuna, and lots of…

It was a cold windy day today and felt rather autumnal. The wind was from the north, so it wasn’t rough, just cool and choppy further offshore. We had two Ocean Discovery trips – on the first one we saw plenty of harbour porpoises and gannets, and at the end of the trip watched some…

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…

We had two Ocean Discovery trips today in great sailing conditions particularly this morning. There were lots of seals hauled out on the island on both trips, including adult males and females and juveniles. Sailing further south we were watching a kittiwake when up popped a group of three harbour porpoises who gave us some…

What a day we had for seabirds today. As so often happens when there’s been a bit of a southerly blow, it brought all manner of exciting pelagic species within reach on our four hour and three hour trips – no chumming necessary! It started off so murky and wet that we kept close to…

The wind calmed a lot today though there were still some splashy waves out there. The wildlife was all there though – common dolphins, grey seals, seabirds and a porpoise on the first Ocean Discovery trip. On the second three hour trip, we spotted several more seals bobbing around in the water before going a…

It was very windy today, and three trips were hard hard work! However the sun was shining pretty much all day which was very welcome after the rain yesterday. Because of the strong northwesterly breeze and big swell, we motored up the coast before sailing back with it behind us. The waves made it harder…