seals

The autumn swells are definitely making themselves felt at the moment – it was startling how abruptly our glorious summer came to a screeching halt with the arrival of Hurricane Erin at the end of August. However our passengers still want to get out there and they are proving to be an enthusiastic and hardy…

We have been port bound for a few days due to some strong wind and big swell, but we were back out today for two Ocean Discovery trips. There was still some chunky swell and strong breeze out there, but the sun came out and it was fun. This morning we watched the seals on…

The wind and swell is playing havoc wit our schedule at  the moment, however we managed to sneak out for a Bay Discovery trip this morning. This was due to be a 3 hour trip but because of the wind and sea conditions we shortened it and stayed in the relative shelter of the Bay….

We had a very loud thunderstorm and lots of squally wind first thing so the morning trip was cancelled. Though the swell was still impressive it was ok to set off on the afternoon trip. We saw lots of seals round the island and the seabirds gliding over the waves looked amazing. Closer in we…

It was breezier than expected today, with a southeasterly wind chopping up the sea nicely. This does mean a good wind angle for sailing away to the south though – everything seemed rather quiet inshore so off we went, and on both trips we found lots of common dolphins and feeding seabirds. There were a…

We had a couple of awesome trips today in warm, calm conditions. This morning we quickly found a grey seal fishing in the middle of the bay who looked at us in an unhurried way for a while before diving down again to continue. A bit further on we found a pod of common dolphins …

We had a lovely four hour trip this morning, with lots of common dolphin sightings who looked beautiful swimming through the still water with the clouds reflecting on the surface. There were some bluefin tuna feeding with them, though nothing too concentrated. We also had some awesome views of harbour porpoises swimming very close to…

It was a really long day yesterday with 2 Ocean Discovery trips followed by a Bay Discovery at the end of the day. Both the longer trips saw lots of common dolphins and a few sneaky porpoises, though during the afternoon especially we had to go a really long way to find them. It had…

Lots of August dolphins around today, both inshore and offshore. We also saw a large group of harbour porpoises this morning, some tuna feeding with a variety of seabirds and some grey seals. The sea was surprisingly choppy and grey! It calmed down for the afternoon three hour trip, and we went east instead of…

It was a full on day today with three full trips in beautiful conditions. We found common dolphins and harbour porpoises on the three hour Ocean Discovery trip this morning, along with lots of seabirds including storm petrels. At the end of the trip we found several seals hauled out, who were still there at…