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Sightings Blog

Visit Penzance

Friday 6th September

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…

Sunday 2nd September

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…

Thursday 29th August

Conditions were excellent today which was handy, as we had a very busy day. On the morning Ocean Discovery we had great encounters with common dolphins, grey seals, harbour porpoises and seabirds. This afternoon there was much excitement in Penzance Harbour when the paddlesteamer “Waverley” arrived as part of its summer tour of the country….

Wednesday 14th August

Today was one of those days when the harbour porpoises completely outshone the dolphins. They were feeding energetically in large pods, and because at this time of year they are eating shoaling fish like the dolphins, this appears to give them more free time. And what do they do with this free time….they become much…

Tuesday 6th August

Back out on the water today after a couple of windy days. It was still fairly breezy especially this afternoon, however the westerly wind was perfect for sailing offshore. This morning we very quickly found some common dolphins who bowrode with us for nearly an hour as we were sailing in the same direction they…

Tuesday 23rd July

We had a Discovery Voyage this morning followed by an Ocean Discovery, and conditions almost couldn’t have been better. So welcome after the gloom and mizzle of yesterday. First thing we saw a small group of very elusive dolphins close inshore – they clearly didn’t want company so we left them very quickly. Looking at…

Sunday 14th July

Amazingly calm sea this morning and a pearly grey sky made for great spotting conditions. We didn’t have to go too far before we saw our first harbour porpoises, again including a mum and calf. We saw several more groups through the morning as well as several different groups of common dolphins. There were a…

Wednesday 26th June

It was a mega busy day today in beautiful conditions. The first of the three trips set off in mirror calm conditions so we were hopeful for some good sightings. We soon got those with some lovely views of harbour porpoises – these diminutive cetaceans are so much easier to spot in calm conditions and…

Tuesday 25th June

It was a quiet sleepy sort of day today for our two Ocean Discovery trips. This morning we covered a lot of miles offshore and some shearwaters, guillemots, gannets and fulmars, all searching just like we were. A seal popped up in front of the boat who had been hunting several miles offshore. We then…

Thursday 20th June

It was a truly lovely day in Mount’s Bay today, with the sea as calm as it has been this year and a host of wonderful wildlife to find. On this morning’s Ocean Discovery we found a couple of seals resting on the island then were delighted to spot a harbour porpoise, just as we…