Thursday 18th July

Unbroken sunshine and great wildlife sightings all day today. On the morning Ocean Discovery there was very little wind, so great spotting conditions. Very quickly we spotted a couple of Risso’s dolphins who were “logging” at the surface, sleeping. They are very vulnerable to boat collision from fast moving boats and disturbance when they are doing this behaviour, especially in choppy conditions. Not much further out we found a small group of common dolphins who gave us some lovely views in the clear water. It was so clear today we could see lots of compass jellyfish, tentacles trailing way below the surface. We found Rupert Kirkwood, the Lone Kayaker out there, who was with a group of porpoises which were surfacing in front of his kayak. He told us he’d heard a whale blowing, but it kept giving him the slip. With a higher vantage point than he had, we were able to spot the whale from further away, and it gave us some cracking views, and later on we found another group of common dolphins, as well as grey seals. The afternoon Discovery Voyage trip was just as productive, with lots more dolphins seen, some very energetic harbour porpoises, and instead of the whale we saw an ocean sunfish! A great day on the water.