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. What a beautiful vessel she is. We sailed out to meet here south of the Mount, then headed on south to where we had found the dolphins in the morning. What a sight greeted us, with thousands of seabirds feeding, tuna churning the water up and dolphins everywhere we looked. They were extremely vocal and we could hear their conversations even without the hydrophone. On the way into Penzance there was another small group of dolphins who were able to find on the evening Bay Discovery too, as well as a grey seal hauled out on the island.