Tuesday 21st July

It was another morning filled with cetaceans today, with two groups of porpoises and a big pod of about thirty common dolphins spotted. This was a four hour Discovery Voyage so we had plenty of time to explore over a wide area. The good thing about Penzance is, as soon as you leave the harbour walls, we have wide views of a big stretch of the bay rather than having to take a long time to get out of the port. The second group of porpoises were particularly rewarding – they made us wait, but like yesterday they came very close to the boat and gave us magical views.

On the afternoon Bay Discovery the tide had dropped a bit meaning the seals had started to haul out on the island. We saw seven in total including Kelp the female and the injured male from yesterday. He was asleep and otherwise looking ok. Heading south we saw two ocean sunfish breaches, though as always it can be a blink and you miss it thing. In the far distance we watched diving gannets going crazy and through the binoculars we could see porpoises charging around energetically hunting. With porpoise driven feeding frenzies, it can be far less sustained than with dolphins and so it was today. As we got within easier spotting distance the baitball broke up and the porpoises dispersed which was a little frustrating but some passengers got a couple of views. We then had a nice sail on the northerly breeze before heading in.