Tuesday 28th July

We had a couple of great trips today. On the Bay Discovery tour this morning, there were several seals hauled out on the rocks, and also bottling in the water. One of the these was the big male we call “Seaweed” who now appears to be top dog on the island after the demise of dear old Silverback. Just like Silverback he now has his favoured rock, and seems like a very chilled out boy seal. A bit further on, massive splashes were spotted – Risso’s dolphins. While we have been very accustomed to seeing them the last couple of months, I think this is the largest pod we have seen so far this year. It was a large maternal pod of between 30 and 40 animals, which was very exciting. There were some massive leaps which unfortunately I missed with the camera, though one passenger managed to get them on her phone.

On this afternoon’s four hour trip, the Risso’s were spotted in the far distance but disappeared. Instead we saw several pods of common dolphins, which were mostly quite quiet and standoffish, until the end of the trip when they were far more interactive. There are also tuna frenzies being spotted now, which is exciting. The southerly breeze made it a little choppier than expected this afternoon, though the sun finally broke through mid afternoon.