Tuesday 8th September

We are having an amazing September so far. Despite the heavy rain overnight and the strong northerly breeze which lasted all day, sightings were fantastic today. After watching a few seals first thing we then hoisted the mainsail and sailed parallel with the shore, not intending to go too far out to sea. However an absolute cloud of gannets were spotted a few miles out…crazy numbers! so we had to go and check it out. I have never seen such a frenzy – it was all gannets and a few gulls, not a shearwater to be seen. Being surrounded by such a cacophony of calling, diving gannets is an experience in itself, but the common dolphins and the wild conditions definitely added to it. Everything there was utterly intent on eating as much as possible. After motoring gently back into the wind to try and stay as dry as possible, we then picked up two further pods of dolphins nearer the shore, much smaller numbers this time.

This afternoon the wind was still strong so we reefed the sails right down a second time. Again there were lots of dolphins to be found who led us miles out to sea with their bowriding antics 🙄😁. As we came back close to shore, we had some great views of harbour porpoises in the choppy waves – it’s always a treat to see their little faces which look as though they’re smiling. The wind is dropping off now so should be much calmer for our five hour trip tomorrow. We still have a few spaces left for the Bay Discovery in the afternoon if anyone wants to join us.