Wednesday 26th July

Well what unbelievably awful weather. Luckily for us and our fantastic, hardy guests today, the wildlife sightings were unbelievably awesome. Because of the rain, the four hour was shortened to a three hour trip, though sea conditions weren’t too bad. Right from the outset there were common dolphins everywhere! In fact it’s the most we have seen since last July I think. We were accosted by pods everywhere we sailed, who surfed in to bowride us as we sailed across the waves. I was able to get the camera out during a couple of lulls in the rain to get some photos, but they don’t really do the encounters justice. There were also amazing numbers of seabirds around, particularly gannets and Manx shearwaters – in amongst them we also saw some little storm petrels. Because sightings were so good we decided to press ahead with the afternoon Bay Discovery and the rain actually cleared up for a while. We saw hundreds more common dolphins, hauled out grey seals, and even a minke whale pretty close to the coast. Seabirds sightings included two Cory’s shearwaters.

It’s really pouring now so I’m glad to be back in the office with the dehumidifier running!