Tour at 1300
The wind had picked up a little on this tour so it was quite chilly so more of our passengers made use of the free overall and blankets we have onboard. The whales were more difficult on this tour too but we got to see three species. First it was Harbour Porpoises which were porpoising along as we headed offshore and then a pod of about 7-13 White-beaked Dolphins surfacing all together on occasion which is incredible to see. Then we left these dolphins to it to go and search for a Minke Whale and after about 10 mins of searching one surfaced just 20 meters from our boat and it was one we knew very well. The Minke Whale was called Peanut and he/she was seen every year since 2007. We stayed with Peanut a while before seeing another in the distance and as Peanut had two other whale watching vessels near it we decided to go see the other one. We tried to get closer to the second minke but it didn't surface again untill we were about to leave and then suddenly it surfaced just meters from our boat. Perfect ending to a perfect day.
Tour at 0900
The perfect day to be at sea. Flat calm seas, blue skies, sun on full beam, great visability and fantastic whales. We sailed for about 30 minutes seeing Puffins and Harbour Porpoises on the way, until we saw our first sign of activity. A flock of feeding seabirds mainly gulls, Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Puffins, Guillemots and Razorbills but unfortunetly no whales. Then as i was looking through the binoculars i saw a Minke Whale further in the distance, then another, then another. Once we thought we were in the middle of them all we turned off our engines and enjoyed the sounds of nature. We had at least 10-15 Minke Whales some close, some further away, and some far far in the distance, some lunge feeding and rolling and some just surfacing normally. After a while we even had Harbour Porpoises joining in, one was so clear travelling just under the waters surface along side the boat. Incredible tour.Pictures by Megan Whittaker (www.megsterphotography.blogspot.com)