Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Tour at 13:00

Report from Eldey: It was blustery still in the bay, which increased later on in the tour but this did not deter our adventurous passengers. We saw a pod of 6-9 white-beaked dolphins, which were amazing as they leaped and played under and around the boat but mostly busy feeding. Conor was among the pod, a dolphin that has been seen a lot during the summer and first cataloged in 2013, it was great to see him/her. We also saw a minke whale 3 times but unfortunately only the guide saw it, the 2nd and 3rd time it was only the blow and a small part of the dorsal fin was seen so very difficult for passengers to spot. Again we saw lots of bird; gannets, fulmars, seagulls and it was great to see a couple of sooty shearwaters. 

- Megan Whittaker

Tour at 09:00

Report from Eldey: A blustery day today on the bay but we traveled with it for the first half of the tour so we did not feel it so much until later on in the tour. After 40 minutes we saw our first pod of 3-4 white-beaked dolphins. They leaped right towards us, came to say hello. It is always incredible when wild animals choose to come close to us and these dolphin did that. Heard us from a far and come leaping. The played under and a round the boat for a while before chasing fish, there movements became erratic and unpredictable, difficult to follow so we left. After another 20 minutes we came and saw another pod of about 8-10 white beaked dolphins, these had no interest in us, busy feeding and traveling. We searched for whales but none where seen unfortunately. We did see some interesting birds also, such as the sooty shearwater, which we don´t see very often, maybe a couple of times a year and lots of gannets, fulmars and seagulls. A wet and windy tour but our passengers nonetheless come back with a big smile of their faces. 

-Megan Whittaker

Birds seen on todays tour include: gannets, fulmars, kittiwakes, black-backed gulls, glaucous gulls and a sooty shearwater.