February 2011 by the skin of our teeth

The Stena Europe was dry docked for her annual refit earlier in the month and the weather was wet and blustery otherwise. We have surveyed every month since April 2004 so our survey yesterday on the last day of the month, in reasonable if not perfect conditions managed to keep the run going.
Several porpoises were seen on the outward leg and a small pod of between 6-10 Common Dolphins came in to our bow as we approached the Tusker Light. St David's Day dawned reasonably calm and sunny in Rosslare but despite improving conditions we managed only three porpoise sightings on our return although good veiws of a mother and attendant calf were very satisfying.
The crews log had an extremely interesting entry of a large pod of around 50 bottles entering welsh waters. We Stevo Lucas and Neil Couzins had a similar experience a couple of years ago in February.
New recruit David Cunnilife proved to be an excellent addition to the team spotting several animals before myself (or the man who shares cabins with the legend Mark Cawardine) , Elfyn Pugh...