My cunning plan was to head out South West towards the Celtic Deep in the hope of connecting with Fin Whales, as we have in the past. And so we set off and before long we had a pod of feeding dolphins ahead of us probably around fifty. After recording them and some happy Oooing and Aaaahing from our interns and other volunteers (Steve, Rachel, Jeff, Neil and Andy's son, Jordan with girlfriend Mina), we pressed on.
With the Cartlett Ladies powerful engines pushing us on we were soon 25 miles out in the Celtic Sea cruising the area where we had located the Fins in the past. With keen eyed skipper, Andy at the wheel we scanned out to the horizon for blows. Funnily enough our next find was a small Blue Shark, its dorsal and tail fin creating a small wiggly wake as they broke the silken surface.
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| Steve Rosser: Leatherback Turtle |
As if to top it, our next surprise was a strange blob that turned into a Leatherback Turtle a tantalizingly brief view but as usual ace photographer Ken was on it before it disappeared into the depths. Next was more Dolphins at least a couple of hundred that had attracted at least fifty Gannets who were sitting obviously sated, showing snow white on the blue.
Another big Tuna feeding frenzy ripped that seascape apart and Ken was on it again, Unfortunately Ken had not time to process his pics before taking his Grandson home to Hampshire so we will have to wait for his pic's.as mine don't really do it justice.
And so we motored north, an idyllic cruise with incredible bubbling clouds and warm sunshine and odd sightings of sharks, shearwaters and petrels, razorbills and guillemots with their young. One huge Tuna that turned and rolled half out of the water beside the boat, giving us a close up of its almost Gothic spiky features.
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| Steve Rosser. |
Andy spotted it first and on a brief glance I was convinced we had a Fin Whale as the mouth broke the water then the rostrum and back followed by the fin as it submerged again. It disappeared for several minutes as we circled slowly, all eyes peeled trying to relocate it. Of course it came up where none of us expected it but I managed to get off a couple of pic's and we slowly gained on it surfacing a few more times and giving more photographic opportunities before deep diving again Thankfully the subsequent views were good enough along with the absence of any blows, to ID it as a Minke. A very big Minke none the less, and with quite a substantial dorsal fin!
The Common Dolphins kept on coming as we hove into sight of the Milford Haven With Skomer and Skokholm to port side and the refinery chimneys to starboard. It had been an action packed trip thanks to the wonderfully calm seas and we were all tired but contented as we made our way up the waterway passing the LNG and oil refineries with their huge chimneys and attendant tankers. As we approached and entered the Neyland Marina, Andy slotted us into our berth and Jordan made us fast.
What a day, what a boat, what a skipper what a team and best of all what incredible wildlife , all observed and recorded, Team Sea Trust at its best!
(Better still, when Ken gets some time to process his pic's and add them to our trip report!)