Trip report from Tony Lucas and vid'+ image from Greg Ellis

 Hi Cliff,

Here’s my report!

What a wonderful day we woke up to yesterday. The sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. And more to the point, looking ahead to our trip on the Cartlett Lady out into the Celtic deep, not a puff of wind either!
 A full complement mustered at Neyland marina - 10 very excited passengers and 2 crew, the skipper Andy Rickard and Ian, at 9.30. At 10am we made our way through the marina to the Cartlett Lady, on the way seeing our first ‘wildlife’ of the day - 3 or 4 quite large mullet gliding between the boats - a good sign of things to come later we hoped!
  As we passed the tankers in the haven most of us could be seen urgently covering ourselves with last minute sun cream! Our next wildlife sighting was when Andy stopped the boat in mid channel to enable a Mum and Dad shelduck with 5 little ducklings make to safety across to the other side!
  Passing St. Anne’s Head out into the open sea we were soon to see 3 porpoises. Heading westwards now at about 11.30 with Skokholm Island to the north of us we spotted a long dark shape on the water, and because of its size we took it to be a basking shark. 
  Continuing westwards , now about 25 miles from St. Anne’s Head at 12.30 came the highlight of our trip - suddenly a large group of common dolphins came to examine us, and remained with us for about 5 minutes, playing and leaping, giving a great exhibition. They numbered about 50 to 60 with many juveniles among them.
  Soon afterwards we turned northwards towards the Smalls Lighthouse and immediately had a distant sighting of 2 minke whales. Unfortunately as soon as they saw us they were gone and we never saw them again.
  We arrived at the Smalls at about 2.30 pm and motored slowly around it admiring its phallic beauty! It is truly an amazing sight. If anyone is interested in its history I would recommend seeing a film called ‘The Lighthouse’ it’s a must see! It stands about 120 ft. high on a small low lying rock.
  We now headed slowly back for home via Grassholm Island which is another spectacular sight. It is the home of 39000 pairs of gannets. Fortunately, with the lack of wind, the smell was travelling skywards and we were able to enjoy the spectacle without having to hold our noses!!
  Continuing on our way home, we saw three more small groups of common dolphins and all came close to bow ride etc for a short while.
  We arrived back at Neyland marina at 6pm.
  I should mention that throughout the day birdlife was plentiful. Everywhere we looked there were birds in every direction, including gulls, gannets, Manx shearwaters, puffins, guillemots, razorbills.
  So, all in all, a wonderful day. Flat calm seas, excellent visibility, blue skies and lots to see. What a day! Many thanks to Andy, our skipper and perfect host for the day.
  List is wildlife seen is : common dolphins 70/80; porpoises 3; Atlantic grey seals 2; minke whales 2; basking shark 1; jellyfish.
  On behalf of Sea Trust I would like to thank everyone for coming, for their support. I really hope you all enjoyed the day.
Tony Lucas
For Sea Trust