Celtic Deep Day on the Cartlett Lady!

 After the usual bacon bap and tea at the Marina Cafe, our group assembled and went down to meet up with Andy and Rob aboard the Cartlett Lady. We set off along the Milford Haven under an overcast sky, the wind turbines were still, with only a slight ripple on the water. Passing Thorn Island (a snip at only £3 million, if anyone wants to purchase it for Sea Trust!) we were now "on effort", making our way out of the "Heads", setting course for Grassholm before going on to the Smalls and the Celtic Deep.

There was a noticeable long swell as we passed by Skokholm, which increased as we ploughed on towards Grassholm.  Maddie, one of our summer interns, glimpsed the waving dorsal fin of a sunfish, which we stopped for while James got his drone up in the air. We backed the boat off so as not to scare the sunfish while James skillfully manoeuvred the drone above it and then dropped down to only four or five feet above it. I can't wait to see the resulting footage! Our paying guests also got good shots of this weird-looking ocean wanderer 

Grassholm was sadly greener than in previous decades because of the Bird Flu epidemic that has wiped out more than half of the original 33,000 Gannet colony. Quite a few dark-plumaged juveniles were observed among the white guano-covered rocks, which is encouraging and hopefully the colony will recover in time. We were surprised to see several tents on the island and several people, but it seems that a group of ornithologists were doing some research on the colony, taking advantage of the fine weekend weather! Although the gannets were so much fewer, the smell was just as strong, and we were not particularly jealous of their rocky campsite! 

A brief encounter with a handful of Common Dolphins was our first record for the survey sheet. They did not come in to bowride, so having made our notes, we left them in peace. It seemed the sea was pretty barren as we made out towards the Smalls Light, with little bird life or any other obvious life forms. Having reached the deeper waters of the Celtic Deep, we headed SW in the hope of big blubber. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up, and the sun was causing plenty of glare, not the flat calm I had hoped for. 

Motoring steadily outward, there was little to see until a swirling flock of hundreds of Manx Shearwaters caught our eyes. Manx Shearwaters feed on fry, small fish that are not usually of interest to dolphins but definitely of interest to baleen whales, such as Minke's, which can swallow thousands at a time. The Manxies swarmed from one place to the other, seemingly reacting to something beyond our senses. Surely there must be a Minke down below about to surface. We hung around for a few minutes, but although the Manxies rushed hither and thither, no whales broke the surface. 

We carried on until at last we began to find pods of Common Dolphins, a dozen here, fifty there, twenty there.it seemed that they were spread out in bigger and smaller groups, which kept me busy on the recording forms. Over the next couple of hours, we had them around us and bowriding, giving great opportunities for those with cameras or cameras on their phones.

No whales materialised, but bluefin Tuna began to add spice to the trip, mixed in with the dolphins and much the same size. Their fins literally slashed through the water, creating plumes of froth as their silver flanks reflected the sun in their feeding frenzies. Sometimes one would leap clear of the water, a really awesome sight. Again, Nadia's partner James got the drone in the air, it was frustrating for him as he headed for one burst of bluefin activity just as another couple of huge fish tore up the water twenty meters away in the opposite direction. 

Eventually it was time to head back home but we continued to pick upanimals on the way. as we did so the sea calmed down to a glassy sea stae 0 and just as we approached the Heads we had a couple of porpoises just to round of yet another fascinating day!

Sadly no Ken on his trip so no pics as yet!