Marine Discovery Penzance

14/06/2026

After a day off yesterday, today saw a total change of conditions to last week. Despite the warm sun, the wind had switched and was blowing briskly from the east. Anything from the east is our absolute LEAST favourite wind direction. Even if there is not much wind strength inshore, then much of the time it's much stronger further out, sending big choppy waves rolling towards the shore and often blowing the wildlife further away from us. And so it was today! There was some brilliant bird action on both the morning and the afternoon and a few seals - two of the passengers said they briefly saw a dolphin closer to the boat but it disappeared quickly. Seabirds included diving gannets, shearwaters, guillemots and lots of kittiwakes this morning. On the afternoon trip there were more of those plus some common terns and another great skua chasing gulls. Tomorrow the wind looks westerly again - good.

12/06/2026

Despite the dreary windy conditions we had a fabulous trip today. It's always worth heading out at this time of year even on an unpromising looking day. After hoisting the sails on leaving the harbour we sailed south and spied a bit of bird activity, including some of the familiar looking pecking by great black backed gulls. They weren't scavenging on cuttlefish but a large octopus instead. This put us on high alert for Risso's dolphins straightaway, though the first things were saw were FIVE ocean sunfish. They were all small animals, one pair then a group of three.

We then bumped along the coast into the fresh westerly wind before sailing offshore. The bird activity out there was spectacular, including Manx shearwaters, kittiwakes, common terns, storm petrels - we even saw a few great shearwaters, and then a great skua zipped through chasing one of them. We saw several big work ups of birds and looked for common dolphins, though there were none today. We sailed back into the coast where we saw a few seals bottling round the island. As we were watching the seals a pair of whimbrels flew overhead, making their distinctive laughing call. Finally as we were on the homeward leg we caught up with the Risso's - a big group of approximately twenty, including some mum/calf pairs.

Thanks to everyone who joined us today!

10/06/2026

More blustery conditions today and some sharp showers first thing. Cornwall has certainly provided some extremes over the last couple of weeks. This morning we headed out on an Ocean Discovery, hugging the coast initially to stay out of the worst of the wind, before sailing back with the swells behind us. There were lots of shearwaters out there, and Josh managed to snap a little storm petrel. These tiny seabirds are often blown closer to shore during windy weather, though usually they are spotted later in the summer. We also saw several seals.

This afternoon we had good fun with a visiting bunch of Year 9s from a school in Cambridgeshire who were visiting Cornwall as part of their activities week. Things have definitely changed since I was in Year 9 and the highlight of the term was a visit to West Midlands Safari Park. Two groups of them came out on an hour and half sail and they had great fun in the breezy conditions. There were lots more seals to see, and the first group had a very brief spot of a single Risso's dolphin. We realised there were some around because of the cuttlefish remains, but they were being annoyingly elusive!

09/06/2026

It was another very breezy day, with a westerly wind and choppy waves. That didn't deter the wildlife though, especially on the four hour trip this morning. Sailing south of Mousehole we picked up some feeding gannets who showed us where common dolphins were milling around. They swam with us as we headed southwards to one of our reliable wildlife spots. There we picked up three ocean sunfish, including one which breached a few times. There are a few around at the moment, as we heard from one of the other boats he had seen some further west too. We didn't go too far out because of the wind and the steep swells, but had a lovely sail back eastwards with Manx shearwaters and gannets soaring past. This afternoon the wind was stronger and we had a very exciting sail out into the bay where there were still lots of seabirds though the dolphins had moved on. Heading back inshore we found a couple of seals, including one very young one. We also saw a storm petrel.

Hoping this wind drops soon! We're feeling our age 😁

08/06/2026

The first trip we had this morning was with some students from Newquay College. They came out to learn about data collection techniques, and hopefully to have a good sail and find some wildlife, and got all of those things. A brisk westerly wind meant great sailing conditions, and we found a very cool ocean sunfish who was exhibiting some really interesting behaviours. We also had great views of loads of Manx shearwaters soaring on the breeze and spotted a sleeping seal.

This afternoon the wind had increased further meaning we headed westwards to Porthcurno before sailing back with the wind and swell behind us. The coastline was looking stunning in the strong June sunlight. At the furthest point out (and in the choppiest sea!) we found some common dolphins. A few of them stayed with us for a long time as we sailed, darting in and out and really enjoying the twin hulls of the catamaran.

06/06/2026

https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-import-and-sale-of-flying-rings-that-cause-pain-suffering-and-death-to-seals?recruited_by_id=a88f0fd0-fe9d-11ea-b90b-99eb294fdc32

Can I urge you to sign this petition which is due to be presented to Parliament? We don't share too many of these, for a few reasons, but this one is such a simple solution to a hideous problem which causes immense, horrible suffering to one of our most beloved and charismatic species. Thank you.

Stop the import and sale of flying rings that cause pain, suffering and death to seals

05/06/2026

Back out on the water today after an extremely windy week. We couldn't do the first five hour of the season as planned, but we were able to get out for a 3 hour Ocean Discovery, and we're very glad we did. As often happens after strong westerly wind, there was lots of life about, including Manx shearwaters in feeding groups over bubbling areas of baitfish, a few gannets, fulmars and kittiwakes. We also had great encounters with three separate pods of common dolphins who swam over to bowride as we sailed. They gave everyone a really lovely encounter.

04/06/2026

After a blinding week over half term, Cornwall is showing us its windy side so far this week with a strong area of low pressure. We won't be able to do the new five hour trip tomorrow - boo. Well we COULD, but it would be very much "for the sake of it" and probably not what the people booked on envisaged, as it will be rough round Land's End. In these instances, we shorten the trip and give people a partial refund or offer an alternative date.

So tomorrow instead we will be running a 3 hour Ocean Discovery trip. We have a bit of a weather window in the morning and the trip will be leaving at 9am. There are six spaces remaining at the moment if anyone else would like to join us. Will those bottlenose dolphins still be around?
www.marinediscovery.co.uk

31/05/2026

We had a final Ocean Discovery trip to finish the half term this morning. After a quiet start to the season, this week has seen beautiful weather and a lot of very welcome visitors - both humans and animals! We watched some seals at the island at the start of the trip, including our favourite - the grumpy old lady "Kelp". After hoisting the sails and starting southwards we then had another fab encounter with the pod of bottlenose dolphins which has been hanging around the bay the last few days. There appeared to be more of them than yesterday. My photos weren't great unfortunately, as I missed a few times they were jumping. You can tell from a distance they are bottlenose dolphins, even silhouetted against the sun, as they are very much bigger and their jumps are more deliberate and slow motion looking. We didn't follow after they had left us, as they obviously had decided the encounter was over. We then sailed southwards and saw some really big groups of shearwaters, including one Sooty shearwater.

The settled weather looks to be over for the moment, but hopefully it will calm towards the end of the week. On Friday we have the first of the planned 5 hour Discovery Adventure trips - we'll see if the forecast allows it.

31/05/2026

There's a silent crisis under the waves.

Despite the ongoing efforts of Cornish fishers to reduce bycatch, thousands of dolphins, seals, sharks, and seabirds are accidentally caught in fishing nets and gear every year across the UK.

This isn't about lack of care! For those in the fishing industry, this is a distressing and unwanted part of an already difficult job.

But for our seas, this is an emergency. Progress by the UK Government on the issue has been too slow, and unnecessary deaths remain too high.

We’re joining with others to call for Government action. A new report by Wildlife and Countryside Link is set to reveal the true scale of bycatch in UK waters and we need your MP to attend a launch event and learn more.

If they don't understand the problem - they won't tackle it.

Head to our website and search CRISIS to learn more and for a link to email your MP, or comment CRISIS below and we'll send you the link.