Marine Discovery Penzance

22/12/2024

It was another fun, wild and totally bonkers day/evening in Penzance yesterday when people gathered to celebrate the Winter Solstice with the Montol festival. The wet weather didn't dampen sprits.

What a great event this is.

Fab photos by Greg as usual

18/12/2024

There is still time to get vouchers in the post if you want a printed copy! (Plenty of time for electronic vouchers of course!) If, like many of us, you are concerned about the amount of "stuff" that gets bought at this time of year, then giving an experience as a gift is a great idea. Cast your mind forward to summer skies and a sea full of dolphins....

Added to that is the knowledge that a trip undertaken on "Shearwater II" is the right choice if you are concerned about the wellbeing of the animals and their environment. A voyage under sail with skippers and crew who are collecting meaningful scientific data means that your participation is actively contributing to research. There is no greenwash here - this is not simply collecting incidental sightings data and plotting on a chart - this will be outlined on a new page coming soon to the website. And moreover a sailing vessel is the real deal if you want a genuinely clean, green experience, rather than loads of horsepower and the associated noise, speed and pollution.. Better for the wildlife, better for the passengers, better for the sea.

www.marinediscovery.co.uk

18/12/2024

And still these emails keep on coming 🙄

Oh happy day! We have received (yet another) email telling us that we have been shortlisted for an award - by (yet another) organisation no one seems to have heard of. For context, we receive a few of these a month, then when we ignore it, they bombard us with more "ARE YOU SURE??" emails.

They promise to promote your business on their website and promote your award IF and only IF you pay them large amounts of money. These either take the form of regular payments or one off larger payments. Whatever, even if they do, the award is still meaningless because CLUE! no one has heard of it. And forgive me for being Old Mrs Traditionalist, surely an award that you have to PAY for is actually an advert, not an award.

The latest one is "Wildlife Experience of the Year" - of where? The UK? Europe? The World? The known Universe? Don't get me wrong - you have still "won" the made-up award (along with all the other companies they sent the email to). However if you want to publicise your "win" with anything that looks plausible, that's where you have to hand over the cash.

Scam awards are on the rise. Businesses and customers - don't be misled.

08/12/2024

26/11/2024

🎅🎁🎄🐬⛵🐋🌞GIFT VOUCHERS FOR SALE! 🌟🎄❄️⛄

Fancy giving a gift with a difference? More and more people think there is too much "stuff" and waste associated Christmas gift buying. How about buying an unforgettable experience as a gift instead?

Our vouchers are available to buy for all three of our trips, and for the Bay and Ocean Discovery trips, there are children's prices (please see website for age limits and advice about which trip is suitable for which age groups). Vouchers purchased online are subject to the same 6% online booking fee that other bookings are - however you can bypass this perfectly easily by giving us a call and making the purchase over the phone.

This year we are selling something new after a few requests lately. These are GIFT CARDS which you can spend any amount you like on. The minimum spend is £1 and I have just discovered the maximum spend is apparently £10,000 🤣 (I'm not anticipating that but maybe someone is feeling flush!). So if you fancy buying someone a contribution towards a trip, or maybe if it is a big present a gift card they can redeem against several trips, this is a good option. It comes in the form of a code and the recipient uses that when making their booking. If there is credit left over they can use it towards the purchase of another trip. Or you might want to stick with tradition and buy them a space on a 2, 3 or 4 hour tour.
Again please remember to look at the age limits for the three different options when selecting a gift for children or families.
https://marinediscovery.co.uk/vouchers/

Remember, if you'd like a hard copy of the voucher sent out, get in touch (since the price of stamps has got so bonkers, I'm afraid we have to add postage on now). Otherwise it comes in the form of a code and that's what's used to make the booking.. We can also email you one you can print out yourself. All gift vouchers and gift cards last 2 years from the date of purchase.

22/11/2024

It was the annual Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine recorders evening yesterday and Duncan was asked to present our Risso's dolphin research. Here are some of slides he presented.

20/11/2024

It was a beautiful day here in Penzance. No snow here of course but with sunshine and light wind it was perfect for a spot of power hosing. Begone green w**d! Bloomin' 🥶 though.

15/11/2024

It was craning day today! Here is the obligatory photo.

10/11/2024

The sun came out for a rather mild last Ocean Discovery trip of the 2024 season. We were pleased to squeeze this in. We were treated to a large group of common dolphins feeding with bluefin tuna just south of Mousehole. They were feeding under a mixture of gulls and gannets. The sun kept shining as we sailed west with most of the dolphins following for an extended bow ride - they were on all sides around the boat! Eventually they peeled off and we got more great view of hunting tuna, a couple larger fish fully cleared the water.

Grey skies crept in behind us as we returned to Penzance via the island to look for seals. Two males were hauled out on one side with a cluster of females and juveniles on the other.

It was the perfect send off to the 2024 season. See you all in the spring.

04/11/2024

Talking of bluefin tuna, all that talk of last Friday being our last trip of the season might have been precipitous. We have scheduled one last trip on Sunday at 10am. This is of course dependent on the weather, and on minimum numbers booking. The forecast for next weekend looks settled at the moment.

Will there be monster tuna? Sociable dolphins? Enigmatic porpoises? Or even some late Cory's and great shearwaters?

Book at www.marinediscovery.co.uk or call 07749277110

04/11/2024

More astonishing BF tuna photos from Rupert the Lone Kayaker. Congratulations too on the awesome font work, Rupert 😁. It constantly amazes me how quickly these massive predators have made themselves at home during the late summer and autumn months in the west of the UK and Ireland, and now they seem to be moving along the Channel too. Just a few short years ago I remember someone commenting on our FB post that they couldn't POSSIBLY be bluefin and that we clearly didn't know what we were looking at or what we were talking about. Very rude he was 🙄

There is constant talk now as to what extent the fish should be commercially exploited, and much indignant shouting goes on from both "sides". I guess your point of view might depend on whether you see the tuna as "stocks" or "animals". But one thing worth bearing in mind is that bluefin have proved that if protective measures are put in place, then recoveries can be made - though they happen to be very efficient breeders. Other fish have proven to be much less resilient, but people are much less outraged about the idea of fishing for cod for example.

01/11/2024

Today was definitely the busiest November day we have ever had, with two Ocean Discovery trips. It was a grey gloomy day but the fog stayed away and we had some great sightings. On boat trips we saw lots of grey seals, bluefin tuna feeding and leaping and absolutely loads of common dolphins again. These stayed with us for ages bowriding. One of them had that fairly common injury/malformation (it's not clear what causes it), whereby the flesh of the beak looks "peeled" up from the bone. It seemed perfectly healthy though. This afternoon we even saw a few harbour porpoises, which was great - it has been very dolphin dominant lately.

It's POSSIBLE (not certain) that we'll have a trip next weekend if the weather stays calm and we have enough people who are keen.

It has been so great to have this amazing end to the season. Thank you so much to passengers new and old - we have really appreciated your support and this week especially, we have seen lots of people who visit us very regularly. Thank you!

Hannah, Duncan, Josh and Sara.

01/11/2024

Heading out on this morning's trip on what MAY be the last day of the season! (will let you know if anything changes)

We have been very lucky with the weather this half term and it's been quite a busy week.

31/10/2024

We had an Ocean Discovery trip this morning, and then took out a few local teens this afternoon for a half term sail and to see what wildlife they could spot. Conditions were perfect all day and we had some lovely sightings. Lots of seabirds showed us where bluefin tuna were feeding this morning, and the lots of dolphins turned up. We also saw fourteen grey seals round the island on the low tide, which is more than we have seen for long time. There were lots more Manx shearwaters - are they here because the tuna are so active close to the coast, and therefore pushing the baitfish up into easy reach? This afternoon we saw more tuna this time with lots of kittiwakes, and then found a very large pod of dolphins who gave us some very exciting views. There were a few novice sailors at the helm this afternoon (and I'm not talking about Duncan) - they did very well!

30/10/2024

We had an Ocean Discovery trip this afternoon with a mixture of locals and some late season visitors. It was a very similar day to yesterday with lots of common dolphins and bluefin tuna feeding inshore, along with all sorts of seabirds. These included gannets and gulls of course, and four species of shearwaters again. Why are there so many of them feeding so close to shore at this time of year? Something is driving it. Ordinarily the Manxies would have headed across the Atlantic by now and we wouldn't even be seeing the larger ones - something is afoot in the world of shearwaters.

Tomorrow is full but there are spaces on Friday which might turn out to be the last day of the season. Calm conditions look like continuing until the weekend.

29/10/2024

It's all still going on out there. This afternoon there was so much life in the bay and we had a wonderful trip, with some very happy people aboard. There were multiple areas where bluefin tuna were busting up at the surface, accompanied by screaming seabirds taking advantage of the fleeing fish - gannets, herring gulls, kittiwakes, and we also spotted Manx, great, sooty and Cory's shearwaters. Along with all of this there were lots of common dolphins out there, popping up here, there and everywhere. It was a really good afternoon's sealife watching, and we had some great views of the coast as the sunlight and banks of mizzle caused rainbows to form.

27/10/2024

It was a beautiful autumn day today with sunshine and calm blue seas, with enough breeze to have a lovely sail. We had a mixture of local families and visitors on board for our Ocean Discovery trip this afternoon. Heading southwards we picked up a very interactive group of common dolphins who kept us company as we sailed, delighting everyone on board. We also spotted bluefin tuna feeding under diving gannets, found another group of common dolphins and then a grey seal hauled out as the light faded at the end of the day. Next trips out are on Tuesday, which looks like another lovely day.