Marine Week at Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre
Dan and Jenny, our sand sculpture winners
The public were invited to join our volunteers carrying out “Dolphin Watch” land surveys between 9am and 5pm each day. Volunteers scan the New Quay harbour area in two hour watches for cetacean sightings as well as other marine creatures, such as basking sharks and sunfish. Over the past two weeks volunteers and public alike have been treated to regular sightings of a newborn bottlenose dolphin and its mother just off New Quay harbour. They have been seen leaping and splashing around together, although the new born still has a lot to learn about aerobatic displays!
Cardigan Bay litter pick
Rhion and Catrin Hawkes, the 10,000th visitors to CBMWG
Friday 6th August brought the 10,000th visitor through CBMWC’s doors. Sisters Rhion and Catrin Hawkes (8 and 6 years old respectively) crossed the threshold simultaneously and so each was awarded a 2hr Dolphin Survey Boat Trip for two passengers.
Judith Oakley signing her books at CBMWG
A dolphin sand sculpture competition on New Quay beach on Saturday 14th August saw over 19 groups expressing their artistic abilities through the unusual medium of sand and creating some wonderful sculptures. Congratulations to our winners Dan and Jenny aged 18.
Dolphin 156 or OllyTo round up NMW events, the winner of the “Name a Dolphin” raffle was drawn by Dan Potter of the New Quay lifeboat crew at 3pm on Sunday 15th August. Barbara Spear has given dolphin 156 the name of Olly which will now be recorded in the CBMWC Photo-ID Catalogue and database.
We would like to thank everyone who took part and particularly our volunteers for all their hard work enthusiasm over the two weeks.
Sea Trust News... June is Minke whale season!
It does seem that June is /was marked by the arrival in our waters of good numbers of Minke Whale with several animals reported in both the Bristol Channel and the Irish sea during the month. Minkes are surprisingly easy to miss, they do not blow and their surfacings tend to be brief and discrete, so those actually seen and reported to us are probably no more than a tip of the proverbial iceberg. This one was photographed by Sea Trust stalwart, Steve Rosser from the shore (Lundy).
A rarity, possibly the only existing shot of a Minke taken from the shore in our waters. Even getting a shot even from a boat is no mean feat. Interestingly elsewhere such as Iceland, Minke's seem to be quite inquisitive and approach boats which sadly is not our experience here. Well done Steve! If you have any cetacean sightings or reports please report here.
Some quite exciting news is that we have just received bookings for one of our September Wildcat Boat Trip Surveys from three guys in Belgium. This shows the power of the internet and also of our blog to attract international visitors here, all part of The Sea Trust Service!
Cetacean surveys in Cardigan Bay
Photo by Richard Curren
Sea Trust , a marine group of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales,will be running a number of boat trips aboard the Celtic Wildcat this spring and summer. The Wildcat is a twin hulled boat powered by 2 powerful engines which, in the capable hands of skipper and owner Nick Sullivan, provides an excellent, stable platform for observation.
The primary aim of these trips is to survey Common Dolphins and other cetaceans found in Pembrokeshire's waters. They also, however, provide an excellent opportunity to see and photograph other marine life such as Grey Seals and Sunfish and a wide variety of sea birds at close quarters. Click here for some photos from Sea Trust Pelagics in recent years.
The dates for the trips in 2010 are as follows:-
July Thursday 8th, Thursday 15th, Thursday 22nd, Thursday 29th
August Thursday 5th, Thursday 12th, Thursday 19th, Friday 27th
September Thursday 2nd, Thursday 9th, Thursday 16th, Friday 24th, Thursday 30th
Please email Sea Trust if you wish to book a place. The cost of each trip is £50 per person, payable in cash on the day. No profit is made on the sale of places, it merely allows Sea Trust to place two volunteers on each trip to carry out the surveys.
All trips start at Neyland Marina, meeting by the cafe at 8:30 a.m. with a departure at 9:00 a.m. After motoring up Milford Haven we will visit such places as The Bristol Channel, the Celtic Deep, Grassholm and The Smalls Lighthouse as well as Skomer and Skokholm. No two trips are the same and exactly which area is visited and the species seen will depend on weather and sea conditions on the day. Dolphins are wild animals and sightings cannot be guaranteed but our success rate has been 95% over the past seven years! Arrival back at Neyland Marina is usually between 5:00p.m. & 6:00p.m. There is a toilet on board and hot drinks will be provided. Bring a packed lunch, warm clothing and suncream.
Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre has passed a milestone in its new Millennium Volunteer programme with its first volunteer recently reaching the 200 Hours Award of Excellence certificate, signed by the First Minister of Wales.
Bethany Coates, a zoology graduate from Chester has been volunteering at the Centre since April and despite completing her 200 hours is enjoying herself so much that she intends to stay on until October.
“I really love this place” said Bethany as she gazed out of the window of the visitor centre onto the blue waters of Cardigan Bay. “And being part of the Millennium Volunteer scheme helped enormously because it contributes financially to things like travel expenses and meals.”
Like all the CBMWC volunteers, Bethany performs a mixture of tasks: helping to run the visitor centre, carrying out surveys from the research vessel Sulaire and land surveys in conjunction with Ceredigion County Council and entering the results in a database so that researchers can make use of the information.
She’s now considering whether to continue her studies and take up an offer of a place on a Masters degree course in conservation and biodiversity or environmental management.
The Millennium Volunteer project is a UK-wide initiative run in Wales by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action. It’s open to young people aged between 16 and 24 and the aim of the programme is to encourage young people to take part in volunteering opportunities that can offer them the chance to give 200 hours of their time to a project. CBMWC was accepted as a delivery partner in the scheme earlier this year with a £7,000 grant to help out with volunteers’ expenses. The reward and encouragement comes from certificates awarded to recognize 50 and 100 hours of volunteering as stepping stones towards the 200 Hours Award of Excellence certificate.
Marine Protection Zones – why are they important?
A leading environmentalist has called for local communities to have more say in how the sea around Wales and the creatures that live in it should be protected.
On Tuesday evening the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre in New Quay hosted a talk to raise awareness amongst members of the local community of the Welsh Assembly Government’s obligation to provide for new marine protected areas under the Marine and Coastal Access Act, which became law late last year.
The Centre’s Project Officer, Laura Mears, invited Gill Bell, Welsh officer for the Marine Conservation Society along to the centre to inform local people about Marine Protected Areas and the Marine Act. “We believe it is important that local people are aware of plans afoot and ways that they can be involved in the process”.
Part of Gill’s work; funded by the Countryside Council for Wales, is to present this information to the general public, interested organisations and groups.
Gill said “It is essential for local people to be involved in decisions about the selection criteria and the sighting of the new areas to ensure the regulations are enforced. We want more protection for our seas, including zones in which activities are not allowed unless there’s proof that they do no harm”.
“At present it’s the other way around – they’re allowed unless it can be proven that they’re harmful.
“At present 80% of nationally important species are not protected, even in the EU-designated areas such as the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation.
“Even dolphins, once they move out of the area, are not protected, so these rules don’t work for mobile species.”
She gave the example of Skomer Island, which currently has a high level of protection, but where fishing is still allowed.
“If you dive there you’ll see a huge number of sea urchins”, she said.
“This is interesting because grazing sea urchins are preyed on by lobsters, and the number of lobster pots around Skomer has been increasing fast.
“The reason there are so many sea urchins is that the number of lobsters has declined because of over-fishing, and this impacts on other parts of the ecosystem.”
She said that the Welsh Assembly Government, unlike its counterpart in England, had decided to implement a small number of highly protected Marine Conservation Zones in which nothing could be added or taken away.
“We know that fully protected areas work, it’s a no brainer”, she said, citing the example of Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel where a No Take Zone had resulted in lobsters more than doubling in size.
The Welsh Assembly Government has said it’s planning to identify sites for the new zones by 2012, and may take into account social and economic issues as well as scientific ones.
Wildlife Trusts Wales launches vision for Living Seas
Lembit Opik (MP) and Rick Park of Gwent WIldlife TrustWildlife Trusts Wales has launched Living Seas, its vision for the UK’s marine environment – where wildlife thrives from the depths of the ocean to the coastal shallows; where rocky reefs are bursting with brightly coloured fish, corals and sponges, and dolphins and seals dart among the waves – at an event in the House of Commons.
The launch follows the passing, in November, of the Marine and Coastal Access Act (MCAA), for which The Wildlife Trusts campaigned for nearly a decade. The challenge for the next five years is to ensure the Act is effectively implemented – that urgent action is taken to turn the UK’s over-fished, over-exploited, and currently under-protected waters back into a thriving marine environment. The Wildlife Trusts have a clear vision for how this should happen, and a plan for achieving it within 20 years, a single generation.
The Wildlife Trusts are achieving great things across the UK, working at the local level to understand, protect and raise awareness of our marine wildlife and habitats, from seagrass meadows to dolphins and seals.
In a few places, we are even starting to see possible signs of our seas recovering. Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has recorded an increase in seal numbers at Donna Nook each year since 2007, and there are early signs of recovery in the fragile ecosystem of the Lyme Bay reefs, where The Wildlife Trusts’ campaign achieved a ban on scallop-dredging in 2008.
Professor Aubrey Manning, BBC television presenter and president of The Wildlife Trusts, launched the LivingSeas vision¹. He said: “The Living Seas vision is very direct in its aims. It sets out a clear plan of how we, The Wildlife Trusts, and our partners and supporters, can help achieve them. The opportunities that the Marine and Coastal Access Act has opened up need to be seized on immediately. We can no longer continue to treat the oceans as limitless. In particular, we need an effective and well-managed network of Marine Protected Areas by 2012.”
“We may not get another opportunity to make Living Seas a reality. The future of our oceans hangs in the balance, and we want to tip it in the right direction for wildlife, and for the people – all of us – who depend upon it.”
Rick Park, Chief Executive for Gwent Wildlife Trust and Wildlife Trusts Wales objective lead for Living Seas said: “Wildlife Trusts Wales is excited about the launch of our Living Seas vision and the opportunities to achieve this vision the Marine Act will afford us in Wales. However we recognise the need for action by the Welsh Assembly Government in the implementation of the Marine Act and the need to avoid complacency.”
The Living Seas vision report is available to download from The Wildlife Trusts’ website www.wildlifetrusts.org
For further information please contact:
SarahPerry , Wildlife Trusts Wales, Marine Campaigns and Advocacy Officer
Email: s.perry@welshwildlife.org
Sea Trust's "Stevo" Lucas and Cliff Benson went to give a "Whales in Wales" presentation at the Merlin's Theatre Pembrokeshire College in November as part of their awareness raising work. They showed images and video to a packed audience of over 200 people as part of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Forums Wildlife sightings event.
Help Sea Trust to protect Strumble porpoises by using http://www.yourseasyourvoice.com/mpa/?region=6&site=40 MCS website and nominating Strumble Head which is not a Marine SAC so currently has no protection. Make sure you nominate under whales dolphins etc reasons , allow potting as we need our local crab and lobster fishermen on side and add Scalloping to not allow! This probably sounds like gibberish but once you get on the website it will make sense.
Have a merry Christmas and come along to our New Years Day "Porpoise Watch" at Strumble Head lookout. It's a great way to clear away the last years cobwebs and shake of any lingering headaches. Begins 2 pm bring binoculars warm clothes etc and maybe a hot drink!
Over the past few years on our marine surveys there have been occasions when we have sighted what came to be known as “enigmatic blows”, often only half seen or seen a couple of times distantly. It was all very frustrating.
As they surface whales and dolphins open their blowhole/s exhaling air with a blast that blows away any water that might be in the vicinity of the blowhole and creating the blow. This is followed by inhalation of fresh air, and the blowhole/s close again. Blowholes remain shut tight when the whale relaxes. Watching Common dolphins on the bow of a boat reveals just how efficient this system is, as to empty and fill their lungs takes a faction of a second. With big whales it takes a little longer but for us when we try to take a deep breath and exhale, it takes at least 7-8 seconds. Blowing is a pretty efficient breathing method.
But simply describing the mechanics of a whale blow relegates one of life’s wonders to a mere bodily function , compared to the thrill of actually experiencing one.
From an old diary...
on a cold but bright winters day which cleared our heads after the previous nights Irish hospitality, we gathered at Ram Head, Waterford, with nothing before us but the whole of the Atlantic. We scanned the sea with scopes and binoculars the only obvious features were a few far away trawlers... Until Andrew let out the legendary call “There she blows” and she or they did! Distant but unmistakable and in the cold pure air like fountains of diamonds followed by the really spooky bit when the blow hangs shimmering, before slowly disappearing like a spectre. There was something wonderfully ethereal about the disappearing evidence of a brief but very real encounter with one of the biggest living animals to have ever lived.
August 13th 2009, and we Sea Trust volunteers were with Nick o’ Sullivan aboard the Celtic Wildcat;
One of the group on the Celtic Wildcat said she had seen something funny that she thought might have been a whale blow. I thought she might be clutching at straws but redoubled my concentration. What looked like a narrow plume of smoke appeared in the distance expanded and shimmered and then slowly vanished without a trace. This was repeated moments later and then again. And then another and another and then we were all seeing blows. “Let’s go see them Nick” I called and the “Celtic Wildcat” gained speed in the direction of one of the nearer sets of blows, a mile or more away. We gained on them, and the blows became clearer and we could discern long black backs and thorn like dorsal fins emerge before disappearing again. At one point we saw two animals together and hundreds of Manx Shearwaters. As well as the whales, scores of common dolphins some bow riding the huge whales. I filmed and filmed, all around me camera shutters were clicking shouts amid whoops of glee and amazement. We came slowly to a halt some distance away from the feeding frenzy, one 70 ton monster emerged besides us immense and yet unthreatening. We spent many minutes just agog with the experience but all too soon we had to leave what was for all of us the experience of a lifetime. The blows were enigmatic no longer!
Man O’ War spotted in Cardigan Bay
Researchers from the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre sighted a dangerous Portuguese Man O’War whilst out on a dolphin survey during September, the sighting was about three miles from New Quay, Ceredigion. The creature was a vivid sapphire blue in colour, its ‘head’ or float was about 15cm across and its tentacles at least two metres in length. This is the first one that the centre has spotted in this area but there have been reports recently of large numbers of the creatures washing up on beaches on the western coasts of Britain. They are normally a tropical or semi-tropical species but some experts think they’re turning up further north because of global warming. A Portuguese Man O’War has stinging cells on its tentacles which can prove dangerous to humans, especially children and the elderly.
Facts about Portuguese Man O’War (Physalia physalis)
- Look like jellyfish, but it’s actually clusters of large numbers of microscopic creatures called hydrozoans.
- The ‘head’ is a gas filled float with a crest on top
- The crest can act like a sail on a boat, dictating which way they’re blown by the wind, they also move along with currents and tides.
- The float can be up to 30cms in length, the tentacles up to 10 metres long
- The tentacles contain stinging cells which can be used to stun fish and other prey
Sea Trust News – a Dolphin spectacle
On a Sea Trust “Cartlett Lady - Small Boat Survey” in the waters around the Pembrokeshire Islands Sea Trust volunteers were confronted by a wildlife spectacle that was truly mind-blowing.
Sea Trust founder, Cliff Benson, described the spectacle;
“We were heading in a big loop around the Islands, trying to do our survey before the weather deteriorated as was the forecast. As we were approaching the Smalls Lighthouse the sea was quitechoppy, the sky grey and overcast. Suddenly in the distance we saw what appeared to be a blizzard. As we approached, we realised that the “blizzard” was thousands of Gannets spreads out over a mile or more. Beneath them was a living wall of Dolphins a mile long and several deep. They just kept on coming pod after pod passing by the Boat some came and looked at us but most just kept on going. The gannets were like an artillery bombardment continually diving in with an explosion of spray, just ahead of the line of dolphins. This must have been a combination of many smaller pods joined together to exploit a huge bait ball of fish We have all seen on David Attenborough’s ” Blue Planet ” footage of a superpod off the coast of South Africa. I have studied it often but what struck me was ,that I could see only adults. This was different, it was possible to see all ages of Dolphins from big adults to tiny babies.
This is not the first time Pembrokeshire Sea Trust has witnessed such a marine phenomena;
“Back in August 2005 we had another superpod which I filmed and which was then shown around the world. I did not expect to see such an awesome sight again in my life time, this was in wildlife terms like winning the lottery a second time! This time the sea was much rougher and I was being thrown all over the place as I tried to film them, The bumps and bangs will take a bit of editing out but I hope it will give people an impression of what wonders we have in our Pembrokeshire waters.” Our photographers Rich Crossen and Paul Leafe took some extraordinary photographs.
This is what Sea Trust is all about, local people keeping an eye on and taking responsibility our own marine wildlife. This may be a regular event like the one in South Africa. Unfortunately our boat time is restricted as we have very little in the way of funding and these surveys are largely paid for by donations from people coming out with us. To really understand what is happening out there we need support to continue long term monitoring. With a new Marine bill on its way, how can anyone make the right decisions without this kind of information?”
Sea Trust is a community volunteer organisation and a section of the Wildlife Trust South and West Wales based in Pembrokeshire.
For more Information about Sea Trust see: www.seatrust.org.uk for latest info see: http://blog.seatrust.org.ukor for cetacean news around Wales: http://whaleswales.blogspot.com
Our ongoing search for the largest lobster
Weighing in at 4.4 Kilo’s= 9 lbs 11 oz; “Big Daddy” was caught near Ramsay, Pembrokeshire, by Graham Devonald of Abercastle .
Grahamhas been fishing all his life and has never seen a bigger lobster.
He had heard about Lembit who tipped the scales at 8lb 3 oz caught By Titch and Gethyn Rees, off Strumble and thought his might be bigger. “Big Daddy” was weighed, measured V notched and released in an undisclosed location.
It was great , Graham reckoned Big Daddy was worth over £40 but when I told him he was about the same age as us, he agreed to let me release him. As we put him in the water a crab shot off out of the way I can’t say I blamed it!
Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre News
The Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre (CBMWC) based in New Quay, West Wales is a project of the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Group (Marine section of the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales. The CBMWC is a public information, education and research centre dedicated to raising awareness of the marine environment. The CBMWC is open daily and offers interpretive displays on a wide variety of marine wildlife with research focused on the bottlenose dolphins of Cardigan Bay.
Visit the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre and find out more!
Support the CBMWC research work & Book a “Dolphin Survey Boat Trip” with our experienced skipper Steve Hartley who has been running Dolphin Survey trips for many years, supporting researchers and taking people out to see the amazing wildlife found in Cardigan Bay
View our rock pool aquarium
Interactive computer games & other activities
Find out about individual dolphins that visit New Quay regularly
Bay of Life DVD all about the marine life in Cardigan Bay
Meet & talk to our volunteers
Local weather & tide information
Land based survey work
The Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre works in collaboration with "Dolphin Survey Boat Trips". A research assistant from CBMWC goes on every boat trip run to collect vital research data and information on the marine mammal populations found in Cardigan Bay.
To find out more about the centre, its research, awareness raising and volunteering visit our website at www.cbmwc.org or call 01545 560032.
Keep up to date with our daily sightings on our website, updated daily www.cbmwc.org and on our twitter page http://twitter.com/CBMWC
Sightings News
June’s sightings
What a fantastic month June has been, the weather has been glorious, bottlenose dolphin sightings galore and a couple of unexpected sightings!
We have had a fantastic month recording many bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), Atlantic grey seals and harbour porpoise on both our land and boat surveys. We have seen and photographed some of the bottlenose dolphins we have identified in our catalogue and have had some unusual and unexpected sightings.
On the 20th June we had a surprise sighting of Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) roughly 600 meters from the pier. The pod was travelling fast in a North westerly direction past the headland. Common dolphins prefer deeper waters and are often found further offshore, rarely seen inshore in shallower water. We have also had a few sightings of Oceanic Sunfish (Mola mola) on our surveys over the last month. Very little is known about these fish which can grow up to 3.1m in tropical waters, however the one’s spotted in Cardigan Bay are much smaller about 60cm.
Aside from the bigger sea creatures, many smaller ones have been seen in large numbers during the last couple of months- Jelly fish! There have been numerous species of jelly fish recorded on our survey routes including Barrel Jellyfish (the UK's largest Cnidarian or jellyfish, growing up to 1 metre iclear with vivid violet rings in the bells centre. They have a very mild sting and can been seen floating about near the surface or washed up on the beach.
We are looking forward to July and seeing what July’s sightings will bring!
We will be running Dolphin Survey Boat Trips daily throughout July and August (weather permitting). Contact the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre on 01545 560032 for further information. The Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre is open daily from 9am – 5pm.
Lembit the lobster has landed!
When Lembit the giant Lobster was donated for exhibition, by Fishguard fishermen, brothers Titch and Gethin , they presented Sea Trust’s Cliff Benson a slight problem; how to house the lunker lobster!
“Lembit is huge and was in urgent need of a temporary home until I could work out what to do with him” said Cliff. “Thankfully I remembered that Pete Gleed at Pembrokeshire College had a really big tank . We dashed off to the college where Pete put Lembit in the tank , it was touch and go and we nearly lost Lembit , but with Pete’s expert care, Lembit survived”.
Thankfully the Pembrokeshire National Park solved our next problem of how to exhibit Lembit by lending us another really big tank which we installed in the Ocean Lab, but our big problem was how to fill it with over 150 litres of fresh Sea Water. Thankfully appeals in the local press and radio were answered and over twenty volunteers turned out at short notice to the Ocean Lab, Fishguard Harbour on Saturday Morning to form a human chain of water carriers. Their mission was to fill the massive aquarium with sea water to house the colossal crustacean, Lembit the lobster!
It was a really great community effort and worked really well, with mums, dads, kids, grandparents (even a baby) involved, carrying the sea water in buckets from the slipway to the Ocean Lab. It took less than an hour, everyone had great fun and Lembit was able to stretch is mighty claws and show them off to the public.
Quite a few people asked me why call a lobster “Lembit”? It just popped up into my head, I think “Lembit the Lobster” rolls of the tongue, nothing to do with a certain Welsh politician , Cliff added, ... “that would be a bit too cheeky! “
Lembit has now been released back into the wild, watch this space for any new arrivals or rescue cases in the future (Steve the Spider Crab will be getting lonely).
Sea Trust news
Sea Trust is a marine arm of the Wildlife Trust based in Pembrokeshire but our work encompasses the whole of the South West Coast, along with our Wildlife Trust Partners, Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Group.
Our slogan is; “Local People taking care and responsibility for our Wildlife” and we aim to recruit volunteers and raise awareness within our communities as well as the wider world.
From Easter 2009 in partnership with Pembrokeshire County Council, we have an exhibit in the Ocean Lab Fishguard Harbour. It will also become a base for our activities and events throughout the year. These will include guided walks and porpoise picnics, Beach Safaris, as well as a photographic display and competition. We will give further details in forthcoming e-newsletters...
If you want to get involved with our work come and see us in the Ocean Lab, where we have two spaces, The yellow3 Submarine, with DVD shows as well as the “Sea Here” exhibit in the Tower. For enquiries about the ocean lab, ring 01348 874737 10-4 pm
Sea Trust volunteer Richard Crossen has also helped us to set up a “Whales in Wales” Blogs which features updates on Cetacean activity (Whales Dolphins and Porpoises) around the Welsh Coast, to find out more click below!
http://whaleswales.blogspot.com
Sea Trust “Dolphin Survey” boat trips
Come along with Sea Trust on the Celtic Wildcat and sponsor our work by helping to pay for the hire of the boat. A £50 donation will allow you to come along with us for a full days dolphin survey and pay for the cost of hiring the boat. Spaces are limited. This really is a fantastic opportunity to see incredible marine wildlife and contribute to conservation... real eco tourism!
We meet at Neyland Marina, @ 8.30 on the day for a 9.am start and are usually not back until 6 pm which gives us plenty of time to find Common Dolphins and see the beautiful Pembrokeshire Coastline and Islands including the fantastic gannet colony of Grassholm. Click herefor more details.
We will also be holding our fourth Stena Sea Trust Dolphin-Othon from Saturday 29th Aug’-Fri 4th Sept
£15 per person; includes return trip to Ireland with Sea Trust volunteers surveying on the outward trip. Meet Fishguard harbour, 1.30 pm we stop over in Ireland from 6pm to 9. pm (We need to be back at check in for 8.30 ) you will need money for food and drink, Join us for a meal in the Harbour View Hotel allow around 25 euro’s per head, or bring a picnic to eat on the beach at Rosslare...
Join us on the bridge wings of the Stena Europe as we cross over to Ireland and spot Dolphins Porpoises and sometimes Whales! Also fantastic Sea Birds. Species seen in the past include: Risso’s, Common and Bottlenose Dolphin, Harbour Porpoise and Minke Whale! Sea Birds include; Manx Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwater, Puffins, Terns etc.
Probably the best chance to see Risso’s in British waters!
Please be aware!
The Dolphin-othon and boat trips tend to sell out quickly especially the weekend dates.
All marine events are subject to cancellation and refund in the case of unsuitable weather or unforeseen mechanical problems
We expect everyone to act in a sensible, safe and reasonable manner, and enjoy themselves
The Harbour View Hotel is a 15 minute walk from the ferry and uphill, you need to be reasonably fit.
We can’t guarantee you will see dolphins on any of our trips, they are wild creatures, but we do have a 90% success rate.
To book or for enquiries, Contact; info@seatrust.org.uk