Friday night was rather exceptional for the passengers who witnessed the minke whale somersaulting its way past us to the port! It was clearly lunge feeding (leaping out of the water above a shoal of fish, causing a shock wave which stuns them as the whale re-enters the water. This makes eating the fish much easier), as it was repeated leaping out of the water in the same spot.
Saturday morning was just as exciting as we saw four large pods of common dolphin, a pod of striped dolphin, some humongous splashes to the horizon in front of us (unfortunately, whatever made these subsequently dived for a long time and we didn’t find out the species), and a huge pod of pilot whales surrounding the ferry at 06:05 in the morning!
The return journey in the afternoon was the exact opposite. Apparently there were some common dolphins sighted between 17:00 and 18:00 (the time when I was giving a presentation), but this was to become the very first crossing when I haven’t seen a single cetacean. The evening ended with me and two other passengers stoically staring out to sea as the gloom of night approached. Our efforts finally thwarted as we entered thick fog just as the sun set; a very dramatic end to an uneventful afternoon.
Richard – Wildlife Officer
Brittany Ferries Wildlife Officer Programme 
Leave a comment