A wild cruise

I love being on ferries and small boats. It’s not something I do very often, so when my son Gabriel suggested a trip out on a wildlife cruise from Torquay, I jumped at the chance. The first thing I did was interfere with his plans by suggesting we travel from Brixham instead. Brixham is a wonderful, historic fishing port with a fascinating seafaring culture, old buildings and great walks along the harbourside. Torquay is Torquay.

Gabriel booked with www.funfishtrips.co.uk and we had a fabulous time. The boat looked a lot like this one:

Brixham - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

The seafari (see what they did there) only takes an hour and leaves from the harbour. We see Sammy the seal, a Grey Seal, lounging as we head out inside the breakwater:

Brixham - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Don’t look for Sammy in the picture. Sammy’s portrait didn’t meet my exacting quality standards.

We head out past the gloriously named Shoalstone, with its seawater swimming pool:

Brixham - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

There are Guillemots in groups on the water in beautiful breeding plumage:

Guillemots - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

There are Common Cormorants in, well, I’ll leave you to guess what kind of plumage they are in:

Cormorant - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

The cruise is relaxed, the commentary light-hearted and the weather is beautiful, so we’re having a great time. There are plenty of jetskiiers, who I dislike because of their disturbance of the wildlife. Their use should be severely limited:

Brixham - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

The ship behind is the Mercury Ace which is 200 metres long and carries vehicles. I wonder if it travels across the sea empty half the time?

The jetskiiers never look as if they’re having as good a time as we are:

Brixham - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

As we head back we begin to accept we won’t be seeing any of “Our grey friends” as they call dolphins and porpoises. There’s a scallop dredger to see, as we arrive back together. I wonder if it’s been out dragging the sea bed and disturbing everything it touches to collect scallops.

Brixham - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Having seen how much care hand-diving for scallops takes of the sea-bed, I’d rather pay the difference.

It’s been a great trip. Here’s me enjoying it (taken by Gabriel):

David

I look happier than the people on jetskis, don’t I?

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