Once we were out at sea, Colin was constantly keeping a sharp lookout for cetacean activity and associated flocks of feeding seabirds – aided by information from land based whale watchers on Toe and Galley Heads. Early on we had a sighting of a Minke Whale but as with a few other brief sightings of this species during the day, I didn’t get any shots.

For much of the trip, we had Common Dolphins, including a mother and calf, swimming around the boat almost at arm’s length and riding our bow wave when we picked up speed. It’s marvellous to see them using just muscle power to effortlessly keep up with our engine powered top speed  – although the scars on the back of a few of them suggest they don’t always get it right with their boat play! The IWDG’s Celtic Mist was also whale watching in the area and came within shouting distance at one stage for a quick chat.

 A few Fin Whales were blowing and feeding several miles out – accompanied by diving gannets and dolphins.  However, these giant “greyhounds of the sea” never hung around one spot for long and there was only a few opportunities to get reasonable shots – including the pectoral fin of one that was lunge-feeding – “badly” according to Colin!

Other than one juvenile gannet, there weren't many opportunities for bird photography. As things went quiet further out, we had a report of Fin Whales in closer to Toe Head but we saw no sign of them as we headed back in mid-afternoon. However the low afternoon sunlight brilliantly lit up the lichen covered tops of The Stags Rocks – as well as the memorial to a diver drowned there in 1998. As we returned to Castle Haven, we passed a group of sea kayakers before docking back at Reen Pier opposite sunlit Castletownshend.

It was my first trip out with Colin in late autumn and while I wasn’t as lucky as on some of my trips off Wexford, it was still an excellent day out – and only slightly marred by having my late lunch in Union Hall ruined by the last gasp efforts of a certain group of men in black!