The waters off West Cork are heaving with marine life as the plankton bloom explodes with increasing daylight and rising air and water temperatures. As the plankton blossoms Sand-eels in their millions are converting micro-organisms into good catchable protein. This in turn is driving a food chain that goes all the way to the top with Humpback, Fin and Minke Whales taking advantage of the Dolphins endless efforts to corral the Sand-eels into manageable bait balls. With all this spectacular action comes tens of thousands of seabirds. Where else would you rather be??? This is where ‘The Blue Planet’ comes to our doorstep!
Sunday 13th of May we set sail with our spring ‘Sealife Pelagics’. Leaving from Baltimore at 8am, we will spend 6 hours at sea in search of all that is on offer at this wonderful time of year. As usual our Seabirds are top priority and with some big westerly blows over the next week Skua passage should be evident. Always in the back of our minds, Ireland’s only record of Bermuda Petrel, one of the worlds rarest birds, was found on May 19th 2014 off Kerry! And just as rare, Zino’s Petrel in the North Atlantic last April! Who knows! We might get lucky……….