Seal smooches… Sunday brought us one of our most intimate snorkel encounters. About 10 minutes after we had dropped the lovely Matt and Becky in the water this curious grey seal came to have a look. Becky ended up befriending this individual to the point where she received 3 kisses on her head. What a gorgeous interaction! As we always like to keep our distance from the animals we see on our trips, we were truly amazed when this animal decided it was going to become best friends, failing to leave Becky’s side the entire time she was in the water. Not 10 minutes after getting back on the boat we had our beautiful interaction with our first Risso’s of the year (see previous post). this trip also included the following sightings: - 12 cormorant - 3 jackdaw - 4 grey seal - 50+ shag - 5 GBB gull - 3 rock pipit - 1 lobster - 3 carrion crow - 5 oystercatcher - 20+ moon jellyfish - 10000+ bait fish - 2 shelduck - 1 whimbrel - 2 raven - 6 Risso’s dolphin (3 mums, 3 calves) - 1 harbour porpoise - 2 guillemot If snorkelling is your thing and you would like to join us on one of these trips please don’t hesitate to give us a call! If you could also like, comment and share this post to widen our incredible community of wildlife loving friends. All photos by Em Forster(https://www.facebook.com/em.forster.16?__cft__[0]=AZW20HYdT8Qe7m2rlsIfjMKXp0YGaiQVuolV4a1-pZ7tgYZdllakFTi2_0QpRgjxWLhtjigfWWp-NJMWE-F6WuloRkDGpH9mSXxE2gR0n9gT1QmC7Xm1AkZyQRZN1KGNMOS2GVpboIg6-xxEBNn2C1b-xSfS3oSKwsUCFSzjuDURt0GASzUkSsJ_-FJnhvBavIU&__tn__=-]K-R)

Rare Risso’s Yesterday’s 2 hour snorkel trip brought our first Risso’s dolphins of the year! We had just brought our two lovely clients back on Free Spirit after their gorgeous seal encounter and were heading out from Towan beach when several fins popped up directly in front of us. The tall, thin fins of varying colour made them instantly identifiable as Risso’s. After they came up for a second time we realised there were 3 adult females with 3 little calves. We waited around the area they were hunting in and ended up having eight different interactions with this lovely little pod before they eventually dived for a last time and didn’t surface for the 25 minutes we waited before heading back! It never fails to amaze me how long some of our marine mammals can hold their breath and it’s remarkable that the little calves can hold their breath just as long as their experiences mothers when diving down to great depths to hunt cuttlefish. Please do leave a like, comment and share! And if you’d like to come and join us while we’re having all this beautiful weather don’t hesitate to send us a message. We look forward to seeing you soon on Free Spirit! All photos by Em Forster(https://www.facebook.com/em.forster.16?__cft__[0]=AZUVtNY7LygmyWycmiGSp8aLd3Cr2dSiBV5aB91jLipbewOjr5gl-ydcS7pEfrrwi_uG-5fwQKF3ZLvIIPabS5e_ikhwOBE2LDBTc-0uAaRN3IQximoCP8OnIqmYA_FpvOYIZbrjoswDUfvhN_765zLVGzVKk82lc4IwssfYa1jmm8GyPge0Y8ymhrRIO6JvPTQ&__tn__=-]K-R)

Stinky Minke! Sunday’s trip brought along our first minke whales of the year. The first animal was around 20ft long and popped up directly in front of myself and Captain Keith to say hello. Once we invited all of our lovely clients up onto the bow of the boat, this rather friendly individual surfaced close enough that we could smell its fishy breath - trust me when I say it truly earned the name Stinky minke. As we continued along through waves of never ending auks, I spotted something way out on the horizon. As I lifted my binoculars to check if my eyes had been deceiving me sure enough “FIN UP, FIN UP”. Sure enough a second minke was out at distance. When we got closer to this individual we realised it was quite a bit smaller (15ft) and had some sort of parasite or weed stuck to the tip of its fin which allowed us to keep track of which animal was which when yet another minke appeared as if from nowhere behind this second animal! The third whale was only a baby at under 10ft long and was a rather energetic individual, travelling great distances when it dived and only coming up for a single brief breath each time it surfaced. Aside from all of this excitement we also had a wonderful encounter with one of our inquisitive grey seals. At the beginning of the trip, before we had barely left the marina we watched as a carrion crow was attempting to scare a buzzard away from its nest. What a whale of a day! All photos by Em Forster

Seven hour stars… We had two glorious seven hour trips on Friday and Saturday. On Friday we welcomed aboard a very keen group of MarineWatch Society members. The trip began straight away with a first for us. One of our resident grey seals was splashing about at the surface with a large catch. As we zoomed in on the photos from my camera, we realised this sneaky seal had managed to win the battle with an octopus larger than its own head! What a greedy guts! The trip continued to be a success with plenty of our favourite birds showing off their best colours as well as a lone harbour porpoise displaying an unusual behaviour called logging. Because this individual was disappearing for long periods of time under the surface to feed, it just needed an extra couple of minutes to reset on the surface and catch its breath before diving down deep once again. Just as we thought the trip had quietened down I spotted a group of gannets pouring into the water in the distance. Once we reached the work up we were greeted by a pod of young common dolphins that were keen to bow ride our lovely Free Spirit. Saturday brought more excitement with calm waters and a mind blowing mass of bait beneath the boat (at one point our sonar display was telling us there was only 18ft of water below us when in fact there was over 190ft - that was how thick the mass of bait fish was). Of course with this amount of bait came plenty of birds, with Manx shearwaters showing up in their thousands! We then encountered a pod of sun-adult common dolphins launching out of the water. They continued their excited breaches as they came to inspect FS. And the weekend wouldn’t be complete without another visit from a small pod of harbour porpoises. Photos taken by Em Forster and Jonah Holmes

Bottoms up! Over the weekend we saw lots of auk activity. This included over 35 puffins. The smaller cousin of the guillemot, these colourful little birds flood through Falmouth waters this time of year, often leading groups of other auks flying through on their migration. Living for 25 years or more, the mature adult pairs return to the same clifftop year after year to reunite and breed. From April to July, the puffin makes its home on islands and cliff tops around our coast, the home of these individuals likely to be Lundy island or the Isles of Scilly. Once the season is done, the puffins will leave, heading out into the Bay of Biscay and beyond where they spend the winter months bobbing about on the rough seas in groups (also known as rafts). All photos by Em Forster

For the birds… Yesterday’s trip gave us a full display of the incredible birds we get just out of Falmouth Bay. For the first half an hour all seemed quiet, aside from a little egret showing off his fishing skills. Then once we got out over the reef the auks and shearwaters started filtering through. We had many a Manx shearwater, ebbing and flowing along the horizon line. Following shortly behind were small groups of guillemots and razorbills fluttering across the flat calm waters, occasionally followed by a swallow hunting for insects that have been blown out from the land. As we headed towards the Dodman I spotted a string of 7 birds that Captain Keith soon identified as whimbrels. When we started heading back towards Gull Rock, we were scanning the cliffs for birds when three ravens swooped out over the edge. The larger bird was being mobbed by a smaller corvid, which upon closer review of my photo we realised was a CHOUGH! Such a lovely sighting to have on the boat trip to show off our wonderful bird of Cornwall. The great northern divers were also out in number today, their speckled summer plumage glistening in the sun. These were shortly followed by a quick stop at Gull Rock to search for our resident bridled guillemots. We were lucky enough to pick out two from the crowded rock face, as well as a sweet Little Rock pipit and a soggy grey seal. (All photos by Em Forster)

Hold onto your hats, because the coronation weekend is already off to an electrifying start! Our first four-hour trip of the weekend was nothing short of spectacular, as we set out to sea and were immediately greeted by a menagerie of awe-inspiring marine life. From seals basking in the sun to fulmars hiding in the cliffs of Cornwall, we were in for a treat. But that was just the beginning. As we ventured around the South coast reefs, a vast array of seabirds came into view, and we couldn't believe our eyes when we spotted not one, not two, but FIVE puffins in the bay, snacking on small fish. Talk about a sight to behold! And just when we thought it couldn't get any better, we witnessed an Atlantic seal holding a massive conger eel in its mouth, surrounded by a group of greater black back gulls. But wait, there's more! The first storm petrel of the year then swooped down and glided between the waves, leaving us all in awe. But the grand finale was yet to come. As we were wrapping up our trip, we spotted a work up of over fifty gannets in the distance. Our curiosity piqued, we raced over to investigate and were rewarded with a breathtaking sight. Twenty common dolphins were feeding on a massive bait ball of fish, forcing them to the surface where the gannets swooped down and caught them in midair. What a way to kick off the coronation weekend! Here's hoping that our future pelagic cruises bring in even more of these rare and fascinating creatures. AK Wildlife Cruises are hoping for another action packed filled weekend, please share this post and show what amazing wildlife we have around Cornwall, just off of Falmouth already this year. You are able to book online, and use CROWN10 for 10% off just for this weekend alone! Alternatively message on 07553 606838 or email info@akwildlifecruises.co.uk today!

Bank Holiday Monday continued the weekend's excitement, we saw the “ Super Pod “ of offshore bottlenose dolphins! We usually only get to see these on very rare and special occasions and last season we only interacted with them twice! However, on one of those magical and special interactions last year. We recorded some +- 200 individuals, covering some two miles of sea. From the front of this massive “ Super Pod “ to the very last few individuals coming along in the rear. The dolphins were spied by Captain Keith way off in the distance early into the trip, picking up the pace we throttled over to see what the commotion was about, there they were over 100 bottlenose dolphins playing in the waves. We stayed with the animals for over 45 minutes, as they were all truly besotted with those two bulbous bows and their resulting bow pressure waves and just wouldn’t leave us alone. Rushing in repeatedly and we very slowly bumbled along. They completely surround “ Spirit of Our Seas “ playing in the wake of the boat and around her sides and quite literally queuing up to play on the bow. It was a truly magical experience. We then motored across the bay towards Gull Rock where we admired the Auk colony and watched the local birds building nests. The first bank holiday of three held a real treat for us! Let's see how the next two turn out. In celebration of the coronation to we are giving people a discount on this weekend's cruises! Use code CROWN10 for 10% our 4-hour trips.

The trip on Friday was the start of a magical weekend, with the weather warming up and the sun starting to shine we were hopeful that hidden in the Cornish water was some majestic marine wildlife. Once out on the water on the 4-hour trip, we had a pod of common dolphins join us out in the deeper water, with the first pod we guessed around 35 individuals, they bow rode and played in the white water for over 20 minutes before eventually leaving us to carry on our search. Then moved in to explore the coast, admiring the huge number of seabirds currently still inhabiting gull rock, from cormorants carrying nesting materials to bridled guillemots. We also motored through Garren's Bay, witnessing the rare and wonderful Great Northern Diver in its full summer plumage, we saw 20 plus of these birds. This trip was just the start of things to come over the first of our Bank Holiday weekends this month! Who knows what is to come this weekend, with the coronation ahead of us we have decided at AK Wildlife Cruises to give customers 10% off our trips from Saturday the 6th to Monday the 8th when you book online. The code is CROWN10 (for 10% off) Come and join us and let's see if we can find some more marvelous wildlife : Alex Wright

Yesterday’s once in a lifetime encounter! We were joined on the boat by the lovely Brenda Tregunna who spotted a work up way out on the horizon by dodman point. As we made our way over, gannets started pouring into the water and we saw fins below them. When we got close we noticed there were around 50 common dolphins feeding on a large bait ball under the water. All of a sudden we heard a loud sound to the side of us “similar to that of a jumbo jet”. This was our first sight of the first whale. The next time it came up was right in front of the boat! After watching this small 30ft fin whale feed, we were just about to leave the feeding frenzy when we heard another burst of sound from behind us. To our amazement a SECOND fin whale had joined the commotion. This whale must have been 70 feet long! Mesmerised by the sheer size of this individual we stayed and watched as it displayed an unusual feeding behaviour. It began coming right to the surface on its side, showing off one side of its huge tail and we even got to see the baleen of one of the individuals as seen in photo 8. What an absolutely mind blowing encounter (especially as it was my first ever whale). Once again nature treated us to a beautiful interaction, bringing us not one but two of the world’s second largest animal on our planet. There will be more posts to come from this incredible trip so stay tuned folks! Em x (All photos by me)

Our trip with the Cornish Wildlife Trust was nothing short of magical! The April sun shone bright as we embarked on an adventure to explore the rich marine life of Cornwall. And boy, were we blessed with a diverse range of wildlife! From the seals hauled out on the rocks to the graceful Great Northern Divers diving in the sea, we were treated to a spectacular show of nature's wonders. But the highlight of our trip was when a pod of common dolphins came to greet us. As soon as they saw our boat, 'Spirit of our Seas', they swam over to say hello! It was a surreal experience to watch these beautiful creatures swim and play around us. We spent a long time admiring their beauty before they finally vanished into the deep blue waters of Cornwall. We're hoping to spot more amazing creatures over this bank holiday weekend and share our love for nature with others. It's a privilege to witness the magic of wildlife up close, and we're grateful for every opportunity we get to do so. Just for this bank holiday weekend, we offering 5 pounds off our 4-hour trips! Use code BANK5 online! Email us at info@akwildlifecruises.co.uk  Text/Call Henry on 07553 606838 Or book online at www.akwildlifecruises.co.uk

We were lucky to have a break in the weather and got a few hours of sun, which only meant one thing, time for a trip! This 3-hour cruise was action-packed, we saw Sandwich terns and nesting fulmar. But what really took our breath away were the peregrine falcons, hunting with precision and grace as they swooped down on their prey. It was a sight to behold, a true display of the majesty of nature! As we move from the sky to the sea we saw even more wildlife, numerous grey seals sat in the water, caught up in the wash as they hunt the various fish we find in Cornwall. But the real highlight of our trip was when we spotted not one, not two, but five harbour porpoises playing on a local reef. These elusive creatures are rarely seen in these parts, and their sporadic appearances only added to the excitement. It was a challenge to spot them amidst the vast expanse of the sea, but the calm waters made it easier to watch them breach and play around us. Let’s hope this bank holiday is full of amazing creatures so Captain Keith and his crew can share our love for nature with others. It's a privilege to witness the magic of wildlife up close, and we're grateful for every opportunity we get to do so. Just for this bank holiday weekend we offering 5 pounds off our 4-hour trips! Use code BANK5!

Seal extravaganza on our 7-hour trip! During all our trips recently, we have been treated to some spectacular seal encounters, however one on our 7-hour trip stood out especially! The trip started with some lovely wildlife as soon as we entered Falmouth Bay, with some greater black backed gulls fighting over a guillemot directly in front of us, which was such an extraordinary and exciting sight for us all to see! After that, we discovered some lovely oyster catchers, which is another wonderful and intriguing bird! Whilst observing the oyster catchers we also stumbled across a huge plethora of shags and cormorants both in and out of the water, but suddenly, we looked up and heard the call of a beautiful peregrine falcon perched in the top of the cliff face just above the nesting pairs of fulmars! This was just such a phenomenal encounter especially to be able to see and complete a count showing at least 12 mating pairs of fulmars around the cliff faces at the mouth of the Helford River! However, after these encounters we were approached by a very large, male grey seal! He chose to come right up close to us whilst we remained stationary giving everyone a show with a big grin and just some wonderful social behaviour! Following on from that we came across a sudden emergence of about 15 different seals all along the coastline as we headed back to shore! A truly mesmerising encounter and trip for everyone on board!

It is that time of year! Basking Sharks The basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) are here but do not worry these plankton feeders are gentle giants and are the second-largest fish in the ocean. These seasonal visitors begin to arrive in April (one has already been seen in St. Ives!) as the water warms following the plankton-filled currents. However, due to climate change, their sightings around the British Isles are declining nevertheless we tirelessly search on our trips for this magnificent animal. So book up for the last week of April and let's see if we can find a basking shark together!

Last Saturday, we had a superb, extensive sea trial with Spirit of our Seas and got to see the outstanding biodiversity of marine life that Falmouth has to offer! The trial started with some incredibly interesting plankton and micro-plastic tows throughout Falmouth Bay, producing some very intriguing results. These results showed us that there were large amounts of microplastics found all around the Bay as well as lots of plankton. But, the find of the day has to be the catch of a species of sole in its fry form and the masses of copepods in some of the samples as well! On our journey out into the Bay, we witnessed several amazing flotillas of spectacular shags, all showcasing their astonishing ability to dive. We also witnessed a singular fulmar and a collection of gulls and kittiwakes all showcasing the biodiversity present in Falmouth Bay. But, on top of all these wonderful discoveries we were treated to the thrilling hunt of a merlin, which incredibly led to its prey, a finch, landing onboard Spirit of our Seas whilst the majestic merlin hovered above us! A truly astonishing and rare sight for everyone! After moving on from that site, we were treated to the appearance of a whole plethora of different gannets, guillemots, and razorbills who helped us to uncover a group of 4 amazing harbour porpoises who chose to join all of us who were on the afternoon trial! It’s always a wonderful time to see these amazing cetaceans!

This weekend's excursions included some incredible wildlife. We started by heading offshore over some local reefs which introduced us to some incredible marine seabirds such as the Manx shearwater which we saw over 20 and several members of the Auk family in the four hours. We then began searching alone the rugged Cornish Coast which exposed even more wildlife, we found numerous grey seals tucked away, hauled out on beaches and sleeping. Other behaviors from coastal seabirds were observed such as nest building and mating in preparation for the season ahead! With the season just beginning to warm up, and with much more of the Cornish coast to explore who knows what treasures we will find on our next cruise? You are able to book online at: akwildlifecruises.co.uk Alternatively, give us a call and book over the phone: +44 7553 606838 : @nick_smith_wildlife_photos

A few fantastic shots were taken by Aerial Cornwall during the release of "Spirit of our Seas" into the dock at Mylor Harbour The new twin-engined catamaran is now ready for action and the season of AK Wildlife Cruises is underway. Keep an eye on social media to see some marvelous wildlife that we have already witnessed! We can already assure you that the dolphins have been in to check out the new boat and approve! If you'd like to see more of what we are doing check out the new website below:k/ You can always book online or over the phone.