A morning wildlife watching off the coast of Yorkshire with Paul Hobson on the famous yellow boats of Whitby.

WHITBY WILDLIFE TOURS WHALES DOLPHINS GANNETS AND SEALS - YELLOW BOATS AT WHITBY

Once again I was up early. A quick coffee and breakfast followed by a walk into town to meet Paul Hobson and his crew who had invited me to sea for the second day running, for a spot of wildlife watching.
Yesterday morning had been an awesome experience, but I know from past wildlife watching outings of my own that no two days are ever the same, and more often than not you can return home having seen nothing at all.
As we sailed out of Whitby, Skipper Paul did his usual health and safety announcements followed by a brief itinerary for the morning.
Basically we were to head back towards Staithes where we had seen The Minke Whales yesterday. Skipper also explained to his customers that there was no guarantee we would see anything at all.
Paul had told me yesterday that offering Wildlife trips can be a difficult experience as a skipper because sometimes The Wildlife just doesn’t show at all. “Everything can look right” he said “But The Whales just aren’t there when you want them to be”

Fortunately, as we arrived in the same area we had visited yesterday, we spotted Minke Whales immediately. Pauls son Mike explained to me that it was probably the same whales we had been lucky enough to spend the morning with yesterday. Mike added that he was often able to tell the difference between individual whales based on their fin size and shapes.

We hung around for a while, then myself and Mike spotted a large flock of Gannets feeding roughly a mile away. We sailed out to them and were met by the most amazing scenes. Well over a hundred Gannets in a feeding frenzy. As we looked across the water it was also clear there was a mass of seals all feeding in the same area as the gannets.

Mike told me the gannets and seals would often come together to feed on small herring and that he felt the whales wouldn’t be too far away either.

We spent a good 30 minutes with the Gannets, continually scanning the water for whales, but strangely nothing came to the surface.

The time spent with the gannets was quite special, and anyone who has seen a flock of them in a feeding frenzy will tell you just how amazing it as they dive into the water from great heights with such great speed. If you’re lucky enough and they come close enough you can hear them enter the water like bullet from a gun.

Off we sailed again, in search of The Whales. This time they were active when we found them and we had some great sightings close to the boat, sometimes so close you felt like you could reach out and touch them.

At times I could see several fins at once which confirmed my thoughts that there was more whales here than just one.

As the morning passed I realised it was almost time to sail for home. Time’s passage seems so fast when you’re having such awesome experiences. A slight feeling of sadness came to me knowing we had to leave the world of the whales. Part of me wanted to stay for ever, I was mesmerized by their beauty as they surfaced to capture breath every few minutes.
Thinking the morning was over I was enjoying the ride home when I felt my phone in my pocket telling me there was a message.

Rileys big sister, Leah who owns the surf school in Whitby had messaged me to say there was a pod of dolphins at the pier ends.

As we approached Whitby harbour I could see the other Whitby pleasure trip boats circling The piers, and as we got closer I could see the Dolphins jumping and splashing about.

Paul, extended the trip by 30 minutes so we could spend some time watching The Dolphins. Rather than chase the dolphins and frighten them, Pauls experience shone through and we drifted around leaving the Dolphins to come to us if they chose, and thats exactly what they did.
At times we had Dolphins within touching distance and could see them swimming under and around the boat.

Eventually it was time to go, and we quickly sailed back into the harbour leaving The Dolphins behind. Hopefully I will get to see them again soon, but even if I never see them again, I have the memories of the most amazing morning, whats more I have it all on video, which I will post very soon over on my You Tube Channel. So if you haven’t already, head over to You Tube, Subscribe to my channel, and click the notifications bell so that you get a message telling you when Ive posted the video.

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