Marinelife survey

Rob and I volunteer for marine surveys, and today we set off for Dublin on a round trip of 24 hours. We are allowed to survey from the bridge of the Stena Line ships that transport goods to Ireland.
The crossing over was fairly quiet, with calm viewing conditions and the best thing we saw was the ‘Leader ‘ a restored Gaff rig Brixton trawler. She is used now for sail training and holidays around the British coast, what a beautiful sight!
Our return trip became very exciting as we first saw several groups of Harbour Porpoises, and then an extended pod of Common Dolphins came in to bow ride and play in the ships wake. We counted around 35, our best ever number and impressive for the Irish Sea.
To cap it all, two Minke whales surfaced among them! A memorable trip indeed.