09/09/2014 Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire

Harbor Porpoise: What a day!

Tanmay, Gary and I booked ourselves on to the Stena Line trip from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire hoping for some good sea watching.
Gannet: Previous trips the week before had thrown up Sooty and Balearic Shearwater and although I didn't hold much hope we searched and scanned every pair and every raft of manxies.



 
Stena Line have been offering this non landing return trip from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire and back for a while now for £5 and you can't argue with that!

So despite the lack of sooty and Balearic it was still a very good trip.
Manx Shearwater: The ferry offers two viewing platforms at the rear of the craft, one smoking and the other non-smoking. This area is caged off which slightly restricts viewing but you can still pick out the birds as the craft runs very smoothly.
Almost as soon as the ferry set off we had bagged a tonne of manxies and gullies. A bit further out to sea we picked up Fulmar, Gannet and the odd juvenile Kittiwake.

The shear numbers of birds were awesome.
Guillemot: Our return trip was a little quieter however Garry spotted a Common Dolphin and Tanmay and I picked up a few Harbor Porpoise.

All in all a very good, cheap and different day out.