In the last Blog Post, I covered the last ORCA Sea Safari to Santander where I was one of the Wildlife Guides. We had reached Santander and just disembarked. There were two options for entertainment. Ellie, our Team Leader and the only member of the ORCA staff, had said that there was an apparently better ice cream shop than the normal ORCA Heladeria: her plan was to visit both of them & compare options. My entertainment was to look for Hummingbird Hawk Moths in the park on the way there. Fortunately, there was time to accommodate both plans. What we didn't do, was agree on which of the Heladerias was the best.
Ice cream taste testing over, we had to head back to the terminal. We didn't have too long to wait in the Brittany Ferry terminal before we were being called to clear customs. We were quickly on deck and ready for a few hours of watching as we headed back North. We were about an hour beyond the Northern end of the canyon that heads North out of Santander by sunset.
The alarm went off about 06:00 for the pre-dawn drinks and breakfast. I was on deck to find it was overcast & windy. With the earlier departure compared to the day when we normally survey on this route, we were well past the Brittany coast and about half way from the coast to the UK-French border. Unfortunately, due to the wind strength the top deck had been closed. I saw the ORCA team one deck lower on the starboard side. This deck is enclosed and I found it hard to look through the spray and rain-soaked glass. I relocated to the halfway up the steps to the top deck, where it was possible to stay out of the wind, whilst being able to look over the glass. This helped to some extent, and it was possible to see a few Gannets, Cory's Shearwaters and a Manx Shearwater. Bizarrely, a Red Admiral flew past: it was presumably the same individual I had briefly seen the previous day flying around the ship.
After a half-hour, Ellie decided we would relocate to deck 6 on the port side. Deck 6 is lower, but it is open-sided and it provides clearer views over the sea. Ellie asked me to stay put where I was, so that any late risers would know where the rest of the group were. Eventually, I headed down to deck 6 to join the others for the remainder of the crossing. It was a better deck to watch from. There was more Gannets, another Cory's Shearwater, a few Manx Shearwaters, three Kittiwakes and regular small groups of Swallows that had decided to abandon the Channel crossing and return to Cornwall. Unfortunately, I didn't see any Cetaceans.
This is the last ORCA Sea Safari to Santander of the season. If you are interested in an ORCA Sea Safari in 2025, then you can register your interest on the ORCA website. Further details of the dates will appear in due course. Hopefully I will be able to be one of the Wildlife Guides again in 2025.