It was nice weather for my third ORCA survey on the Roscoff - Plymouth route and the third ORCA survey that I've led, since I was signed off as an ORCA Team Leader at the end of 2024. I met the rest of the team, Julie, Sara and Mark, the previous evening in Plymouth at the Brittany Ferry terminal. We had a quick boarding and a good overnight crossing on the Armorique. It's a slow overnight crossing to ensure that the ferry arrives in Roscoff at the reasonable local time of 08:00. The ferry didn't depart from Roscoff until 15:00 and so there was plenty of time to have some food and a walk around the attractive old town.
There are some nice architectural features on the local houses: The curves roofs look really good
It's a gentle thirty minute walk to the cafes by the old harbour from the ferry terminal.
Looking across the old harbour towards the lighthouse
The Cafe Ty Pierre: My favourite cafe which does a nice French breakfast with an obligatory croissant
The cafe is located on the quayside, just below the Mk, on this upside down ceiling photo
Gannet: We saw a few during the survey on the way back to Plymouth
After breakfast, we had plenty of time to have a stroll around the town.
The start of the old main street beyond the cafes: This is the chocolate shop
The chocolates look great, but they aren't cheap
This old neighbouring building looks like it needs a fair bit of TLC
The elaborate spire of the Notre-Dame de Croaz-Batz Church
It looks like Roscoff suffers the same problem with holiday homes as many UK coastal towns
The bay which separates the Perharidy peninsula from Roscoff
The inner part of the same bay
It was time to head back to the cafes area for an early lunch.
The ORCA team waiting after some lunch: Julie Bunt, Sara Amos, Mark Delf and myself
This looks a more decorative, than defensive, lookout
The old harbour lighthouse
The 17th Century Chapelle Sainte-Barbe built to protect local sailors
The Fort de Bloscon: It was built in 1694 to protect the channel between Roscoff and the island of Ile-de-Batz from English invasions. It was decommissioned at the end of the 19th Century, before being reactivated during WWII. It is now privately owned with no public access
We were back onboard early afternoon and we allowed up onto the bridge soon after we departed the port. It was a busy crossing with twelve groups of Dolphins, with the totalling forty-five Short-beaked Common Dolphins and a further two unidentified Dolphins. There are no photos as I didn't take the proper camera, as I wanted to focus on the surveying and mentoring of the team.
Short-beaked Common Dolphin: I took this photo on the return journey of my last Roscoff survey (7 Oct 24)
