Triangular peregrination in the sun. 03 September 2023

 

Clive, Judith, Gordon adding a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to the humour of the day.

Off we went at 14.00 for a short trip - for those who have not been out on Lazaway before - amazingly that includes Anna, Judith and Clive.  We were also delighted to have Sara, Anna’s long time friend, with us - she also was on her maiden Lazaway voyage.  Katie was also able to come - happy days.

Katie, Sara and Anna

The weather was almost perfect - calm sunny warm. Great for cetacean watching - if only there were some cetaceans.  Actually we did manage to see a small group of Harbour Porpoises - probably 6 or 7 animals.  Too far away to get a picture.

We crossed the Lough to Blackhead, on to the Gobbins and then Isle of Muck.  We then turned east to get farther out, close to the area where we saw the large group of Common Dolphins a couple of weeks ago.  Strangely, they appear to have moved on.

A busy flybridge - but still no dolphins or whales.

A turn to the southeast, towards the Copelands, warranted a coffee with a selection of cakes (the apple and cream sponge cake was the favourite), and even though we maintained a constant lookout, no more cetaceans appeared. The visibility was superb - we could see the Mournes.

Looking towards Bangor, Slieve Donard and Commedagh
could be seen - they are about 50 miles away.

As we headed back to Bangor we passed two notable ships - the Swedish sail training square rigger, Gunilla, and the US research survey vessel, Maury (this is the vessel that doesn’t anchor but stays in exactly the same location for days on end).

Gunilla

Maury

We may only have seen Harbour Porpoises, and just a very few birds, but we had a wonderful relaxing trip in superb conditions, and great sponge cake. Couldn’t be better.

Our route:

















































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