Re: cheap whale watching

sarahjune84 — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:55:20 GMT

oh wow thanks guys, that's great. I'll spend this weekend checking out all the websites : )

Re: cheap whale watching

Claire Stares — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:51:39 GMT

The west coast of Scotland is excellent - I can highly recommend Hebridean Whale Cruises who are based in Gairloch http://www.hebridean-whale-cruises.com/ (my number one choice for whale watching in the UK - I've had some amazing trips with them and ORCA1, the RIB you go out on, is fun in itself and gets you out to the whale feeding grounds in super quick time) and Sealife Surveys who are based on the Isle of Mull http://sealifesurveys.com/ In both locations during the summer months you will be most likely to see minke whales with a slim chance of fin whales or, if you were incredibly lucky, orca. There is an excellent chance of seeing harbour porpoise and a decent chance of dolphins - bottlenose, common, rissos and very occassionally white beaked can be found in these area.

If your friend would like super close-up views of bottlenose dolphins, go to Chanonry Point on the Black Isle in Scotland. They come in and feed on salmon within a few feet of the shore, and often breach, tail lob, etc. - it is magical! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanonry_Point

In Ireland (West Cork) Whale Watch With Colin Barnes http://whalewatchwithcolinbarnes.com/ and Whale Watch West Cork http://whalewatchwestcork.com/ both have fantastic reputations. The whales you can see here in the summer months are similar to those found in Scottish waters with minke being the most common. Fin whales don't arrive until September and humpbacks are occasionally spotted from September onwards, but are usually around from November - January. Harbour porpoise will be about and common dolphins are frequently spotted. There is a chance of other species including bottlenose and rissos dolphins and, rarely, orca or long-finned pilot whales.

Check out Planet Whale for other whale watch listings http://www.planetwhale.com/browse There are also trips running from Cornwall and Wales, but the sightings rates are nowhere near as reliable as Scotland and Ireland. Look out for operators who are WiSe operators - meaning that they have received training on how to safely approach marine wildlife and responsibly run wildlife watching trips with minimum disturbance to the marine mammals.

Hope that helps! I'm sure wherever you decide to go, you'll have an amazing time.

Re: cheap whale watching

vickicannings — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:56:39 GMT

Agreed with west coast of Ireland, reasonable and fairly good chance of spotting some :)

Re: cheap whale watching

emmadilemma — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:22:11 GMT

The west coast of Ireland is becoming a really popular spot for whale watching

http://www.discoveringcork.ie/outdoor-cork/whale-dolphin-watching/