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Whale watching in Ireland? (1 Viewer)

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SteveNixon

Member
Hi Folks,

Can anyone help me? My 11 year old son has asked me to take him whale watching in half-term (c22nd October) and I've been trying to investigate this for a while now. It needs to be fairly cheap and limited to Europe. The best I can come up with is going to the south west coast of Ireland at Baltimore and the operator that appears to get the best reviews is Baltimore Sea Safari. I realise that weather is going to be a potential issues though.

Can anyone vouch for this company and the general idea? Or is there another option that someone can recommend?

Hope you can help,

Steve
 
Hebridean Whale Cruises, Gairloch have been getting Minkes and Humpbacks.
As it is in a RIB it is quite weather dependent. If there is High Pressure and it is calm then it is fabulous.
 
I wouldn't risk travelling anywhere far at this time of year. With the weather more likely to be bad than good.

Maybe keep an eye on Whitby Whale Watching's Facebook page. They haven't got out for about a month due to bad weather but if the weather improves they are hoping to do some "Finding Fins" trips. I've seen Humpbacks & Minkes with them between October 21st-24th one year.

Other years it seems that all the whales have gone from Whitby by mid October so it's unpredictable.

Ive seen lots of whales, dolphins, eagles and basking sharks with Hebridean whale Crusises as well but between June-September. They can get good sightings in october though if the conditions are right.

Chris
 
Thanks for the feedback. According to the Whitby Whale Watching website they've cancelled all trips for the remainder of the season due to continuing poor weather!

Shame, as the north east may be the best part of the UK over the weekend weather wise.

The Far West looks decidedly dodgy as there are several lows lurking. Not quite sure how this is going to pan out.

I may email the Irish and Hebridean groups to see if they have any better information.

Any other ideas?

Cheers,
Steve

PS. Don't suffer from seasickness fortunately John.
 
SteveNixon said:
Thanks for the feedback. According to the Whitby Whale Watching website they've cancelled all trips for the remainder of the season due to continuing poor weather!

Shame, as the north east may be the best part of the UK over the weekend weather wise.

The Far West looks decidedly dodgy as there are several lows lurking. Not quite sure how this is going to pan out.

I may email the Irish and Hebridean groups to see if they have any better information.

Any other ideas?

Cheers,
Steve

PS. Don't suffer from seasickness fortunately John.
Click to expand...


Can only echo what others have said really. That late in the season weather is likely to cause disappointment unless you're very lucky. If you've travelled, disappointment will be the greater.

Take him to Chanonry Point for the dolphins or somewhere like Strumble Head for porps and promise him a couple of trips next summer (before autumn term starts) with Whitby Whale Watching.
 
Hebridean Whale Cruises are planning to go looking for Humpbacks this weekend. The forecast looks ok for them on Saturday and sunday
 
You lucky buggers--it's looking good off Triumpan with 5 Humpbacks, Northern Bottle-nosed Whale and a Sowerby's Beaked Whale seen in the last couple of days!!
 
TWM said:
You lucky buggers--it's looking good off Triumpan with 5 Humpbacks, Northern Bottle-nosed Whale and a Sowerby's Beaked Whale seen in the last couple of days!!
Click to expand...

I've just arrived in gairloch after driving up from Leeds. Hopefully we'll get up to Tiumpan. I thought you might be coming up here yourself TWM
 
Good trips today. Humpbacks (2 on 1 trip and 1 on the other), minkes, lots of white beaked and 100s of common dolphins and porpoise.
 
Good luck for tomorrow, White beaks are great fun though.
Be assured that Nick will do his best to find the Whales.
 
As far as I know there's a friend of Nick's who lives near Triumpan and passes on info to him, usually by Facebook but I think they now have more instant communications. Nick also has Ch16 and local fishing boats let him know if they see anything notable.
Sea Watch and other operators out of Skye also share info.
 
Today we had a much better time! The conditions were superb, almost dead calm. It seemed that the whales had moved a little further south. We had 2 good Humpbacks, about 6-8 Minkes, 200-300 common dolphins (performing tail slaps, jumps etc), 20+ white beaked dolphins, common porpoises and possible beaked whale sp. Took lots of photos so may bear some light on it.

I also now have a happy son, which is always a good thing! Planning to stop at Channory point in the way back.....

Cheers guys.
 
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