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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Matt Prince" data-source="post: 1874455" data-attributes="member: 52862">Said my farewell to the Pride of Bilbao over the weekend in good company. One of the themed cruises so had access to the monkey deck and at the suggestion of our most experienced PoB'r managed to bag the canyon slot. Left very late because of shenannigans with dock access (1AM!) and the first full day at sea was pretty hard going - never made it to the good bits, gusting wind and few sightings. Way into Santurzi wasn't much better, despite good sea conditions - only a few distant dolphins. On the way out though - mega even for a large number of the old hand BoB'rs in our crew - a group of Sowerby's Beaked Whales showing very well just as we approached the canyons. Marvellous! Then lots of striped dolphin and cuvier's beaked whale action throughout the day including a single Cuvier putting in multiple breaches. Finally at last gasp of Sunday, as we'd managed to get back on the monkey deck, we picked up four Cuviers, 2 of them bulls, come straight at us from 2k out, straight down the centreline, the males fluked down in the last hundred metres, the female/youngsters turned around and bow rode for five to ten seconds with their tails hammering away before peeling off to the side! No fin whales at all, not even distant blow, continuing last years sad trend. No big whales seen - so a shame for those on their first whale watching outing, but outstanding stuff for the beakophiles. Few seabirds (odd cory's, manxies, (european) stormies and a load of sunfish plus one interesting as yet uni'd shark.Have to say the BDRP staff and volunteers were excellent on this one, keeping good spirits up even on the bleak Saturday. The themed cruises rotate access to the monkey deck, which is the most comfortable place to be and the only uninterrupted view forward, but apart from the bow riding cuviers, nearly everything was seen from the 'pleb deck'.Final cetacean species tally (italics I didn't see personally) - porpoise, bottlenose dolphin, risso's dolphin, common dolphin, striped dolphin, minke, cuvier's beaked whale, sowerby's beaked whale. Poor numbers maybe for this trip - which in a way says just how good this passage is - still going to September peeps.....Toodle Loo, PoB.</blockquote>

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