As soon as we had boarded the DFDS Seven Sisters in Newhaven, we were escorted to the bridge and received a warm welcome from Captain Philippe Conquet.  As the ship was reversing out of Dieppe harbour, we organised our paperwork ready to begin the survey.

Bright sea and skies were in evidence as we sailed through the busy shipping lanes. As we left these behind, we saw a distant group of feeding Gannet and as we approached Common Dolphin could be seen feeding below them. A lovely sight in the sparkling sea!

As this was a quick turnaround in Dieppe, arriving at 16:00 and departing at 18:00, we were told by reception that we could stay on board.

The return to the UK was very busy with families returning from their summer holidays. We still managed to depart on time and recommenced our survey which at this time of year enabled us to cover the whole of the return leg.

Soon after departure another group of feeding Gannet gave away a small pod of Common Dolphin. A group of nearly fifty migrating Common Tern was an interesting sighting.

During the day the wind swung round from the southwest to a more westerly direction and increased in strength making cetacean spotting a bit more challenging. However, we were pleased to encounter steady sightings of seabirds throughout our survey.

Once again, our sincere thanks go to the staff and crew of the Seven Sisters for their kind hospitality and helping to make this a very enjoyable crossing.

Steve and Margaret Boswell MARINElife (Registered Charity No. 1110884; Registered Company No. 5057367)

Weather

Wind SW force 4, increasing slightly and changing to W on return, strong glare with hardly any cloud cover