Shearwater Coastal Cruises | Dolphin Watching

We operate from Pwllheli Marina, North Wales and specialise in scenic coastal cruises of the Llyn Peninsula, visiting offshore seal and seabird colonies, usually at some point accompanied by the resident bottlenose dolphins.

Our regular trips are booked through our agents, "Firmhelm" Ltd. Tel: 01758 612251 and they are located in the Pwllheli Marina Centre, adjacent to where our boat is moored, along with free parking in the Marina Visotor's Car Park. "Shearwater" is a large (50ft.) motor catamaran cruiser, built in 2010, specially for ourselves. All our trips include complimentary tea/coffee and biscuits. We visit the seal and seabird colonies of the St. Tudwals Islands and venture on down to the south of the peninsula, visiting the puffin colonies of the Gwylan Islands, off Aberdaron. We undertake dolphin monitoring and Photo-ID projects on behalf of the Seawatch Foundation, a charitable body responsible for monitoring cetaceans around the shores of the UK. The boat has a large lounge, seating on two decks and a forward dolphin viewing platform on the foredeck. We also carry underwater TV cameras, to enable guests to watch dolphins etc. from an underwater perspective

Months

March • April • May • June • July • August • September • October

Duration

Short (1-3 hours) • Half-day (3-6 hours)

Vessel types

Small boat (0-50 passengers)

Times and prices

Timings of cruises can sometimes be affected by adverse tides.  We aim to carry out a 2 1/2 hour morning cruise departing at 10. a.m. and a longer afternoon cruise, lasting for 4 hours at 1.30 p.m. although lots of wildlife action often extends the length of the trip.   We also undertake evening cruises for organised parties, based on the shorter itinerary of the morning cruise, which visits the St. Tudwals Islands and the cliffs of Cilan and Hell's Mouth.  The longer afternoon cruise continues down the coasts to see the puffins of the Gwylan Islands, off Aberdaron.

PRICES:        Morning cruise    £27

                   Afternoon cruise  £38

                   Evening cruise     £34

About our skippers and naturalist guides

Alan Gray is the owner/skipper and he has been involved in running wildlife cruises in this area for the past 11 years, being a qualified Boatmaster and Coastal Skipper.  A keen wildlife photographer, Alan has provided all the images on the company website taken on our cruises.  He is also a BS-AC Advanced Diving Instructor and a trained RN sub-aqua diving supervisor - quafications he utilised as organiser and leader of numerous underwater research expeditions in many remote places worldwide.  Alan is still a keen diver and has a unique knowledge of the Llyn coastline, from an underwater perspective, which explains why he is able to safely navigate "Shearwater" into the many tight nooks and crannies of the coastline. 

Deputy skipper is Roy Gregory, another wildlife enthusiast  and qualified commercial skipper.  Roy is a keen pigeon fancier and has kept an extensive loft for many years.  This has led to many people bringing injured birds to Roy over the years and he is the unofficial "Bird-man of Criccieth".  Roy is also the custodian of  "Steven the seagull" - a magnificent but permanently grounded Herring Gull that was rescued by us, on one of our cruises, when it was found, a seriously injured chick lying on rocks beside his dead mother.

Facilities

Access to wheelhouse • Carbon neutral • Deck with 360?vision • Disabled access • Naturalist guide(s) as well as skipper • On board hydrophone • On board video • Onboard research • PA system • Public participation in research • Reading material available • Restrooms / toilets on board • Scenic backdrop to encounters • Snacks / drinks • Support conservation • Use a code of conduct

We frequently

Listen to whales and dolphins • See leaping dolphins • Watch dolphins only

Ocean Dolphins

Bottlenose Dolphin • Risso's Dolphin

Porpoises

Harbour Porpoise

Other wildlife and points of interest

On each cruise we visit a Grey Seal colony and we regularly see Harbour Porpoises and occasionally Rissos Dolphins. Bottlenose dolphins are seen on approximately 85% of our trips. The offshore islands we visit have extensive colonies of breeding seabirds, both common and unusual breeds such as Manx Shearwaters, puffins guillemots, razorbills, black guillemots, kittiwakes fulmars etc. Many other birds, including feeding gannets are seen along the coast as well. To give up to date details of our activities during our cruise season we maintain a Facebook page, "Friends and Guests of Shearwater Coastal Cruises" where we and our customers are able to contribute recent images and comments: https://www.facebook.com/groups/190908545977/

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