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Snorkelling with seals on the Isles of Scilly
CJ & Mike from Bimble in the Blue snorkel with seals off the Isles of Scilly…
Mike and I had a great opportunity to travel to the Isles of Scilly for a weeks holiday. Choosing what to do here can be a difficult decision given the number of islands, boat trips, hikes and activities available. But for us the decision to go snorkelling with Scilly Seal Snorkelling was an easy one!
We had booked in advance and were given instructions to meet at the Scilly Seal Snorkelling shed on the beach next to Higher Town Quay on the island of St Martin on our tour day. The boat trip across from St Mary’s where we were staying to St Martin is quick and the contrast from rocky St Mary’s to the white sand ringed, almost tropical looking St Martins is quite the sight.
We arrived early onto St Martin and enjoyed a leisurely stroll before meeting up with our group at the “shed”. Here we were greeted by our guides and filled out the appropriate safety paperwork, before squeezing ourselves into out wetsuits and being given our snorkel equipment.
Soon everyone was prepared and ready looking absolutely fabulous, as one does in 5mm neoprene! We had a short walk round to the harbour and onto the boat before heading out the some rocks offshore. On the journey out we were briefed on the correct in water etiquette for seal interactions and were told we would only stay to snorkel in an area if the seals were curious and keen to play.
As soon as we arrived at the rocks we could see lots of grey seals hauled out and swimming around the rocks, some were obviously wary, but most seemed intrigued and swam halfway up to the boat to have a look at us. There also seemed to be a good number of year old pups, which our guides told us was a good sign as they were the most playful.
After our captain spent some time at various outcrops observing the seal haul-outs in order to gauge which seals wouldn’t object to our presence, he took us to a sheltered rocky cove and gave us the OK to kit up! Once in the water the whole group was pretty much surrounded by playful pups, popping up behind peoples heads, and ducking down to investigate our fins!
When one seal swam off another would take it’s place, holding our fins in their claws and sometimes even having a nibble. After the initial influx of youngsters, some of the older larger seals came for a nosy and seemed to take great delight in sneaking up behind us whenever our faces were turned.
We spent a fantastic hour enjoying our pinniped interactions before it was time to head back to the boat and return to shore. Everyone on the boat sported massive grins and even those who had been a little less experienced snorkellers, said how much they had enjoyed it and had been so immersed watching the playful seals that they had totally forgotten their initial nervousness.
On our return trip we made a circuit of the rocky outcrops in order to observe the other wildlife including, peregrine falcons, shags, cormorants and drifted alongside a bait ball which had attracted hunting gannets and common dolphins. Back on land, we got changed back into some warm clothing, thanked our guides and departed in search of a nice hot cup of tea!
Mike and I have snorkelled and dived with seals in Anglesea, the Farne Isles and the Cornish mainland, but this was probably the best interaction we have had, in terms of both the number and willingness of seal wanting to play. It’s sometimes easy to forget with their cute almost puppy like faces that grey seals are the largest predators in the UK and deserve both respect and protection from harassment and harm. Scilly Seal Snorkelling did an excellent job of briefing us, choosing the correct location and respecting the seals, in order to give us a fantastic interaction with these wild animals. We would highly recommend this tour if you find yourself in this most southerly part of the British Isles!