According to that stupid 10,000 hours and-you-are-an-expert rule, I should theoretically know what I am talking about when it comes to searching for dolphins and porpoises from the seat of my little craft.
You actually don’t need any sort of skill or cunning at all, because if you are daft enough to spend that amount of time paddling your kayak around Devon and Cornwall, sooner or later you are going to bump into a thing with a fin.
However if you really want to get to experience them and get to look into their eye, join in with a speeding pod of juveniles, or watch the interaction between tiny calf and its mother, a bit of marine bushcraft is helpful.
My very first dolphin-from-kayak was the Irish legend Fungi the Bottlenose Dolphin who lived for over thirty years In Dingle Harbour. Way back in 1991.
I was immediately hooked although it was a long time before my next encounter. However over the last 20 years I have had the great pleasure of observing 180 pods of dolphins containing 4000 ish individuals around SW England. Mostly Common Dolphins but also 13 groups of Risso’s, 9 of Bottlenose (including two offshore pods), and one pod of Whitebeak Dolphins.
Plus 234 porpoise sightings totalling of 1700 individuals…
So here’s my suggestions for a cetacean-filled top day out…
1 Expect to Fail
It is important to have the mindset that finding a fin is a bonus. Dolphins wander widely and a bay that is seething with marine life one day can be totally deserted the next despite no apparent change of conditions. That’s just the way it is and that’s why it’s so enjoyable.
The high chance of failure is also why very few other kayakers do this kind of stuff. You’ve got to be wired up a bit differently.
A paddle along the coast followed by a wedge of Victoria Sponge in the beach cafe is much more guaranteed to succeed. Although the buttercream filling ain’t what it used to be.
2 Choose a Comfortable Kayak
Don’t get hung up about getting a fancy kayak. My current steed is a very unremarkable, some might say goofy, sit-on-top (SOT) called a Disco. A name as retro as the driver.
It is old and worn-out and covered in algae. But boy…is it comfortable. I have glued four layers of camping mat to the seat and it has a thick spongy backrest. Even after many hours at sea I would still prefer to remain seated in the kayak for lunch than go ashore and sit on a beach that always seems to numb the buttocks more than it should.
Surely a sea kayak would be better. Yes, they generally go faster than a SOT. Yes. they are more seaworthy and yes, they perform very much better when sea conditions start to get choppy. And yes, you don’t feel so much of a geek.
I have no axe to grind, because I have been the proud owner of a decent sea kayak, but my most recent experience has sealed my decision to stick with my SOT. It involved an 18 mile paddle around an island in Canada in a hired sea kayak. My back and legs were screaming for mercy at the end. Maybe my replacements knees and hips didn’t like the slight rotation of the legs required to tuck the knees under the cockpit coaming.
Whatever, the freedom of movement and extreme comfort of the SOTs wins out over the superior water piercing qualities of a sea kayak. For me, at least.
The difference in performance boils down to four hours at 3mph vs three hours at 4 mph. You might miss an episode of Pointless but on the other hand there’s more time to look for dolphins.
For long trips, comfort rules the roost.
3 Get some Instruction and Clock up the Miles
Basic handling of a kayak and especially being shown how to paddle efficiently using as many muscles as possible is best done by a qualified instructor. Then go and notch up a few miles along a canal or sheltered coast. Get paddling, get the feel of yer boat and get yer confidence up.
4 Paddle Offshore
If you want to see a dolphin, you really need to be happy paddling offshore.
You might be lucky enough to come across the pod of Bottlenose Dolphins that comes right into bays close to the shore as they hunt for bottom-lurking fish. Or maybe a pod of Risso’s in early summer as they come in close to seek out cuttlefish. But these are few and far between.
It is Common Dolphins that are by far the most numerous and these are essentially an offshore species. So you’ve go to get out there.
Before I took up offshore paddling in earnest I used to see one or two pods of dolphins per year. Now it is 20+, most of which are over a mile out.
But not always…that’s the magic of the sea and the unpredictable mega creatures therein.
5 Be Really, Really Nerdy about the Weather and Sea Conditions
For offshore paddling a flat calm sea is absolutely essential for a multitude of reasons: enjoyment, safety, seeing the fins, hearing the blows, having a wobble-free coffee break.
So I spend a lot of time pawing over weather maps and forecasts.
Wind is the most important influence on sea state. My rule is that I only venture offshore if it is 5mph or less all day. Maybe up to 10mph early if it is then forecast to drop. I don’t like deteriorating conditions later in the day when fatigue is starting to creep in.
Above 5mph the chop picks up, the kayak bounces around and the chance of seeing or hearing the creatures reduces dramatically. The sound of breaking wavelets, even when they are tiny, dumbs down your senses. And you become a little bit uneasy (hopefully not queasy) so it’s just not so enjoyable.
I use three weather forecasts:
The good old BBC for an written overview because they are the best at saying ‘ becoming brighter’ or ‘feeling warmer’.
XC weather gives a great wind forecast. If the wind values are dark blue you know you are in for a good trip.
Windy.com provides an even better wind forecast in huge detail. You can sometimes steal a couple of hours of calm conditions that other forecasts have not noticed.
I don’t like the forecasts that talk about % chance of rain or % cloud cover. I once got incinerated when I saw that there was 100% cloud cover so I didn’t take sun screen. It turned out to be a thin layer of high cloud so the day was in fact 100% sunny. Nose like fried bacon…ouch!
Likewise the rain. Is 50% chance of rain a brief period of monsoon or a non-stop drizzle that barely dampens your hair?…or, in my case, scalp.
You also need to be completely tuned in to groundswell, tides and coastal currents. It’s no good going to the north coast of Cornwall on the strength of zero wind when there is a 6ft swell running. You will have a nightmare.
Tidal currents, especially during spring tides, can be very demoralising. Paddling at 3mph against a 2 mph current causes conversation to dry up and shoulders to slump. It’s even worse when the current is 3mph.
Confusingly, coastal currents do not always change direction in synchrony with the tides, especially around Land’s End and the south coast. You need to do your homework.
For maximum enjoyment you need to be sitting under unbroken sunshine in the middle of an anticyclone. Doesn’t happen very often…and watch out for that sea fog…aaargh!
6 Take a Pile of Safety Stuff.
Careful planning is the cornerstone of a successful and enjoyable kayaking trip. How long do you expect to be on the water, how far you expect to paddle and what are your personal abilities? Can you get out to Eddystone and back without your muscles turning to marshmallow?
Just in case they do you need to be prepared to summon assistance. That is why I carry a load of safety gadgets…
A phone in a waterproof case, two-way radio, GPS, Personal Locator Beacon and a hand-held flare.
The GPS is the most useful piece of kit. The speedometer is very useful towards the end of the day and can give a morale boost when the water seems to have turned to syrup and you feel as if you are not moving at all. I also have all the local headlands plumbed in to the GPS so I know precisely how far away they are and how long it will take me to get back.
The GPS has been very useful on several occasions when I have been enveloped in thick fog whilst offshore. It is a very eerie experience and you very quickly lose all sense of direction…obviously…and time…not so obviously. Had I not had complete confidence in the GPS the lurking sense of panic might have taken a grip.
Mind you, it wouldn’t have helped much with the first time we were encased in fog en route to Lundy when we very nearly got run down by a ship. Heard the foghorn, rode the wake, never saw the ship.
As a matter of courtesy, and safety, I always make a radio call to the local NCI (National Coastwatch Institution) station when paddling offshore. The volunteer on lookout duty might be concerned to see a distant kayak zigzagging about in a random fashion far offshore. If I have given them the heads-up about my intentions and what time I plan to come back in, it’s good for me and it’s good for them.
7 Load up the Chocolate
Oh come on! Give the pomegranate seeds and ispaghula husks a break and fill your supplementary food container with Mars Bars and Raisin-and-biscuit Yorkies, ideally the duo versions. Keep British confectionary legends such as Tunnocks in business by bringing along a family pack of Tea-cakes. You know it makes sense.
8 Keep Looking, Looking, Looking. Keep Listening, Listening, Listening
You’ve made a lot of effort to get out there, so make sure the blindfolds and ear muffs/pods/whatever are off/out. You’ve got to scrutinise every inch of the horizon the whole time. If you get distracted by your phone, fall into chatter with a companion or even start daydreaming about what was on telly the night before, you just don’t see as much.
It’s essential to stay totally focussed with a completely empty brain the whole time. Strangely, the latter is no problem for me.
Although the kayak may not be the most appropriate craft for dolphin-watching, it is certainly the most rewarding. Looking eye to eye on the same level as a dolphin is a memorable experience. Sometimes you are even looking up at them!
A kayak has one big advantage over a boat with an engine. It is totally silent so you can hear everything. The ‘thooomph’ of a diving Gannet, the slappy splash of a breaching Sunfish, the polite sploshing of a pod of dolphins, the explosive roar as feeding tuna rip the surface apart, the puff of a porpoise. On a calm day these can all be so far away you can’t even see them.
9 Enjoy the Collateral
You really do put all your eggs into one basket with an offshore kayak trip. If you don’t see anything at all your have got nothing to impress your chums with when you get back.
Fortunately this rarely happens apart from some days in May and June when the activity in the sea seems to go very quiet. There is nearly always something to enjoy.
Offshore seabirds are always a thrill, even more so when know a bit about their biology and consider the amazing distances that most cover during their annual migrations. Manx Shearwaters winter off the coast of Brazil, Arctic Terns go down to the rim of the Antarctic pack-ice, Puffins winter in the vast expanse of the open Atlantic.
It’s really great to have all these species zip past within inches of where you are sitting.
You also might be lucky enough to stumble upon some of the most mysterious of all the sea creatures.
A monumentally huge Basking Shark…
or perhaps an extraordinary, and also very large, Leatherback Turtle.
One thing’s for certain. The more miles you grind out, the more you’ll see.
10 Respect the Creatures of the Sea
Disturbance of marine wildlife is a problem with the increase in coastal boat traffic including the explosion of paddleboard numbers and easy-to-use kayaks.
And jetskis of course.
Resting seals and cliff-nesting seabird colonies can easily spook at too close an approach by a kayak. Long ago I think I was the cause of the demise of this Guillemot chick. The parent flew off the cliff as I approached and the beady-eyed gull wasted no time in grabbing the unprotected fledgling from the cliff ledge.
So now I steer well clear of seabird and seal colonies.
I am wary about approaching pods of dolphins as well. Not only because the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 states that it is illegal to harass dolphins, but also it is not an enjoyable experience for either party if you frighten them.
They might be nursing newborn calves.
So I approach cautiously and at an angle and do a bit of extra splashing with my paddle so the dolphins know I am there. They may completely ignore me or they may despatch a couple of ‘bouncers’ over to check me out and then ignore me. Or the youthful hooligan element might view me as a plaything and come over and surge alongside for a minute or two, sometimes a lot longer.
A tremendous thrill but there is mucho danger of tearing a muscle in the sixpack or the pecs as I try to keep pace.
When it comes to marine wildlife watching no craft causes less disturbance than a kayak. It is completely silent, very slow and only penetrates the surface by only a couple of inches. The majority of sea creatures show no fear of the kayak and many come over to have a look. Anything that breaks up the monotony of the sea surface usually means a fishy meal to them.
Gannets divert from their flight path to circle overhead, seals pop up behind, basking sharks will lumber over to check you out and Puffins will paddle over to say hello if you sit absolutely still. I have even had Storm Petrels use my kayak as a wind baffle on the occasional blowy day.
If you are really, REALLY lucky you may be inspected by an ocean giant. Of the thirty Minke Whales I have observed around Devon and Cornwall from a kayak, two have spent half an hour circling my kayak. Off-the-scale extreme excitement.
To hear that blow, the greatest animal noise in the world, from the seat of your self-propelled craft is…er…undescribable.
Could it get any better than this?
Yes.
The Lone Kayaker 