A couple of weekends ago we stayed in West Wales for a long weekend. Now the Cambrian Coast is a good spot for walking, sitting on beaches and chilling, but it is also a great place to go and try and see some Dolphins and seals. Now Aunty has a weak spot for dolphins and seals, getting excited whenever we see any. As we were staying near New Quay this was the natural place to start. According to the young lady from the Dolphin Watch they had been spotted each day from the harbour wall. We arrived late afternoon, to a grey sky and an equally grey sea? The one redeeming factor was it wasn’t raining. Yet! But this is Wales, and you have to be prepared.
We came back the next day to a different climate. the sun was shining, all be it behind the clouds most of the time, so we decided to follow the coastal path south towards Birds Rock. We had been told the chances of seeing the Dolphins from the cliff tops were very good. As I mentioned in other posts, one of our ambitions is to walk the coastal path from end to end, but at the rate we are going it will take us another 25 years, 2 months and 3 days to complete it. So after a refreshing walk we arrived at the observatory and settled down to wait for the show to begin. It seems nobody had informed the Dolphins that we were waiting. No show. But we had some cracking views of the guillemots on their nests. The geology of the cliffs has created a series of shelves a couple hundred feet high giving the sense of a high rise block of flats.
On our return we stopped briefly to look at to sea, and would you believe it there was a dolphin. Then as we approached New Quay there was a crowd on the harbour wall watching another one. OK they were both a long way away, but we had seen Dolphins on this trip and so could tick them off. Then it started raining again!
The next day was completely different. It was to be a beach day and a visit to Mwnt. Another Welsh 100 and the next blog post. But this one is about Dolphins. As we were sitting on the headland, what did we see but 5 dolphins, providing a great show. There was a mother and baby, swimming slowing North, possibly to put in a show at New Quay later.
Then Aunty spotted another three playing around also heading north. What a great 30 minutes, and certainly made the coffee stop worth while. Fantastic. 
Travels With My Aunt 