Wildlife Encounters

[Riley]

The summer sailing thread got me looking at some pictures we had taken while on the water and prompted this thread.

Has anyone had any up close or surprising encounters with wildlife at home or abroad.

Here is a still from some video I took about four weeks ago in Portland Harbour, Dorset.


"Flipper" is the resident harbour Bottle Nose and is part of a pod that is often seen around Weymouth Bay. They love to interact with the boats and jet skis.
On this occasion he followed us for 20 minutes just showing off around the boat and swimming inches from my prop. They obviously love the bubbles and turbulence.
I saw him about 200m from the boat and started filming while Mrs R tapped the hull, we were rewarded with a hello and 20 mins of his time.

[Onelasttime]

Wow! That's brilliant.

Years ago we were on holiday in New Quay, Wales, and my step dad had a tiny motor boat. We were pootling about, roughly half a mile from shore when a huge fin broke the surface not far away from us. At the time I remember bricking it because fins that big aren't meant to be breaking the surface off the coast of Wales (Jaws was still a fairly new film and I was about 8 years old). My step dad didn't seem bothered though and carried on pootling. We saw about four more fins before we headed back to shore.

It turned out they were basking sharks and I still remember it like it was yesterday. I've never come close to anything that big since.

[Riley]

Wow! That's brilliant.

Years ago we were on holiday in New Quay, Wales, and my step dad had a tiny motor boat. We were pootling about, roughly half a mile from shore when a huge fin broke the surface not far away from us. At the time I remember bricking it because fins that big aren't meant to be breaking the surface off the coast of Wales (Jaws was still a fairly new film and I was about 8 years old). My step dad didn't seem bothered though and carried on pootling. We saw about four more fins before we headed back to shore.

It turned out they were basking sharks and I still remember it like it was yesterday. I've never come close to anything that big since.

Basking sharks are enormous and would freak you out if you didn't know what they were. I think they are quite common in SW waters.

[VDG]

I once joined a forum full of flippers.

[Kris]

Met this chap whilst running training courses at HMS Raleigh in Torpoint, Devon. Every morning he'd turn up and pop out onto the pontoons to watch us get the boats ready for the day. Once we'd finished and he was happy all was in order, he'd jump back in the water and swim off ready for the rest of his day

[Riley]

Met this chap whilst running training courses at HMS Raleigh in Torpoint, Devon. Every morning he'd turn up and pop out onto the pontoons to watch us get the boats ready for the day. Once we'd finished and he was happy all was in order, he'd jump back in the water and swim off ready for the rest of his day

Navy Seal of approval?