Dolphins!

This weekend some people were lucky enough to see dolphins at South Sands. There were approx 6 bottlenose, all being quite acrobatic and doing lots of aerial displays and jumps. These cracking photos were taken by Vicky and Alex on Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately some motor boats were getting too close trying to get close for the sake of a photograph - all cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises and whales) are protected by law and boats should not get closer than 100m unless approached by the dolphins themselves. Dolphins can get intrigued by moving propellors and get seriously damaged. Best thing to do is to get in the vicinity (driving the boat in a straight line at a constant and slow speed) and then just turn off your engine and watch as they swim.....who knows they might come closer and you'll be in for a real treat!

This small pod of dolphins then headed out over the Bar, and East along the coast past East Prawle towards Start Point.

The water has been extremely warm recently and we also spotted a lot of Compass Jellyfish in the estuary, up South Pool creek and in the shallows.

NEW ferry to Kingsbridge and gorgeous sunshine

The sun has been shining for days here in Salcombe - it was already 18 degrees by about 7.30am this morning! And the water has been flat calm too, perfect for boating. Long may it continue (even though when Wimbledon starts the weather normally changes!)

Whitestrand is also proud to now be the booking office for the new version of the Kingsbridge-Salcombe ferry service. The Salcombe River Boat Company runs from Whitestrand pontoon to Kingsbridge quay most days but times depend on the tide.

Ticket prices start at £6 for adult (single) and £4.50 for child (single). Please see the website for more details www.salcomberiverboats.co.uk

You can book tickets in our shop, so why not sit back and enjoy the scenery with someone else at the helm.

Blue Calypso - Nothing to do with the Election

Anyone who has been fishing with us recently might notice Calypso had a slight colour change recently. Up until Easter it was red. Now it is a lovely marine blue colour, and we'd like to reassure our customers that this is NOT a political statement in any way shape or form. But we do think she looks very smart now and she has been catching plenty of mackerel so far this season (and even seen dolphins earlier in the spring).

Plus for those of you not so sure what to do with your fish once you have caught them, we have some tasty tried and tested recipes that we like for you to take home at the end of a fishing trip. Yummy!

Introducing.....Staff busy at work at Whitestrand!

On the water pics of our staff at work in the sunshine!!! Max (above) is one of our regular boatman, and Reggie (below) is one of our Calypso skippers for the fishing trips - but he's more commonly known to us as Shrek!!!

Salcombe Festival

Well we've had a busy weekend at Whitestrand which was the hub for a lot of the Salcombe Festival activity - music on stage and lots of boat action on the water. The sun has been out all weekend (until 5.30pm this evening when rain started pouring just as the last performers, the brass band, had finished performing!).

Chris was on the Festival Committee this year, in charge of organising a lot of the 'on the water' activities. Bang and Go Back Race was a great success yesterday with 21 classic diesel/Brit/Stuart Turner engine launches all taking part. Many boats were decorated with bunting, some crew dressed up (one crew came as Darth Vadar and friends) and everyone had a lot of fun.

Following Bang and Go Back, we had rowing races and also sculling races - Tim Strete was a star sculler! And rowers of all ages turned up to take part. Hopefully next year we'll build on our numbers and have more heats so if you own a lovely rowing boat that doesn't get used enough, come along next year and get involved!!!

Also, Pegasus (above) looked fab on the estuary and led the sail past on Sunday with some of the gorgeous steam boats - we are so grateful to everyone for all their efforts and hope to see them and possibly more classic boats back next year in Salcombe.