Cut Dolphin 2 News
Cut Dolphin 2 Tail

Tay Maritime Action -   Maritime activities for the community in Tayside.

Marigot in Broughty Ferry Harbour

Tay River Trips Update 21 May - Schedules are being prepared now  and a contact number for booking enquiries will be provided on our dedicated Tay River Trip website.

Both boats (and us) are working hard doing passenger trips and providing practical training for Taymara members most days of the week. Here,  Marigot arrives at Broughty Ferry harbour to pick up passengers, while Badger provides training for our new Powerboat level 2 conscripts.

Join Taymara  at North Carr light ship

Joining

Regular meetings on Marigot, berthed alongside North Carr Victoria Dock, Dundee - Thursdays 7.30 pm and on Sundays throughout the winter

At other times - Look for us on the water.

Badgers Helm 2
Nautical Training

Navigation Training

Tay Dolphin splash-150x100

Wildlife Watching

For Tay River Trip enquiries, booking and general information click  www.tayrivertrips.org

Update 21 May Schedules are being prepared now and a contact number for booking enquiries will be provided on the TRT website immediately sailings are confirmed.

For other enquiries

E-mail Taymara  webmaster (Ken Bushe)

20100723-DSC_3305-650x435

When your colleagues are out on the water too, it’s always tempting to seek out the other boat, especially if you’re driving Badger which is much faster than er.....Marigot for example.

Broughty Ferry castle - badger's wake

Well it’s true

Badger in the sunset

Badger’s ensign  fills with light as the sun sets over Dundee on an evening training trip

Marigot in Tayport Hearbour

Marigot casting off in Tayport Harbour after disembarking her passengers. 

20100716-DSC_2965-650x435

This  trip began in a force 4-5 and the wind dropped only slightly over the time we were out

20100716-DSC_2962-650x435
20100716-DSC_3110-650x435

Norman and Belinda get some time in on Badger before doing  their RYA Powerboat level 2 course

20100716-DSC_3112-650x435
20100716-DSC_3124-650x435
20100716-DSC_3107-650x435

Badger at speed

20100716-DSC_3024-650x435

Trips in the evening give trainees and passengers alike the opportunity to see fine sunsets over Dundee from the water.

20100716-DSC_3129-650x435
20100716-DSC_3147-650x435

Both vessels back at Davy’s Yard

Dave Paterson -

....Another day...another epic. Gandalf the Grey waits for an attack of the orcs.

20100717-DSC_3156-650x435

Och it’s Dave.

20100717-DSC_3159-650x435

The sunset on this evening trip was totally different one from the night before but none the worse for that

20100717-DSC_3195-650x435
20100717-DSC_3225-650x408

We had a Channel 4 film crew on Marigot on this occasion who were filming a documentary to be shown sometime in the new year. They got some amazing footage of the Tay dolphins as well as interviewing contestants on Marigot for “Dare to be Digital” - the UK’s premier international video games competition. - Naturally, they also took the opportunity to interview Dave Paterson, Dundee’s own games industry guru who was one of Marigot’s crew for that day, .

Dare to be Digital was established by partners Scottish Enterprise Tayside,
Dundee City Council and the University of Abertay Dundee

20100717-DSC_3240-650x435

Earlier...

Marigot was joined by presenter Richard Cadey who conducted a live broadcast on the River Tay’s bottlenose dolphin population for Radio Scotland.... while surrounded by bottlenose dolphins.

20100707-DSC_2335-650x435

Richard gets his sealegs in the harbour while Joel raises the bow fender.

20100707-DSC_2339-650x435

Almost immediately upon leaving Broughty harbour the dolphins came alongside

20100707-DSC_2382-650x435

Young ones appeared at first, riding on the bow wave

20100707-DSC_2414-650x414

Young dolphins are creamy coloured. Probably all the milk.

20100707-DSC_2468-650x416

Larger adults approach the boat now. This one leapt again and again, each time getting nearer

20100707-DSC_2473-650x426
20100707-DSC_2476-650x440

This is a big dolphin. Some of the dolphins today were the biggest we’ve seen to date, presumably large males. Mind you, maybe they’re the same ones from last year and they’ve just grown a lot. That’s eating tuna for you.

20100707-DSC_2497-650x435

He kept on jumping right past Marigot.

20100707-DSC_2470-650x420

Three nice faces, all in a row.

20100707-DSC_2483-650x394

It’s been proven scientifically that dolphins have nice faces. 

You can’t argue with facts like that.

20100707-DSC_2440-500x746

This was the scene as the broadcast was about to take place. The satellite signal had been established and the broadcast was set to go......

.....then the signal disappeared. Just like that and just at the very second when the broadcast was due to start

Suddenly, we saw the true mettle of these guys when things go awry and we got a lesson in how the BBC can get the job done against the odds.

Seamless improvisation by Richard on Marigot in the Tay and Fred Macaulay in the studio resulted in the broadcast being                     re-established  by mobile phone and all the excitement of being surrounded by these huge, inquisitive, magnificent sea creatures was, for a few minutes, communicated in a very real and intimate way to the rest of our country.

Nice one. Good radio moment.                                     

20100707-DSC_2484-650x413
20100707-DSC_2489-650x393

Bless them, their wee faces and their breath that stinks of fish on a windless day.

20100707-DSC_2490-650x402
20100707-DSC_2550-650x435

Some of the most exciting sightings we see are of dolphins which don’t even break the surface They glow bright in the colour of the sea on that day, swimming deeply in the most fluent, exhilarating, powerfully acrobatic way imaginable. They exhibit impossibly sudden changes in direction and acceleration, swooping, turning, spinning, swimming upside down and yet ultimately they vanish again into the opaque depths of the Tay, disappearing from our sight as though they’d never been there.

20100707-DSC_2575-2-650x395

Crashing through the interface.  Just one view of an amazing creature.

20100707-DSC_2508-650x435

Happy days, shipmates

Images and web design are protected by copyright - Ken Bushe, webmaster   (e-mail)

Twin white1

 

Cygnets 150

Lost a story?  Look in News Archive

Tay Upside Down

If you want to see more dolphins, look in the Dolphin Gallery

Tay Upside Down

For the Underwater Dolphin Gallery, turn the page round

A_Earn_and_Tay_150

Aerial Photos of the River Tay are here

Near Balmarino 150

Tay Gallery for the river, landscape and sky

P5260160a-650x487

and Tails of the Riverbank for local beaks and whiskers

Pelican 150

Yes, that is a Pelican and it is local.

DSC_2124-150x99

About Taymara

DSC_0468

Vessel Refits and Maintenance