Padstow Sealife Safaris - Wildlife Watching Boat Trips Cornwall

The boat leaves Padstow harbour and within minutes you're scanning the water for fins. Padstow Sealife Safaris takes you out into the bay where seals, dolphins and sometimes basking sharks patrol these waters - proper wildlife watching, the kind where you're genuinely never quite sure what's round the next headland.

You'll see grey seals hauled up on rocks, their whiskered faces utterly indifferent to the boat full of humans pointing cameras at them. On a good day, bottlenose dolphins show up. On a better day, they decide to investigate you. The skipper knows these waters intimately and reads the water like you'd read a map - he'll kill the engine when something's about and let you drift and listen.

It's worth going with realistic expectations though. This isn't a guarantee you'll see everything; sometimes the seals are elsewhere and the dolphins don't fancy an audience. The trip usually runs two to three hours depending on conditions. Families with older kids (say eight and up) tend to get more from it than younger ones, though the novelty of being on a boat usually keeps them entertained regardless.

Based just up the coast from Padstow, staying at somewhere like Dennis Cove Campsite or Porthilly Beach Holiday Park gives you easy access, and you can combine it with exploring the town itself or hitting nearby Prideaux Place. Book ahead in summer - these trips fill up quick, and rough seas mean cancellations. Go mid-week if you can and you'll have a far more peaceful experience than weekends.