We enjoyed our journey on the Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry for a family holiday so much last year that we decided to do it all again in 2026 - though instead of turning west at Bilbao for the Picos de Europa, the plan this year was to head east to the Pyrenees. Departing on 25th June during the UK's second heatwave of the summer, we were relieved when cool sea breezes kicked in just outside of Portsmouth as we enjoyed the first beer of the trip on deck 10 of the Galicia.
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| Common Dolphin, Bay of Biscay, 26th June |
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| Common Dolphin, Bay of Biscay, 26th June |
We departed Pompey around 1900 so there was not much time for wildlife watching before dark that evening, but I was up early the next morning as the ship approached the island of Ouessant off the coast of Brittany. It took a while for diligent sea-watching to reap any rewards but Common Dolphin started to appear more frequently as we steamed south, on one occasion pulling in a small pod of Pilot Whales - a first for me. We enjoyed good views of these, including some spy-hopping as we left the pod behind in our wake.
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| Common Dolphin, Bay of Biscay, 26th June |
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| Common Dolphin, Bay of Biscay, 26th June |
I continued to scour the waters of the Bay of Biscay, and we found ourselves comparing notes with birding royalty in the form of Prof Juliet Vickery, Chief Executive of the BTO, who was sitting next to us on the upper deck, eyes also peeled for cetaceans and seabirds. The latter were extremely few and far between (in contrast to the many Cory's Shearwater we saw on the way south last year) but a steady trickle of Common Dolphin was enough to keep us interested.
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| Pilot Whale - 2 dorsal fins plus a blow from a 3rd individual |
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| Pilot Whale, Bay of Biscay, 26th June |
A key target species in the Bay of Biscay is the Cuvier's Beaked Whale, and we enjoyed good views of a small pod on the way home in 2025. Heading south this year we scanned the ocean for much of the day without success, and my family and I were eventually driven below by hunger for a quick meal around 1700 to get back on deck for the much anticipated evening session. Juliet lasted a bit longer than us but no sooner had she and her partner headed below than the spotter from Orca on board picked up a Beaked Whale species which was presumed to be Cuvier's, but didn't show enough of it's front end to enable a conclusive identification. Ten minutes later the Orca spotter called a Cuvier's Beaked Whale more confidently, based on the torpedo like action of a whale breaching repeatedly in the distance for several minutes.
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Pilot Whale with calf, Bay of Biscay, 26th June
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| Beaked Whale sp, Bay of Biscay, 26th June |
I managed a few record shots but was more concerned about how I would break the news to Juliet that she had missed the show. Fortunately when she and her partner returned to the top deck it became apparent that they had seen the whale from the restaurant window. The rest of the journey couldn't match that for action, but a few more dolphin and a glorious sunset brought the day to a pleasant end.
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| Beaked Whale sp, Bay of Biscay, 26th June |
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| Beaked Whale sp, Bay of Biscay, 26th June |
We disembarked at 0800 on the morning of the 27th June into the baking heat of Bilbao and, rather than heading along the coast east towards our first destination near Lourdes, we took a more south-easterly route to approach the Pyrenees from the Pamplona direction as I had plans to head for a site for White-backed Woodpecker on the way over the mountains. At the first toll gate, however, just over 30 mins out of Bilbao, the car lost power and began spluttering horribly as we tried to pull away, forcing us into a lay-by alongside several perturbed-looking police officers who looked like they were going to shoo us back onto the motorway.
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| Cuvier's Beaked Whale breaching (1 of 4) |
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| Cuvier's Beaked Whale breaching (2 of 4) |
My Spanish is not great but I muttered something about 'problema' and when they heard the car they soon concurred that I had one! A kindly officer then walked out into 10 lanes of traffic, blew her whistle and stopped the oncoming vehicles so we could make a u-turn into a well-equipped, air conditioned service station which was just a couple of hundred years back in the direction we had come from. The car just about made it chugging in 2nd gear, and I pulled into the last shaded parking space to call for assistance.
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| Cuvier's Beaked Whale breaching (3 of 4) |
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Cuvier's Beaked Whale breaching (4 of 4)
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To cut a long story short it took most of the rest of the day to get a tow truck organised to take it to a secure location, but not before we had decanted copious amounts of luggage onto the roadside to await a taxi, into which we squeezed to take us to Bilbao airport to eventually collect a hire car, all fortunately covered under the policy. A capacious Citroen Berlingo thereby became our chariot for the next week or so, and I reluctantly had to knock the idea of looking for White-backed Woodpecker on the head and set the satnav straight for Lourdes to check into our accomodation for the first week of the trip.
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| Number 2 son on board the ferry - number 1 would join us later in the holiday |
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| Initially puzzled by the structures on this ship we eventually worked out these are fuel-saving modern sails, and the ship itself is Ariane 6, designed to carry the rocket of the same name |
As a footnote to this post, that was 9 weeks ago, and our car remains in Spain topping up its tan and awaiting 'repatriation', so if anyone from LV, their breakdown supplier Britannia or their European partner Opteven is reading this, I'd be grateful if you could stop ignoring my emails, pull your fingers out and bring it home!
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| Sunset over Biscay, 26th June |
