{"id":792072,"date":"2026-10-04T22:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T22:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/792072\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T22:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T22:06:11","slug":"wildlife-tour-gets-unusual-encounter-as-curious-minke-whale-circles-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/792072\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildlife tour gets ‘unusual’ encounter as curious minke whale circles boat"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the ‘icing on the cake’ for the luckiest of passengers and crew in Cornwall who saw the whale, ‘hundreds’ of dolphins AND tuna on the same trip\"A<\/p>\n

A curious minke whale was spotted by a Marine Discovery Penzance tour(Image: Marine Discovery Penzance)<\/p>\n

A wildlife watching tour group were treated to a remarkable sight when a curious minke whale circled their boat.<\/p>\n

The inquisitive mammal was captured on camera by the wildlife tour operator Marine Discovery Penzance<\/a> as it explored around their boat, leaving the crew and passengers in awe.<\/p>\n

Duncan Jones, skipper and co-owner of Marine Discovery Penzance, estimated that the minke stuck around for around 20 minutes which he said is highly “unusual” behaviour from the whale.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really nice encounter with a minke because sometimes you can see one or two surfaces, then they will disappear, not always but sometimes,\u201d Duncan told CornwallLive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, when you get a really social one like that, it\u2019s really interesting and exciting because it\u2019s lovely to see them and you get the idea that they have chosen to come and interact with you, which is a really interesting thing, especially when they can be what we call a more shy or avoidant animal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duncan said they first came across the minke after spotting Rupert Kirkwood, who is known across the South West as the Lone Kayaker, with a large social media following, and a friend while out on the water just southwest of Penzance.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The wildlife tour was also treated to a tuna sighting (Image: Marine Discovery Penzance)<\/p>\n

As the tour boat approached the kayakers, they saw the minke surface the water before it began circling them and swimming under the boat.<\/p>\n

While it is not unusual to see minke whales in the South West, it is unique to see them being so sociable, Duncan explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinke whales are the most commonly sighted whale in the South West,\u201d he said. \u201cThis year it\u2019s not been a great year for them actually, it has been a poor year for whale sightings off the South West, so it\u2019s not unusual to see a minke whale but it is unusual to see one interacting with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don’t let an algorithm decide what Cornwall news you see – click here<\/a> to add CornwallLive as your preferred Google source.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThere are different behaviours of minkes, sometimes you see them feeding and it\u2019s spectacular to watch them lunge feeding, sometimes you just watch them surfacing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when they choose to investigate the boat, it\u2019s quite a special experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The wildlife tour also saw ‘hundreds’ of common dolphins(Image: Marine Discovery Penzance)<\/p>\n

The minke whale was the \u201cicing on the cake\u201d of the wildlife tour last Monday (September 21) as Duncan said the group of 12 passengers had also witnessed \u201chundreds\u201d of common dolphins and tuna during the trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn that day, I think we saw hundreds of common dolphins and tuna, so it was already exciting for the passengers and then we saw the minke whale so it was really the icing on the cake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Want the latest Cornwall breaking news and top stories first?<\/p>\n

Get all the latest stories, sent straight to your WhatsApp – all you need to do is click the link: https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/CKObHkgJF4T5fRZxiGdYqd<\/a>We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice: https:\/\/bit.ly\/41EZjzx<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the ‘icing on the cake’ for the luckiest of passengers and crew in Cornwall who saw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2851,114789,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-792072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-penzance","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}