Our New Trip Blog
Please check out our trip blog for more frequent updates on the wildlife and what’s happening around Ramsey, including the first seal pup of the season, spotted 8th April.
Jet Boat Incident off St Justinian (not Venture Jet) April 14th 2009
The BBC news and others reported yesterday that ‘Five people have been injured, one seriously, after their boat landed heavily after coming off a wave off the Pembrokeshire coast.’
We would like to make it clear that this refers to another company with a very different boat (it’s a hard boat, not a RIB). We don’t know what happened but our thoughts are very much with all those involved.
We were operating yesterday as normal but without incident. We have an excellent safety record built up over more than 20 years and we will do everything we can to maintain that. So expect us to continue to nag you about how to hold on and sit etc!
January 2009
Last
spring we bought some additional land to plant trees and preserve wildlife
habitat. So far it's proved popular with badgers, visiting hoopoes and water
rails and even a white blackbird. But our favourite inhabitants have to
be the Shetland ponies who have just joined us and are keeping the land
under control for us.
Autumn 2008
It is with great sadness that we have to say, in the words of his obituary, that Piers Thurston ‘slipped his mooring for the last time’. We worked alongside Piers for many years at Thousand Islands when it was owned by Ocean Dynamics and ran jet RIBs. Shaun White, Piers and Tim headed the Thousand Islands team, unconsciously setting the standard for other skippers. Shaun White created awesome boats and in Piers he found one of the few people who could do them justice in the unforgiving waters around Ramsey. An impressive seaman with a dry wit, we do not expect to see his like again.
Grassholm Gannets Freed
Each autumn we take RSPB staff and volunteers out to Grassholm island to free gannets. Gannets use seaweed to make nests but also pick up rope, netting, fishing line and bits of plastic from the sea. As the chicks grow some inevitably end up tethered to the nest and so are unable to head out to sea. Adults too can become caught in line and netting, unable to fly or on occasion even to feed because the line is caught around their beaks. Gannets need to be handled with considerable caution: their long necks can reach a long way and their beaks are sharp! Fortunately they’re not too bright so if you offer a well wrapped arm for them to attack it’s usually possible to hug the body to you while they have a beak full of arm.
Seals can also become tangled in fishing line and netting. They are even
more difficult to rescue, with jaws that a rottweiler would envy and considerable
strength. We were able to rescue a young female in the summer caught in
rope and netting on the east side of Ramsey. If you find a seal in distress
please call the RSPCA or seal rescue. They can be dangerous to handle.
Venture Jet in the Press
Times
Online Best 50 Days Out in Britain summer 2007 and 2008: 'Sea Jetting
Pembrokeshire - All aboard the jet-powered boats - no wildlife-threatening
propellers here'.
Beano Max Easter 2008 Big Days Out - 'coolest, most awesome places to visit': 'You won't see a Great White (never say never) but there are very big basking sharks, seals, whales and dolphins! And … a super-fast jet-powered boat!'
Green Dragon Award
We have achieved the Green Dragon Environmental Standard Level 2. This is a formal assessment of every aspect of businesses and their environmental impact. The report concludes: 'Excellent environmental practices in place … It was apparent that they are … clearly committed to minimising the impact that their business has on the environment even where this may have led to greater costs ie the purchase of a boat which is more sustainable and less harmful on the environment than cheaper alternatives'. Not to mention much more fun!
Wildlife Update 2008
We spotted our first Ramsey seal pup of the season on May 1st and another on 8th May. Records show that seal pups have been born on the island in every month of the year but most are born in September & October. Razorbills and Guillemots are coming in to check out their breeding ledges and there are good numbers of adult seals still around.
Suspicious Package Found off Ramsey May 2008
We
were enjoying a sunny day off Ramsey with our passengers when we saw a gull
standing on some floating debris and pecking at it - hardly unusual but
as we approached we could see that something was wrong. The package was
unusually heavy (30 kilos at a rough guess) and rather well packed, with
white powder in it. We contacted the Coastguard immediately and took GPS
co-ordinates, requesting that they arrange for someone to collect the package.
The contents of the package were analysed by Forensics (CSI Pembrokeshire?)
and found to be cocaine. We've been working off the Pembrokeshire coast
for over 20 years and this is easily the weirdest thing we've come across.
Whatever it turns out to be we were glad to get rid of it! Thanks to our
passengers for their good humoured assistance! Pictured here are Mr and
Mrs Ball, celebrating their wedding anniversary.
Beach Watch 2008
We have adopted Whitesands beach under the Marine Conservation Society 'Beach Watch' scheme. This means that at least four times a year we gather together a group of people to clean the beach and do a litter survey, the results of which are sent to the MCS. If you would like to help our volunteers please contact us.
Charity Events
The perfect excuse to give yourselves a break and help charity at the same time. An ideal present!
Saturday June 9th 2007
This year we will be running our Charity Day in memory of Shaun White, who sadly died in 2006. Shaun took the New Zealand jet and built a RIB around it in the 1970s, ultimately perfecting the design with an aluminium hull tough enough to cope with the notoriously difficult sea conditions around Ramsey, where he had spent some time as warden for the RSPB. He subsequently set up Ocean Dynamics and designed and built RIBs which redefined the limits for working boats.
We will be running 1¼ hour wildlife adventure trips around Ramsey.
Trips will depart from St Justinian, St Davids. We will be watching seals
and porpoises and visiting colonies of kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills,
exploring caves and finishing with some jet manoeuvres.
Weather permitting trips are suitable for all ages (regrettably not babies).
A charity jet boat trip would also be a perfect Father’s Day present
(for Mums too!)
Trips will cost £15 for adults and £10 for under 14s and can
be booked on 08000 854786 or 01348 837764 or by emailing info@venturejet.co.uk
We are donating our time and all costs so every penny taken will go to
charity.
Money will be divided equally between...
Last year we raised £330.
We hope to do even better this year for the charities.
A charity jet boat trip would also be a perfect Father’s Day present (for Mums too!)
Saturday June 17th 2006
We will be running 1 hour wildlife adventure trips around Ramsey. Trips
will depart from St Justinian, St Davids. We will be watching seals and
porpoises and visiting colonies of kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills,
exploring caves and finishing with some jet manoeuvres.
Weather permitting trips are suitable for all ages (regrettably not babies).
Trips will cost £12 for adults and £10 for under 14s and can be booked on 08000 854786 or 01348 837764.
We will donate our time and all costs so that every penny taken will go
to the following charities:
UNICEF, to support community and disaster relief projects
Medecins Sans Frontieres to support humanitarian medical aid
PIPPA (Physically Impaired People of Pembrokeshire Association) to support
their advice service and the loan of disability aids
Saturday June 18th 2005
We will be operating 1 hour wildlife trips from St Justinians, St Davids. Come and see the seals and thousands of nesting seabirds (Razorbills, Guillemots, Kittiwakes).
Take time out to enjoy the beauty of Ramsey with the added excitement of a jet boat.
£10 each, adult or child.
Telephone 08000 854786 or 01348 837764 to book a place.
We are donating our time and all costs so every penny taken will go to charity.
Money will be divided equally between...
