Wales
New Quay
A harbour where bottlenose dolphins pass within sight of the pubs, in Dylan Thomas's bay.
Bottlenose dolphins are seen off the harbour here through the summer, sometimes close enough to watch from the wall with an ice cream in your hand. New Quay, Cei Newydd, is a village of terraces stacked above three beaches on Cardigan Bay, home to Britain's largest resident population of the animals and the best place in Wales to meet them.
Harbour Beach sits under the village, sheltered by the harbour wall, with fine sand, a designated swimming area and lifeguards in the summer season; Dolau lies beyond the wall, and Traeth Gwyn runs almost a mile towards Llanina Point, wilder and cut off at high water. The dolphins are the summer draw, and the boat trips are run by skippers accredited under the WISe code, feeding sightings to the Sea Watch Foundation, one of them with a hydrophone that lets you hear the animals below. The Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre, in a heritage building over the beach since 1996, is staffed by volunteers and explains the bay's big three, dolphin, porpoise and grey seal, along with the sunfish, basking sharks and occasional whales that turn up. Dylan Thomas lived at Majoda above Traeth Gwyn through the winter of 1944 to 1945, escaping his household to the pubs, and the town is thought by many to be one of the originals for Llareggub. A regatta fills the harbour each August and a race into the sea greets New Year's Day; Aberaeron, seven miles on, has honey ice cream and a painted harbour for the second afternoon.
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Solo
An early boat with the hydrophone, then a seat on the harbour wall with a paperback and the whole bay ahead.
Couple
A summer evening on the wall watching for dolphins, ice cream from Creme Pen Cei, and one of the over-the-water sunsets the coast is known for.
Family
A sheltered sandy beach, dolphins looked for from a boat and from the wall, and a free wildlife centre staffed by volunteers.
Friends
A boat out in the morning, the Dylan Thomas Trail through the tumbling streets, and the harbour pubs after.
- Britain's biggest resident population of bottlenose dolphins lives in Cardigan Bay, and Cei Newydd is the hottest spot to see them, a summer spectacle the boats set out for, with no guarantees.
- Boat trips run by WISe-accredited skippers gather data for the Sea Watch Foundation, and one runs a hydrophone so you can hear the dolphins and porpoises under the hull.
- The Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre, founded in 1996 in a heritage building above the beach, is the hub of the bay's marine research and free to walk into.
- Dylan Thomas spent the winter of 1944 to 1945 at Majoda above Traeth Gwyn, and New Quay is thought by many to be one of the originals of Under Milk Wood's Llareggub.
Ice cream from Creme Pen Cei on the harbour, a technicolour cabinet of flavours piled with toppings and fruit.
Honey ice cream on Aberaeron's harbour wall, seven miles up the coast, while you take your chances on a dolphin passing.
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