How was the 2007 season for you?
The 2007 season saw Sea Life Surveys say farewell to two of our most hard working boats. Alpha Beta, who had been with us for over 15 years, aboard her many of our return customers have fond memories, was lost to the sea while on her mooring during a winter storm. Maid of Tobermory, who had been in service for 6 years, started her retirement in Bangor Lough (Ireland) as a safety boat.
Sula Beag was to fill the shoes of both boats and is more than capable. The fully equipped purpose built passenger vessel, has space for up to 70 passengers (although we only carry up to 40) with a raised spotting area for 19 people, heated cabin, two toilets and a bar offering hot and cold drinks when we stop for a break, as most of us know these are the perfect ingredients for a whale watching vessel. All she had to do was get the trust of the wildlife.
March is always a fickle month. The season is just starting and both the wild and human visitors are just starting to arrive. As usual the porpoises were in abundance showing signs of increased feeding to the delight of our inshore boat, but the whales were proving harder to find.
April showed us an expected increase of food in the water, plankton was abundant and we were starting to see “hurry’s”. The weather was great, flat calm and sunny, and the whales were in abundance. Inshore the eagles were foraging regularly above the cliffs and porpoises were ever present.
May has in recent years been the best for weather, and this year was no exception, we can always rely on occasional gales but they normally only last a day. The whales were feeding in areas off the Ardnamurchan peninsula and the east side of Coll and the crew and passengers were getting sunburnt! Lucky passengers were surrounded by groups of 5 or 6 whales feeding round the boat and the Common Dolphins had arrived as well and were sighted regularly through the month. Risso Dolphins were also sighted but were hard to track. The Basking Sharks had arrived in our waters and were being seen in high numbers round Coll and off the west coast of Mull.
June continued May’s trend of wildlife, with lots of whales, sharks and dolphins. The feeding was now becoming cyclic, which can be associated with tidal activity and to a certain extent wind direction. Tidal currents have a direct influence on the plankton movement and the whales have a good sense of where the best feeding is to be had. Each day the race is on to find were the best feeding is, and therefore where the whales are! Our Whale Watch Explorer pioneers in finding the whales, everyone is involved in the search and success in finding a whale gives extreme satisfaction. Passengers on the inshore trips were treated to great views of newly hatched Peregrine falcon chicks, Territorial eagles and very playful Bottlenose dolphins.
July was a fantastic month for our Wildlife Adventure and Ecocruz. Sea Eagles, Golden Eagles and Peregrine Falcons were ever present in the sheltered waters of the sound. Porpoise calves were everywhere and whales and sharks were making their way into the sound for some feeding. Out of the sound in the open water the whales were still present off Coll and now North towards the Small Isles.
August saw an old friend come and visit us, ‘ Kasey ‘ a whale who had not been sighted for several years became resident in the Sound of Mull for about 3 weeks, it even came to within 100m of Tobermory bay, this was a great bonus for any passengers on the inshore trips, and a blessing for the days when the weather was too bad to go out to sea.
September. The last day of August and first day of September were the Killer Whale days, normally they are seen 2 or 3 times a year and it is impossible to tell when. The Minkes were still abundant but stretched over the area, feeding as hard as possible before the winter migration.
October is our last month of the season and our time to say goodbye to the whales for the winter. The highlight of the month was a pod of 30 Bottlenose Dolphins which stayed with us for 3 hours on our last trip.
Lewis Drysdale, Skipper
Sula Beag was to fill the shoes of both boats and is more than capable. The fully equipped purpose built passenger vessel, has space for up to 70 passengers (although we only carry up to 40) with a raised spotting area for 19 people, heated cabin, two toilets and a bar offering hot and cold drinks when we stop for a break, as most of us know these are the perfect ingredients for a whale watching vessel. All she had to do was get the trust of the wildlife.
March is always a fickle month. The season is just starting and both the wild and human visitors are just starting to arrive. As usual the porpoises were in abundance showing signs of increased feeding to the delight of our inshore boat, but the whales were proving harder to find.
April showed us an expected increase of food in the water, plankton was abundant and we were starting to see “hurry’s”. The weather was great, flat calm and sunny, and the whales were in abundance. Inshore the eagles were foraging regularly above the cliffs and porpoises were ever present.
May has in recent years been the best for weather, and this year was no exception, we can always rely on occasional gales but they normally only last a day. The whales were feeding in areas off the Ardnamurchan peninsula and the east side of Coll and the crew and passengers were getting sunburnt! Lucky passengers were surrounded by groups of 5 or 6 whales feeding round the boat and the Common Dolphins had arrived as well and were sighted regularly through the month. Risso Dolphins were also sighted but were hard to track. The Basking Sharks had arrived in our waters and were being seen in high numbers round Coll and off the west coast of Mull.
June continued May’s trend of wildlife, with lots of whales, sharks and dolphins. The feeding was now becoming cyclic, which can be associated with tidal activity and to a certain extent wind direction. Tidal currents have a direct influence on the plankton movement and the whales have a good sense of where the best feeding is to be had. Each day the race is on to find were the best feeding is, and therefore where the whales are! Our Whale Watch Explorer pioneers in finding the whales, everyone is involved in the search and success in finding a whale gives extreme satisfaction. Passengers on the inshore trips were treated to great views of newly hatched Peregrine falcon chicks, Territorial eagles and very playful Bottlenose dolphins.
July was a fantastic month for our Wildlife Adventure and Ecocruz. Sea Eagles, Golden Eagles and Peregrine Falcons were ever present in the sheltered waters of the sound. Porpoise calves were everywhere and whales and sharks were making their way into the sound for some feeding. Out of the sound in the open water the whales were still present off Coll and now North towards the Small Isles.
August saw an old friend come and visit us, ‘ Kasey ‘ a whale who had not been sighted for several years became resident in the Sound of Mull for about 3 weeks, it even came to within 100m of Tobermory bay, this was a great bonus for any passengers on the inshore trips, and a blessing for the days when the weather was too bad to go out to sea.
September. The last day of August and first day of September were the Killer Whale days, normally they are seen 2 or 3 times a year and it is impossible to tell when. The Minkes were still abundant but stretched over the area, feeding as hard as possible before the winter migration.
October is our last month of the season and our time to say goodbye to the whales for the winter. The highlight of the month was a pod of 30 Bottlenose Dolphins which stayed with us for 3 hours on our last trip.
Lewis Drysdale, Skipper
posted by Sea Life Surveys at
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