Close Encounters

Yesterdays Whalewatch Explorer was greeted with warm weather and plentiful wildlife.

Within half an hour of leaving Tobermory we had already found several groups of Harbour Porpoise, our most frequently seen marine mammal, but we continued further west towards the Isle of Coll.

Our first encounter with the larger creatures came shortly before lunch when within the space of an hour we came across two Minke Whales and numerous Basking sharks, two of the Basking sharks being within metres of the boat.

Following a brief Island landing we set out to rediscover the morning’s whales. We were then lucky enough to catch a glimpse of our third Minke in its entirety as it approached our vessel Sula Beag, and surfaced several times just ahead of the boat. Our return journey met with a further Basking shark which was a perfect ending to a pretty impressive trip.

Today is probably the hottest day we have had all season, with clear blue skies and no wind. Reports from todays Whalewatch are coming in of a Minke within the first 30 mins of the trip, spotted by our very own office manager Abs (not from the office, she was infact on board at the time...!!)

Tom
SLS Head Guide