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Captain's Log
Whalewatch Explorer - 30th July 2012
Whalewatch Explorer Passengers 30/07/12 - We are running out of words to describe our Whalewatch trips this season. We started with a WT Eagle and an early Minke whale encounter before been surrounded by Basking sharks and getting a surprise visit from our local hero Knobble the Minke! Two newly fledged Hen Harriers were seen getting mobbed by Terns as we were having lunch! Dolphins were the target species in the afternoon and we managed to track a mass feeding frenzy of 100 plus Commons and 100 plus Gannets...Special memories for all those on board.
Knobble the Minke whale is back in town!! here is a close encounter from todays Whalewatch!
Captain Admin!
Sea Life Surveys would like to say a HUGE thank you and farewell to our super star Office Manager Lydia!! We're very glad Lydia won't be going too far though, in fact just downstairs... you can pop in to see her in Tobermory's new Marine Visitor Centre!! You'll be missed Captain Admin :-)
Whalewatch Explorer - 28th and Wildlife Adventure 29th July
Whalewatch Explorer passengers 28th July - Another amazing trip today starting with 20 plus Basking Sharks surrounding Sula Beag in the sunshine. A Minke whale encounter followed as we could see the white bands on its pectoral fins as it su rfaced very close by. Towards the end of the trip we spotted a large cloud of Gannets to the north and after managing to track them we got rewarded with a mass feeding frenzy of 50 plus Common Dolphins and 150 plus diving Gannets! Amazing wildlife spectacle! We also saw our local White-tailed Eagle and two newly fledged chicks perched side by side. Other species sighted were Porpoise, Seals, Auks, Skuas and Shearwater. We bumped into Kasey the Minke on the way home to finish off a special day at sea!
Minke Whale, Whalewatch Explorer 28th July 2012
Wildlife Adventure passengers, 29th July 2012
Short trips today in the sunshine with both Sula Beag and Sula Crion out at sea! Lovely views of harbour porpoise on the Wildlife Adventure including a TINY calf! Both boats also had some fantastic views of our white tailed eagle family, great to watch the fledglings stretching their massive wings with their parents looking on! Also common and Atlantic grey seals, great plankton trawls and a good haul in the creels with squat lobsters and crabs :-)
Wildlife Adventure – 27th of July 2012
Wildlife Adventure passengers – 27th of July 2012. A true adventure today in the windy conditions but we had some great sightings in between the chop! Fantastic views of our local white tailed eagle family today including a fledgling in flight for the very first time!! It looked very fit and healthy flying across the sea in strong winds with ease, very exciting to see after months of watching the nest site! We also saw harbour porpoise, common seals and had lots of bird activity including terns, gannets and big groups of feeding shearwater :-)
One of the minke whales seen on yesterday's Whalewatch Explorer - 26th of July 2012 :-)
Whalewatch Explorer 26th of July 2012.
Whalewatch Explorer passengers – 26th of July 2012. Just gorgeous out there today, blue skies, flat calm seas and so much wildlife! 5 separate minke whales, around 25 bow riding common dolphins, lots of close views of harbour porpoise AND about 6 distant basking sharks! Wow!! Also gannets, fulmars, storm petrels, bonxies, a puffling and we even had time to spend half an hour watching the seals at lunch time!
Whalewatch Explorer 24th of July 2012.
Whalewatch Explorer passengers – 24th of July 2012. Great sightings of our resident harbour porpoise today and fantastic views of a white tailed eagle in flight both at the start and end of our trip. The larger beasties proved to be very elusive today but we stopped for lunch at the stunning Cairns of Coll amongst the seals and were entertained throughout the trip with lovely views of some of our favourite seabirds, including puffins, fulmars, bonxies, gannets and shearwaters :-)
Whalewatch Explorer - 23rd July and Kasey the whale.
Whalewatch Explorer passengers - 23rd of July 2012. Non-stop rain for the first two thirds of the trip but with our orange waterproof suits on we headed out and found lots of beasties including harbour porpoise with a tiny calve, 2 basking ...sharks, white tailed eagle and lots of feeding shearwaters. The rain stopped and the sun came out as we headed for home and we were rewarded by seeing a very special minke whale to Sea Life Surveys, called Kasey! :-)
This picture of Kasey the minke whale was taken by one of our passengers, Karen Stanford, on the Ecocruz on Friday the 20th of July, thank you Karen for letting us share your amazing photo :-)
Close up view of Kasey's very distinctive dorsal fin, taken on Friday the 20th of July. We saw this whale again on today's trip, in fact we've seen Kasey almost every season, apart from 3, in the past 12 years! :-)
Wildlife Adventure Trip - 22nd July 2012
Wildlife Adventure passengers - 22nd of July 2012. A wet and windy trip today but great fun all the same! We had an incredible harbour porpoise encounter. Porpoise are typically timid beasties but a group of 4 today were very social, surfin...g in the waves next to Sula Beag for around 10 minutes giving us great underwater views! Also feeding shearwaters and gannets, common seals, good plankton and a fantastic haul in the creels :-)
Close encounter of the stinky kind!
We've been having some unforgettable close encounters with some very inquisitive minke whales in the past few weeks... this pic was taken on our Whalewatch Explorer on the 3rd of July :-)
Dive with basking sharks in the UK
Ecocruz and Wildlife Adventure - 20th July 2012
On the early morning Ecocruz we were greeted by an old friend Kasey the Minke whale who has been recorded in our waters since the year 2000! He/she came into us and circled Sula Beag as the passengers on board were treated to a full body view of the whale! We also came across an immature Basking Shark and a White-Tailed Eagle. We hauled in our creel pots and got rewarded with two Edible Crabs and plenty of Shore Crabs. Ewan
Ecocruz passengers - 20th of July 2012.
Wildlife Adventure passengers – 20th of July 2012. On our family 4 hour trip we had more superb Minke whale action with another inquisitive animal. It is a memory that will stay forever when a mammal up to 10 meters in length associates wit...h you! Another couple of Basking Sharks were spotted along with our local White-Tailed Eagles lifting in the warm sunny conditions. Porpoise along with Common and Grey Seals were seen and our usual sea birds including Gannets, Shearwaters and Auks. What a day, a great experience of the variety of species British wildlife has to offer! Ewan
A great day was also had on Sula Crion… we were back out tagging basking sharks, successfully tagged 4 more off Hyskeir! We were accompanied home by a group of bow riding common dolphins, had many fulmar fly-bys and lots of storm petrels all in beautiful sunshine :-)
See our Facebook page for video footage of bow riding common dolphin and a very inquisitive harbour porpoise around Sula Crion!!!
https://www.facebook.com/#!/sealifesurveys
Whalewatch Explorer - 19th July 2012
Whalewatch Explorer passengers - 19th of July 2012. Fantastic trip and sightings with at least three minke whales, one of which seemed to want to join Popz in the wheelhouse! It surfaced out of nowhere a metre of our starboard side allowing us to see the white bands on the pectoral fins very clearly. We also had several small groups of common dolphins feeding amongst 40+ diving gannets, an incredible wildlife spectacle! :-)
Bow riding common dolphin!! We were joined by a group of around 10 individuals who played by the side of Sula Beag for over 10 minutes today :-)
Several encounters today with large numbers of diving gannets and common dolphins! :-)
The sun glistening of a minke's back on our way back home after a brilliant day :-)
Wildlife Adventure - 18th July 2012
Wildlife Adventure passengers - 18th of July 2012. The rain didn't stop us today, an amazing 4 hour trip with some great sightings... whales and sharks!! One minke whale came very close to us as did a basking shark, fantastic views of one right alongside Sula Beag! The flat calm, overcast conditions meant we were also spotting porpoise throughout the trip and great to see so many feeding shearwaters out there :-)
Whalewatch Explorer – 17th of July 2012
Whalewatch Explorer passengers – 17th of July 2012. Mouth watering conditions on our Whalewatch trip with a calm sea state and overcast white clouds creating a flat pale ocean for spotting marine life. Four Minke whales were seen and photographed for our ID work. Also everyone on board got a great experience of stinky whale breath coming from a nearby surface. More Basking Sharks were seen along w...ith some flying ones breaching clean out of the water. Consistent Porpoise sightings throughout with some calves seen as well. On the bird front we encountered all our usual sea birds including Gannets, Puffins and feeding Shearwater and our Local WT Eagle pair are watching on as their offspring are branching out and soon ready to fledge the nest! Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring! Ewan
Sula Crion was also out tagging three more basking sharks today, can anybody guess where we were?! We'll give you a clue... we were closer to Barra than we were to Tobermory!! :-)
Another stunning photo by Alex Mustard taken as part of the 2020Vision project when he joined us aboard Sula Crion last year! This is one of our favourite places to spend our lunch break on our 7 hour trips :-)
A young grey seal exploring a seaweed garden, Island of Coll, Inner Hebrides, Scotland.
© Alex Mustard/2020VISION
Follow one of the tagged basking sharks!
Whalewatch Explorer - 16th July
Whalewatch Explorer passengers - 16th of July 2012. An absolutely magic day at sea... close views of basking sharks (plus some distant breaches), at least 4 separate minke whales, around 15 common dolphins under a cloud of gannets, harbour porpoise and glorious blue skies and sunshine :-)
A minke whale's chin seen today, 16th of July!! :-)
One of the minke whales we saw on today's Whalewatch Explorer.
Wildlife Adventure - 15th July
Wildlife Adventure passengers (Millport students), July 15th 2012. Some great encounters on our short trips today. Within the first half an hour we watched a White-tailed Eagle drift right into the heart of a Golden Eagle territory causing ...a constant yelping from the usually silent Goldie as it chased the flying Barn door out of its patch! For such a large hardy bird the Golden Eagle has got a very lame call! As we ventured down Loch Sunart everyone on board enjoyed the stunning highland landscapes. Harbour porpoise, Red-Throated Divers, a cautious otter, Common Seals and their pups and a good number of Manx Shearwaters, Gannets and other Auks were also seen.
Later, during the Ecocruz, we were surrounded by hunting harbour porpoises riding the waves, saw the Golden Eagle and caught a squat lobster in the creel. What a great day! Ewan
Basking shark pictures and footage.
Basking Shark tagging project!
Whalewatch Explorer - 14th July 2012
Whalewatch Explorer passengers - 14th of July 2012. After a rather bumpy morning at sea we were rewarded with some amazing views of basking sharks close to the boat, a great porpoise sighting including seeing them surf the waves underwater and two sneaky minke whales! We also saw white tailed eagles, puffins, diving gannets, storm petrel, red throated divers, great skuas and called in for lunch with the seals :-)
Wildlife Adventure - 13th July 2012
Wildlife Adventure passengers - 13th of July 2012. Full sunshine on today's trip with fantastic views of 2 white tailed eagles getting mobbed by a buzzard, hen harrier, porpoise, common seals, lots of auk chicks now out at sea and some very elusive bottlenose dolphins which sadly only a couple of people on board saw! :-)
Whalewatch Explorer and an Ecocruz 12th July
Our view whilst stopped for our lunch break today! :-)
Whalewatch Explorer passengers - 12th July 2012. Glorious sunny trip today with basking sharks, some very sneaky minke whales, porpoise, white tailed and golden eagles! :-)
Sula Crion was out running short trips today and saw the first SUNFISH of the season on a 2 hour Ecocruz!! Brilliant sighting!! :-)
Wildlife Adventure 11th July
Wildlife Adventure passengers - 11th of July 2012. Great 4 hour trip today with grey, flat seas... just the way we like it! We saw 2 minke whales feeding hard amongst a group of shearwater, lovely views of porpoise including a couple of young ones, a white tailed eagle and lots of puffins! :-)
Minke whale seen on today's Wildlife Adventure, 11th of July 2012 :-)
Red-necked phalarope seen on the 9th of July, a rare sighting for us! :-)
Whalewatch Explorer - 10th July 2012
Whalewatch Explorer passengers – 10th of July 2012. More marine magic for today’s Whalewatch with a Minke Whale, a small pod of feeding Common Dolphins, a good number of Basking Sharks holding at the surface and some of our local Harbour Porpoise. On the bird front we had WT Eagle attempting to steal a Gannet’s fish, we also had a battle of the Arctics with a pair of Skuas harassing Terns, Storm Petrels and all our other usual species. The passengers onboard were privileged to some great spectacles today in glorious spells of Hebridean sunshine!
Ewan
Whalewatch Explorer 9th July
Whalewatch Explorer passengers - 9th of July 2012. An adventurous seven hours at sea today as we tackled the large swells to be rewarded with a flurry of activity including a Minke Whale, over 10 Basking Sharks and a Red-necked Pharalope! M...ore good views of our superstar eagles and spent the lunch break with terns and also seals and there newly born pups. Young birds are starting to show with a Great Skua fledgling and also Auk chicks and Pufflings! Ewan
A superb close encounter with one of our local white tailed eagles photographed by guide Ewan! We have been getting fantastic daily sightings of them over the past few weeks :-)
Wildlife Adventure 8th July
Wildlife Adventure - Sunday 8th July 2012. A great four hours at sea today with a Minke whale surprising us all by surfacing 50 yards off our starboard side! Amazing views of our local pair of White-tailed Eagles along with Diving Gannets, Shearwater, Auks and Seals.
Whalewatch Explorer - 7th July 2012
Whalewatch explorer - Saturday 7th July 2012. Windy and choppy but bright conditions today. However, the whales weren't bothered by the waves and we sighted two, one slightly shy animal first visible by its blow between the swells and a second in the vicinity of feeding shearwaters and diving gannets. We even saw porpoise amongst the white capped waters! And to top it off a fishing Sea Eagle as we headed home. The infamous 'Island tea room' cakes were also sampled during our lunch break on Muck.
Captain Lew.
Wildlife Adventure 6th July 2012
Wildlife Adventure passengers - 6th of July 2012. Great 4 hour trip today in the sunshine with fantastic close views of white tailed eagles, common and Atlantic grey seals, porpoise, diving gannets, feeding shearwater and the first of the very fluffy guillemot and razorbill chicks out at sea :-)
Then a Minke whale on our 2 hour Ecocruz in the evening!! :-)
Staffa and Lunga footage.
5th July - Whalewatch Explorer.
Whalewatch Explorer passengers - 5th of July 2012. Fantastic trip again today with wonderful close views of basking sharks, sneaky minke whales, porpoise, white tailed eagles and we were surrounded by lots of common seals with their pups as we sat eating our lunch in the sunshine! :-)
Guide Jayne (aka Sharky) with today's incredible plankton sample, no wonder we found so many baskers! :-)
One of the many basking sharks we found gorging on plankton on today's Whalewatch Explorer - 5th of July 2012 :-)
Some more Ray Mears : )
Ray Mears about to jump in the water with the second biggest fish in the world during filming for ITV's Wild Britain - 1st of July 2012 :-)
Recent ID pictures for surveys.
Great views of basking sharks close to Sula Beag today, 3rd of July 2012 :-)
This friendly minke whale popped up right next to Sula Beag today taking us all by surprise! It then surfaced several times right around us... we were practically looking down it's blow holes!! :-)
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