|
Captain's Log
Swim with basking sharks with Sea Life Surveys and Acuatours Ltd!!!
Basking shark season is fast approaching (first sightings near Cornwall, so not long before they reach Scottish waters!) and what better way to appreciate these incredible animals, than a 5 day livaboard trip with Acuatours Ltd ( http://www....acuatours.com/) and Sea Life Surveys. “Our basking shark trip in Scotland is a pioneering venture with the best and most respected local logistics team. We remain the only company to offer a dedicated week long trip to photograph basking sharks anywhere in the UK” Acuatours Ltd.
See some of the incredible pictures taken on both the land and basking shark trips in our album upload.
For further details and availability please contact: acuatours@gmail.com or Tel: +44 (0) 1983 521799
The basking sharks return!
Wildlife Adventure - 24th April 2013
Bit of a windy day today but absolutely INCREDIBLE white tailed eagle action! An adult and a juvenile constantly yelping and calling out then flying past each other before talon grappling in the sky! Great Northern divers, common and black guillemots, gannets and razorbills were all sighted during the trip and some very well camouflaged common seals at Calve Island :-D
Photograph from passengers on our Wildlife Adventure on 20th April
Photograph of the 1st ever basking shark to be found in a plankton jar! Courtesy of John Howard and Stephen Rothwell who were on board for a wet and windy Wildlife Adventure on 20th April. Thanks so much for sending it in John! Hopefully better weather for your next trip with us!!! :-D
Article published in The Independent!
Tuesday 23rd April - Report of uncomfirmed large cetacean!!!
On Tuesday we had a report from one of the local fishing boats that a large cetacean was spotted North of Mull. We headed out for a 2 hour Ecocruz but no sign of it. After talking to the fishermen we're of the opinion that it could have been a sperm whale. There's no way of confirming if it was the same whale from Oban bay, but hopefully the fact that there have been no more sightings means that the big beastie has headed back out to open and much deeper waters.
We will be sure to keep an eye out on our upcoming trips and the camera to hand to get some ID shots! :-D
Sea Life Surveys - HQ!!!
SLS HQ has also had a refit this winter - now ready for the 2013 season ;-)
Ecocruz - 21st April 2013
Ecocruz passengers - 21st April 2013. Lovely sunny trip today with fantastic views of our 2 white tailed eagles at Ardmore! Both flying around giving us a view of that simply MASSIVE wing span! Guillemots, razorbills, a couple of Canada geese and some swallows on their returning migration were also about today. The Calve island seals were there to end another fun day out.
Wildlife Adventure - 20th April 2013
Wildlife Adventure passengers - 20th April 2013. A somewhat blustery 4 hour trip today but some good sightings! Thank you very much to Nic Davies for shouting to us as we passed the otter sitting on the bow of one of the local boats! Great views of golden eagles and a white tailed eagle in flight and one sat at Ardmore posing for pictures. Great Northern diver, great skua, black guillemots, gannets and razorbills were also spotted. A very sneaky porpoise only surfaced once in Loch Sunart and some common seals at Calve island ended a good trip :-D
Seal Cruise - 20th April 2013
Seal Cruise passengers - 20th April 2013. Lovely trip this morning to our local seal colony with a group of tour operators from Germany and Austria. Great views of the otter as we left the bay and a few seals about to start the day on a great note!
Ecocruz - 19th April 2013
Ecocruz passengers - 19th April 2013. Great to be back out on the water today! Sneaky porpoise around Ardmore but everyone caught the glint off it's back as it surfaced again a few times. Our local white tailed eagle was sitting out again today and we had over 20 common seals at Calve Island! They also stuck around for a wee Wildlife Taster trip afterwards. Well done Capt Lippy for helming solo! Back out again tomorrow for more beastie spotting! :-D
Congrats Capt Lippy!!!
Skipper Iain's first solo trip on Sula Beag today, well done Capt Lippy! Here's to many more folks ;-)
Minke whale association 1997 - Taken on board Alpha Beta
Ecocruz - 13th April 2013
Ecocruz passengers – 13th April 2013. Another great trip with awesome views of a white-tailed eagle flying over us. He almost appeared to be flying just for fun, enjoying the windy conditions! We also saw porpoise, common and Atlantic grey seals, gannets and guillemots. Great to have a famous face out with us today!!… :-)
Ecocruz - 12:30pm 12th April 2013
Ecocruz passengers – 12.30pm, 12th of April 2013. Perfect grey, flat calm conditions with all 3 of our target species for the second time today… porpoise, white-tailed eagle and seals! Also gannets and lots of black guillemots :-)
Ecocruz - 10am 12th April 2013
Ecocruz passengers – 10am, 12th of April 2013 . A bit of a rainy start to this morning’s trip (the first rain Mull’s seen in weeks!) but that did not stop us or our great sightings! We saw porpoise, white-tailed eagle, common seals and a great northern diver :-)
Ecocruz - 10th April 2013
Ecocruz passengers – 10th of April 2013. Action packed 2 hours with a white-tailed eagle, porpoise, common seals, great skua, great northern diver, a good plankton sample, superb scores on the Ecoquiz and crabs in the creels which we all got to hold :-)
Wildlife Adventure - 10th April 2013
Wildlife Adventure passengers – 10th of April 2013. Great sightings of two white-tailed eagles including one in flight above Sula Beag allowing us all to appreciate where they get the nickname ‘flying barn door’! Also common seals, several great northern divers, black guillemots, razorbills and nesting shags :-)
Whalewatch Explorer - 9th April 2013
Whalewatch Explorer passengers – 9th of April 2013. Another beautiful sunny day at sea and a trip to the stunning Cairns of Coll! We had fantastic visibility with great views of the snowy Cuillins of Skye and the Outer Hebrides. Lovely sightings of common and grey seals, puffins, feeding shearwaters, diving gannets, fulmars, great northern diver, whooper swans and a white-tailed eagle :-)
Ecocruz - 8th April 2013
Ecocruz passengers - 8th April 2013. Yet another beautiful day to be
heading out ... although a bit windier than it has been! Great views of a white
tailed eagle soaring above the tree line at Ardmore, followed by some black
guillemots paddling through the waves and a lovely group of shags out for a swim
at Bloody Bay. 10 common seals hauled out on the rocks at Calve Island then some
swimming crabs out of the creels before heading back to the pontoon :-D
Ecocruz - 7th April 2013
Ecocruz passengers - 7th of April 2013. Well done to young Ben on our 2 hour trip for spotting a white-tailed eagle flying over Sula Beag! We also hauled our creel pots for the first time this season and found lots of crabs. There must have been a high score on the Ecoquiz too as there's a few sticker prizes on show! :-)
Wildlife Adventure - 7th April 2013
Wildlife Adventure passengers - 7th of April 2013. Great conditions on today's 4 hour trip. We saw a white-tailed eagle, a very sneaky porpoise, common and grey seals, gannets, great northern divers, guillemots and razorbills. There was also a lot more going on in the plankton sample… a sign of a great season ahead? We hope so! :-)
Whalewatch Explorer - 6th April 2013
Whalewatch Explorer passengers and crew - 6th of April 2013. Thumbs up for today's 7 hour trip! We had superb conditions with some lovely sightings... porpoise, white-tailed eagle, fulmars, great northern and red throated divers, feeding shearwaters and our first PUFFINS of the season! We also did our first island landing on the beautiful Cairns of Coll with only the seals for company :-)
Ecocruz - 5th April 2013
Ecocruz passengers – 5th of April 2013. Back in from a wonderful 2 hours finding common seals, a white-tailed eagle, guillemots, gulls and nesting shags. We also listened to the hydrophone, trawled for plankton and enjoyed yet more sunshine! :-)
Ecocruz - 4th April 2013
Ecocruz passengers - 4th of April 2013. Just back from a sunny 2 hour trip with all three target species ticked off... porpoise, seals and eagles! Great views of a lone porpoise circling Sula Beag, 15 common seals at the local colony and a juvenile white-tailed eagle in flight :-)
Wildlife Adventure - 3rd April 2013
Wildlife Adventure passengers – 3rd of April 2013. A tremendous 4 hour trip with lots of wonderful porpoise sightings! We were able to sit with the engines off drifting amongst them in flat calm conditions, magic! We also saw common seals, 3 great northern divers and had good views of several white-tailed eagles in flight riding the thermals over a very sunny Mull :-)
Ecocruz - 2nd April 2013
Ecocruz passengers - 2nd April 2013. Gorgeous sunny trip exploring the sheltered waters around north Mull. We were treated to wonderful views of a white-tailed eagle soaring on the thermals, counted 24 seals at our local colony and also spotted an otter. The kids onboard all did great on the Ecoquiz with some very high scores, well done! :-)
Wildlife Adventure - 31st March 2013
Wildlife Adventure passengers – 31st of March 2013. Fantastic sightings on our 4 hour trip today with an otter before we even left the pontoon! We also had close views of porpoise, great northern divers, common and Atlantic grey seals, peregrine falcon, gannets, guillemots and lots of shags sitting on their nests. Great to have Andy Tait back onboard examining our plankton sample. Happy Easter everyone!! :-)
|
|
.jpg)
