What a beautiful day…under the rain!!!
The wake up was gorgeous, beautiful bay, sunny, without wind and warm enough to take the breakfast outside (only for the people wake up on time!!). A little bit of exercise as usual (40m of chain) and go!!!
On the way we stopped the boat in front of Lunga Island and landed to observe the puffins nesting. An hour of beauty…magic… First we walked in the middle of little birds (ringed plover, wren…), after we climbed to the top and into the world of marine birds - full of shags flying and nesting, seagulls, fulmars, razorbills and of course puffins. They were amazing, flying from the nest to the sea, coming back with a beak full of fishes, looking at the camera…
But we had to continue the survey and so back to the boat. One hour was to short but enough to charge our bodies with peace & unforgettable images. Still some exercise (rib to put on the boat +20m of chain)…
The rain started from this time to continue all the day.
Despite this, the survey was successful, 1 Bottlenose dolphin, 4 Porpoises, 2 Basking shark and perhaps 1 Minke whale!!! Only the skipper saw a ‘big splash’ once, so hard to say with precision what this was [this was the supposed minke whale]. But it was enough to prolong the trip to try to see it. This prolongation was useful because it was during this time we saw the 2 basking shark and a porpoise.
To finish the day, we anchored in the beautiful loch Moidart and before going to bed, Marcus added some dreams and images to our minds with a presentation about Humback Whales in Australia…
This was really a beautiful day!!!!!
Marjolaine, assistant science PI



puffin with a mouthful of sandeels - Lunga island