Today, having fully rested for a day and-a-bit we left Loch Maddy in time to start monitoring at 9:00, since the winds had calmed down considerably and were much more suitable for surveying – the sun even threatened to shine! We headed out into the Minch, continuing southwards in the direction of our final destination today of Barra – near the tip of the Outer Hebrides. Come midday, despite glorious sunny conditions, there were no sightings so I took advantage of the weather to climb the crows nest and be another look out for suspicious activity of the cetacean kind on the horizon. As promised by others on board, it is amazing up there and pretty special when you’re enjoying the company of gannets and gulls as they fly alongside you! After an 11/2 hours, and not a cetacean in sight I went returned to the deck, just in time for our best sighting so far – a school of 20-30 common dolphins!!

We were treated to sights of ‘waves’ of dolphins appearing in front of us – 2-4 individuals swimming at a speed, in perfect synchrony as well as breaching as they went, with more individuals appearing seconds after. The experience was made even more exhilarating when the dolphins bow rode and were so close that I felt I could almost touch them – it was an incredible scene having 20-30 dolphins effortlessly swimming alongside the boat so close you could hear and see them breathing out with each leap clear of the water and see calves too - keeping up with the group – some so small – just under a metre long, and hadn’t yet developed the slender snout of the adults! The site of many youngsters in the school (of varying sizes) is encouraging news too – maybe it’s a sign that the species is doing ok in this neck of the ocean.

The dolphins were in amongst a scene of frantic activity - the hurry we have been looking for consisted of Gannets that circled above,– one dived literally within metres of our boat, so that you heard the impact of the bird hitting the water, and saw it travel beneath the surface!

After half an hour the dolphins disappeared and we left to arrive at Castlebay, Barra around 4:00. Let’s hope we get some good sightings tomorrow too!

Log by Carolynn