Saturday 29th July
Anchored at Loch Bunaveneader, site of the famous Harris whaling station
Position: 57' 55.736' N 006' 50.842' W
Day of the whale…my first whale ever, and it was a humpback! Privileged, excited and gagging for some more whale action; that’s how I feel right now. Correction. I also feel mighty glad that we are all anchored up safely as the wind bish bash boshes about the boat.

We left our mooring this morning under clearish skies (some of it even blue) and we tootled out around the wee islands and islets, fish farms and pretty bays into the big blue. Easier said than done…Dave stopped to fix a mangled impellor in the engine room; Kim and I sampled our plankton and plastics respectively; numerous biscuits and cups of tea disappeared without trace…and then…the ‘Bottlenosed Dolphin Boys’ radioed to say they had just seen a humpback whale breach, just out of the inlet.

Lunch faded into insignificance as we headed out, eyes scanning the waves. Some were lucky enough to see it breach, others just the massive splash breaking the horizon with masses of white foam. Staying in the area for half an hour or so, we saw the animal surface again for air, its big blows loud enough to hear from a few hundred metres off, its sleek back disappearing beneath the waves once more. We continued South along the coast, as did our whale friend, it seemed, as we were treated to a final tail slap and view of its mighty flukes diving down as he journeyed on. Grand.

I didn’t think the day could get any better, though the icing on the cake was the few hours spent under sail this afternoon-the rumble of the engine silenced, leaving us to the warm wind and the mighty cliffs of Lewis. Lovely stuff. Then the rain came and the wind disappeared… The rain has since gone, yet the wind is still howling. Still no sign of those bottlenose dolphins…..
Irony has it that after beginning our fourth day of surveys with an amazing sighting of a humpback whale that we were to finish the day coming into anchor right outside an old whaling station, where in days gone by that same whale may have also ended its fate.

Sarah Outen, HWDT volunteer and Laura Mandleberg, HWDT Sightings Officer