Monday 3rd July
After a long day at sea yesterday we were relieved to hear we could stay a little longer in our beds and have a more leisurely start to the day. We were greeted with a beautifully sunny day, blue sky and happy faces. After breakfast we decided to get in the dingy and head for the shore and explore the land wrapping itself around our night time slumbers. As we neared the beach of white sand and shells, Chris jumped out to pull us ashore, his wellies filling with water as he went. The beach had a scattering of cows and calves, sun bathing and seeming pleased to have some entertainment early in the day. After a welcome walk and stretch of the limbs we climbed back in to the dingy to find ourselves to be the centre of attention of four common seals popping out of the water around us. Back on the boat we set off on a meander towards Tiree. This stretch of water was very quiet on the cetacean count, and for birds too for that matter. We saw 1 basking shark (although Gordon counted 2 excitedly, not realising we had turned for a better view) and 1 seal gliding by on its back looking towards the heavens. This was sighted by Chris initially as an anaconda, but later corrected by the team members who were more on the ball.

As we neared Tiree to our delight we were able to spend some time in a group of 7 basking sharks and were able to watch them mouths aghast (the sharks too), feeding and a courting. Once parked up we ate a hearty pasta supper and then some of us went ashore for a wander to the pub. Gordon managed to inflate his lifejacket inside the pub much to our and the locals amusement. After a drink and a local drama involving an angered Angus slamming down his whisky glass we set off back to the boat, with a guilty Gordon clutching his life jacket and fearing the worst from the skipper. With the 11 o’clock sky awash with a beautiful sunset we spotted a large sheep doing night watch and surveying the land around us from the top of a rock (the nearest thing to a hill in the area). Ted caught this menacing creature on camera with illuminated shining eyes, and we named him Angus too. All was quiet as we got back to the boat and slowly made our way to bed.

Tuesday 4th July
I suspect that everyone will want a chance to describe this extraordinary day. It began like any other… Skipper had threatened an early start. Fine, we can cope with that. What we didn’t reckon on was Laura shouting “Rise and Shine” at first light. As one, the volunteers rose horizontally from their bunks. Only Gordon was awake, nervously clutching his life jacket and inventing a convincing explanation for its inflated state. Rejecting the unbelievable (Angus the Sheep headbutted it: he fell in the sea while sleepwalking) he opted for the truth. Skipper kindly showed him how to deflate it, and the bill for a new gas canister – a mere £15 – will be sent later. At that, Gordon felt that he’d got off lightly.

Breakfast was a toast-in-one-hand-banana-in-the-other affair and by 8.30 we were away with the first observers on deck. The weather was perfect: hot enough for shorts. The sea was a gently moving kaleidoscope of blues and greys and conditions for sighting were the best we’ve had on this trip.

Less than half an hour away from port we saw the shiny, oily fin of our first basking shark. Then another, and another. Majestically, these huge, beautiful creatures wove backwards and forwards near the boat, changing direction with graceful sweeps of their tail fins. Their huge gaping mouths were nearly as wide as the volunteers’, who could not believe their good fortune.

Towards 2.00 we were favoured again. By now the sun had gone, the mist was down and the sea was completely calm. And the sharks came. This time there were more than fifty of them. We stayed with them for over two hours. At first we were noisy and excited. Then, one by one, we fell quiet. We could have been on another planet, inhabited only by strange and wonderful creatures.