Location: Tayvallich
Position: 56 N 01.308 005 W 37.080
Distance travelled: 50nm

It was an adventurous day aboard the Silurian which began with a brief sighting of a juvenile otter on the shore as we set out under a full rainbow along the Sound of Jura. Eagle-eye volunteer Michelle soon spotted a young basking shark. But the best was yet to come. The sea chop eased into a calmness as all eyes looked hopefully around the boat. A gray flash in the distance broke the surface and then suddenly – dolphinopolis! A pod of about fifteen bottlenose dolphins was swimming alongside. Science Officer Laura recognized some of them as being long term residents of the west coast of Scotland. There were 2 year-old calves among them frolicking about, showing off their graceful flukes and superior swimming skills and they dove and swam sideways under the boat.

The dolphins were the first to spot a boat of school-aged children on an outing and immediately headed straight towards them. The Goldeneye took a course parallel to the Silurian and we shared the fun of watching the pod surface in synchronous beauty with an occasional leap to the delight of the kids (on both boats) who cheered them onwards. The crew and volunteers basked in the glow of the dolphins’ effervescence for the rest of the day, enjoying an additional rare sighting of a storm petrel and playing in the phosphorescence at our mooring spot in Tayvallich. We are all looking forward to see where the wind takes us tomorrow.