Date: Wednesday 30th July, 2008

Anchorage: Duntulm Bay, Isle of Skye

Position: 57° 41’.400N 006° 20’.900W

Distance Travelled: 37 NM

On board for this trip is Dave our trusty skipper, Susie our devoted science monkey, Gen the fabulous first mate, and the willing and eager volunteers John, Robin, Judith, Victor, Elaine and Fiona (again).

After being induced onto the boat the previous night and then trained on how to spot cetaceans after brekkie, us volunteers were ready to put the newly acquired skills into practice. We eventually left the harbour in Kyle of Lochalsh (after some artistic photography of stanchions) and headed under the bridge (just!) out into the Inner Sound. The first round of observations included some orange creel buoys, some pink creel buoys, a few stripey creel buoys and did I mention creel buoys?! In fact we became so focused on counting creels that the first sighting was missed, but thankfully Gen was on the ball and spotted 3 porpoise sauntering by. There were a few more porp sightings before the sea became void of all life. All was not lost however, eagle-eyed Robin managed to spot a basking shark who clearly had somewhere to be and motored on by. There was also some stunning scenery to photograph as we passed the north-east coast of Skye, with sun rays beaming through the drizzle. The drizzle was not so picturesque when it reached the boat and waterproofs were reached for. Just as the weather began to deteriorate, a minke whale decided to raise its head but obviously decided it didn’t like the rain either and disappeared into the depths. He reappeared but not for very long so we headed on to our anchorage for the night. I’m sure it’s a beautiful anchorage but we can’t really see it! Once the anchor was down it was time for tea which was venison casserole expertly cooked to perfection by chief monkey. The lot was scoffed in no time. Fully fed and watered, skipper Dave gave us a masterclass in charts but it was probably more for his benefit than ours as he does love his charts! So to bed perchance to dream of bow-riding dolphins and lunging humpbacks!

Fiona + help