Date: Monday 1st June 2009
Anchorage: Vatersay Bay (Vatersay, South of Barra)
Position: 56°55’.405N, 07°31’.849W
Distance travelled: 103.3NM

Today we are going to have a whale of a time...
We did! And that came from being in the right place at the right time.

We got up EARLY at 4.45 am and weighed anchor, to head to the Stanton Banks. As soon as we were underway and barely ‘On Effort’, we were overwhelmed with sightings! Most were basking sharks, the first ones of the season. Soon we had a system in place to keep the research records more efficiently! During the day, we saw 3 kinds of dolphins – white beaked, common and white sided; as well as minke whales. In addition there were harbour porpoises and grey seals. The banks were teeming with life! Effort concluded at 6 pm (to our relief) but sightings and their recordings continued – more dolphins, porpoises, grey seals and another minke whale. Diving gannets were often a clue to finding dolphins. They were especially enjoyed by Linda (who spent 4 hours in the crow’s nest) when the dolphins were bow riding. The weather was remarkable with sunshine and very light winds all day. The sea was calm and like glass at times, with only very little swell. About 51 basing sharks, 9 minke’s, 70 common dolphins, 75 white sided dolphins, 42 white beaked dolphins, 19 harbour porpoises, 5 unidentified seals, 1 common seal, 25 grey seals later and over 103 miles travelled since starting, we anchored for the night at Vatersay Island which is joined by a causeway to Barra Island in the Outer Hebrides. This was an extraordinarily unusual day in the Hebrides.