Date: 27th June 2009
Anchorage: Isle of Endsay, Sound of Harris
Position: 57°46.266N 007°05.612W
Distance surveyed: 60 miles

Not long after we set off from the Monach Isles there was great excitement as we had our first site of a Minke whale, which was just the start of a very special day where we were bombarded by sighting after sighting of cetaceans. The sight tally resulted in a total of 27 grey seal, 15 harbour porpoise, 5 dolphin and 3 Minke whale. One particular dolphin encounter had the dolphins very close to the boat and riding the bow wave alongside us, an amazing and privileged experience. The number of sightings was due in some part to the calmness of the sea today, it was like a mirror, but mainly to the improving ability of the volunteers and of course the crew.

Our route today took us out to Whale rock where we saw, surprise, surprise; a Minke Whale. Not only that but we were so inundated with numerous other cetacean sightings it was near impossible to get them all registered but being the fab crew we are everything seen was duly entered.

Today was also an excellent day for bird spotting and being not 15 miles from St Kilda we saw lots of Puffins and Gannets.

We are now anchored watching a fabulous sunset in one of the most spectacular locations in the whole of Scotland, the Sound of Harris.