Date: Saturday 12th September
Anchorage: Gott Bay, Tiree
Position: 56°30’.726N, 06°48’.078W
Distance: 74.5NM

Almost as soon as we set off through the morning mist on what was to become a VERY long day Laura spotted the first basking shark of the day, only a baby but very co-operative as it fed by hovering in the tidal flow with 30 tons of Silurian only a few feet away. More sharks appeared as we made our way west in glorious weather into open water to survey an area south of Tiree. As this was to turn into a 75 mile, 12 hour voyage we continued on effort in a straight line to the 50 metre contour and then north to Tiree. Another close shark encounter enlivened the afternoon though the whales & dolphins remained elusive. Only Erika spotted anything,2 brief sightings,1 a minke whale, the other most probably a breaching basking shark, but both well astern and going away. The day ended with mackerel, fried potato & peach ratatouille. Yep, that was peach ratatouille and it works (that’s what happens when Nienke cooks something she doesn’t know and becomes creative).