Weekend on Mull

 Duart Castle from the Oban-Craignure ferry

Just back from a weekend on Mull with Chris C and Ash H. Had great success on our chartered boat with the excellent Sea Life Surveys out of Tobermory on Saturday, connecting with about 15 Basking Sharks off the north side of Coll during the afternoon in addition to a couple of Minke Whales and a bunch of Harbour Porpoises. Birds included a few White-tailed Eagles, and a couple of Storm-petrels among more common seabirds.

 Minke Whale

Basking Shark

The real highlight, though, was getting to swim with the sharks. Though we were a little limited on time, we had some great passes - best for me was one animal cruising by within just a few metres (see images below). Unfortunately I only had my housemate's basic Go Pro to take photos/video with, so only managed a few blurry records and a short video of one animal making a more distant pass. A couple of photos (that's Ash in the first one):

... and here's the video (best watched in HD):

Thanks very much to Ewan and all the rest of the team at Sea Life Surveys for a fantastic day out, and great to meet Sandy, Gus et al. on the boat. Here's hoping I'll be back next year!