Quiet Time

Well, For One Boat At Least…
It was an odd morning to say the least for Dolphin Spirit and Mischief; arguably the best weather all day, but as far as sightings went, it was a real strange time. Mischief left at 9.30am as usual, and were quick to alert the crew of Dolphin Spirit to the appearance of Kesslet and Charlie, who were sitting near the cardinal marker just outside of the river. That ramped up anticipations across the board. Mischief went zooming out to Chanonry, leaving Dolphin Spirit to track down the gruesome twosome at 10am. When the big boat rolled out of the marina, having herded passengers on early to help increase the chance of spotting them, they scanned high and low for fins. The Beauly Firth turned up empty, and under the Kessock Bridge too. Out past Meikle Mee we found nothing, by Kilmuir it was dead. We couldn’t understand it… then we got a phone call. Charlie Phillips, sitting at the RNLI Station, called concerning the dolphins he had seen near Allanfearn. We had been looking for them, but could see none of the action he had talked about. We kept looking and looking as we came to and passed Alturlie for the elusive pair, and to no avail. Downhearted, we returned to the marina. When Mischief arrived back to liaise, we found out that the terrible two were all they had seen, coming upon them again on their way back near Castle Stuart. It just put more questions on the table as to why we didn’t see them at first out on Spirit, but confirmed that would likely be the last we were to have of them in this part of the firth… bummer.

Mischief Finds Friends, Twice!
While the day remained a quiet one overall for Spirit, on Mischief, it couldn’t be more different. The 12.30pm trip rocketed out to much fanfare, hoping to at least catch up with our wandering locals again. On arrival to Chanonry, they found Kesslet and Charlie there, and a little further out, also found they were not alone! As they came to Craig Mee, a group of youngsters put on quite the show, bouncing all over the place near the boat! After a rousing dance with the dolphins in that part of the firth, it was soon to turn around and come home, so Mischief left them behind. Big smiles on faces for the rest of the day after that one! The 3.30 trip also had high expectations, and were lucky enough to encounter Kesslet, Charlie, Scoopy, and a mother and older calf (no ID as yet on them) nice and close too. They were playing in the waves when the boat rocked up to Chanonry in the strong wind, and came to play briefly as the boat trundled through. All in all for them, it was a very successful day! We can only hope that this sudden relocation of our resident three doesn’t become a regular thing!