Sunshine, Dolphin-Hops, and Rainbows!
Full Day of Dolphin Fun!
After another strangely quiet day on the dolphin front yesterday, we kept up the pattern of “all or nothing” today with a fantastic 4 out of 4 day! Not only did Dolphin Spirit find dolphins on all 4 sailings, but Mischief found them across all 3 of theirs! A very successful day! It was a real mixed bag activity-wise as well, with Kesslet and Charlie at times distant, at others putting on quite the show! It all started with a really close, and sudden, encounter with the pair at Meikle Mee. After assuring passengers that “just because dolphins hadn’t been seen yet doesn’t mean they won’t”, guide of the day Krystyna was soon proven correct when the gruesome twosome sprouted up as the boat was coming back towards to marina, passing the big green buoy. Their appearance wasn’t just a sudden surprise, but a close one too, with Charlie poking his mustachioed nose out of the water to have a real good look at everyone on board! The pair swam under the boat and off out behind, towards the Culloden side area of the firth, moving slow but with purpose. We hoped that they would come in towards the river after hunting a little out there, as they have been doing recently, but they must have decided to go straight there; but 12pm, they already had salmon while they sat in the river!
Afternoon Antics
As morning turned to afternoon, the pair stuck about hunting for the best part of it. The 2pm was a little bit of a nerve-jittering one, as neither of the dolphins was spotted in the river or around the Kessock Channel on first glance! Thankfully, as we came out under the bridge, there they were, sitting off of the Inverness Caley Thistle Stadium! Seemingly just milling about, the boat watched as the pair surfaced only slightly and slowly every minute or so. Then suddenly, a flash of activity! Fins zoomed back and fore, and soon it was over, as quick as it started. A tail raised out of the water in a clumsy forward flip, almost as if celebrating; the pair must have caught something! We later spotted Charlie through the glare, sitting in the river mouth; Kesslet must’ve been further upriver again. The 4pm trip proved the most active by a garden mile! As we came out of the river, skipper Stuart spotted that a group of seagulls seemed to be mobbing a particular area of the riptide, and sure enough, we found Kesslet in there with a lovely big fish. Charlie was milling around in there too, but made his way out and into the river again as we were going under the bridge. When we saw the pair for the last time, they were all over the Scot Isles, a cargo vessel leaving harbour. Charlie gave a lovely big breach off the bow, signalling where we should look, and we soon found that mum Kesslet was getting in on the fun too! Off the pair went, breaching and bowriding the vessel out past Meikle Mee! Same tomorrow please?