The Perfect Day!
Sunshine and Cetaceans All Round!
It couldn’t really have been a better day if we tried! The sun poked its head through the clouds during the 10am sailing and stayed for the rest of the day; something our dolphins did too! Every single sailing for both Dolphin Spirit and Mischief encountered our finned friends, who by all accounts were out in force enjoying the weather! Dolphin Spirit had the pleasure of being joined by Kesslet and Scoopy for the whole day; Charlie had previously joined them in the river early on before the day started (8am according to the lads in the harbour), hunting salmon. However, by the start of the working day, had moved on out and back up to Chanonry, where he joined a happy, active group there instead (probably sick of third-wheeling Scoopy and his mum!). When Dolphin Spirit left on their first trip, the pair came by to say hello at the yellow cardinal, a brief but close encounter before heading back into the river. We didn’t see them until the 12pm, when they had moved back out to Clachnaharry and were making their way back. Kesslet, eyes obviously on a nearby salmon, came bursting out of the water in a lovely breach, salmon flying out with her! She toyed with her prize and brought Scoopy over to see us at North Kessock to show off! We left them to it, and again, didn’t see them until the next trip. It was an immediate sighting for the 2pm, with the pair just in the marina mouth as we left! They guided us out before disappearing from view back upriver. We had our fingers crossed for a 4 out of 4 day at that point, but something made it seem like it wasn’t going to happen…
4pm Jitters!
We left the marina, no dolphins. We searched the Beauly Firth, no dolphins. We approached Meikle Mee, no dolphins. It seemed like the gruesome twosome had managed to evade us! There was plenty of chat going around the boat that there wasn’t going to be a sighting this trip. But our guides Krystyna and Sue remained ever hopeful! As we came back to Meikle Mee on our way back home, one of our passengers gave a surprise call. “Dolphin.” No shout, just a statement. He pointed down the bow, and sure enough, there was Scoopy, coiled round the boat like a banana! Sue yelled the call back to us further down the boat, and the call given down the microphone to look out for where they may turn up next. Two big blows behind us later, and our passengers rejoiced that Kesslet and Scoopy had graced us with a rain-blow goodbye as we watched them surf the waves. It turned into a 4 out of 4 day after all! And what a day for it!