Wednesday 18 May 2011

Common Dolphins at Loch Carron

After spending the first three months of 2011 decorating almost all of my house, and taking the time since to recover, I took myself off to Scotland for a short break last week to stay with my Invergarry friend at her home on the shores of Loch Oich. Sadly, as she is moving to the south of England in June, this was to be the last holiday I would spend with her in her Highland home.

On Wednesday we travelled to Plockton, to the north of the Kyle of Lochalsh, meeting another friend for lunch before taking a wildlife cruise on Loch Carron. The cruise turned out to be one of those never-to-be-forgotten moments.

A rather cold and damp Loch Carron seen from the departure point (cruise boat not shown in this picture)

Our cruise boat, the Sula Mhor, followed a course up Loch Carron towards a fish farm where Calum the captain told us we were almost certain to see the dolphins. We didn't but kept on cruising further up the loch towards Strome Ferry and beyond to Lochcarron village, hopeful but still without a view of them. The return trip, however, proved successful and the Loch's resident pair of female Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis), known locally as Gin and Tonic, put on a great show for us.

Above and below: the Dolphins coming to the surface


And here, in this short video, the dolphins can be seen swimming at the bow of the Sula Mhor ...



If you are travelling in the Plockton area, do take one of Culum's cruises ...


See more here at Calum's Seal and Dolphin Trips website.

More of my Scotland trip in forthcoming posts.

8 comments:

holdingmoments said...

Good to see you back Emma.
What a fantastic trip that must have been; and to see the dolphins like that too.

Wilma said...

I do love a good G&T, Emma! ;-)

We have been going through remodeling/redecorating thing, too. It is very demading, particularly if you are working full-time as well. Hope you are recovered and are now enjoying the end product. It is good to have you back.

cheers,
wilma

ADRIAN said...

Glad to see you back.......it has been a long decoration. Great shots, I remember when they built oil rigs in Loch Carron.........Too many years ago.

PCF said...

That was one hell of a hibernation. Welcome back and a cracking post to boot.

Emma Anderson said...

Thanks to Keith, Wilma, Adrian and Peter for your welcomes back to blogging.

The decorating was jolly hard work, as well as having other refurbishments done in the house. Then there's all the tidying and reorganising afterwards. I like decorating but realised afterwards that it must have been twenty years since I did any and certainly not on this last scale (and of course, I'm twenty years older).

I do hope to get out more from now on and certainly have some further interesting experiences from my recent Scotland trip to share.

Roy said...

How lovely to see Dolphins Emma and you got some nice photos as well.
Glad your back.

Midmarsh John said...

What a lovely trip that must have been Emma. They do swim very close to the boat.

kirstallcreatures said...

Yay! Congratulations on your mammoth decorating achievement and welcome back to the land of blog Emma. What a super trip and what a treat to see such beautiful creatures. Best wishes, Linda