We left Scalpay around 10.35am bound for Stornaway, almost 30 miles North. The departure is under a small bridge, which is always a question for mast clearance no matter what the chart says!
It turns out that this last leg North is well known for whale watching. It was also the perfect day for spotting anything in the water as the sea was flat calm with no wind and visibility around 30 miles in sunshine. Very unusual for our trip so far. About half way to Stornaway we noticed a lot of sea birds in the water in small groups. This is usually a good sign for dolphin or maybe whales. The big predators push the small fish to the surface and the birds grab a few.
Then Paul spotted a lot of splashing about a mile off to our starboard. It was indeed a large minke whale we think, breaching and slapping the surface with it’s flukes, called lobtailling. It is basically balancing on it’s head with about a third of it’s body straight out of the water slapping the water continually and violently stunning fish. The view through the binoculars was fantastic with huge splashes continuing for a good 5 minutes. We then encountered another 4 or 5 minke whales just swimming past the boat in all directions. Sometimes only 75 meters from the boat. Unfortunately too quick to photograph.
We arrived in Stornaway at 3.50pm with the sun still splitting the sky, they have built a very pretty marina right inside the town. We struggled to get a booking for dinner, guess Saturday night is a big one here.
Seemingly the good people of Stornaway are still god fearing. Tomorrow is the Sabbath and we have been warned almost nothing is open.
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| Will she fit? |
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| Stornaway middle harbour |
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| Stornaway inner harbour |
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