Basking shark Code of Conduct.

At this time of year basking sharks frequent the waters of

..the west coast of Scotland such as here in Gunna Sound, between Coll and Tiree. Indeed the Shark Trust  blog has recently reported a flotilla of approximately 52 basking sharks off Hynish on Tiree.

The Shark Trust have just produced a Code of Conduct for kayakers who come across basking sharks. You can download the full size pdf file here.


The Code:

Remain calm and quiet.

Never paddle your kayak directly towards the sharks or allow
several kayaks to surround them, as such actions will probably
frighten them and make them dive or act unpredictably. Stay in
a group, rather than stringing out around the sharks.

Kayakers should not cross the path of the shark so the sharks
can maintain their course without changing direction or speed.

Avoid sudden movements which will disturb the sharks. Never
use your paddle or kayak to touch a shark.

Avoid pairs or large numbers of sharks following each other
closely. This may be courting behaviour and they should not be
disturbed.

Although Basking Sharks are filter-feeders and mostly placid,
they can startle if disturbed, often thrashing their tail with
enormous power. Also be aware that Basking Sharks do breach.

Sharks appear attracted to kayaks and often swim alongside
and below, very close to the hulls. If you stay calm, still, and
observe, there is a good chance they will come to you.

I recently wrote an article for Ocean Paddler magazine entitled "Close encounters... of a marine kind." (This was not my photo! It was taken by Linda Pitkin, a specialist underwater photographer.) I discussed basking sharks and how to avoid disturbing them in the article, which you can download in pdf form here.

The Shark Trust have a basking shark project and would welcome any sighting reports especially when accompanied by photos but remember to switch the flash off, if you use the camera underwater!

Less fond of basking sharks than otters.

We paddled down the Machars peninsula and across Monreith Bay. Phil's silhouette was ringed by the bright water of  Luce Bay.

Crazy drystone dykes marched across the Galloway hillsides and raised beaches. I have already mentioned that Port William was planned by Sir William Maxwell. One of his descendants, Gavin Maxwell, fisherman, turned naturalist, then author, was brought up in Elrig, just north of Port William. His books included; The House of Elrig and Ring of Bright Water. This is the story of Edal, an otter he brought from Iraq to Sandaig on the remote north west of Scotland. He was less fond of basking sharks than he was of otters. He established a shark fishery on the island of Soay, south of Skye. By the time he had finished, he had exterminated just about all the basking sharks on the west coast. To commemorate this son of Galloway, a brass otter has been placed on the cliff top high above Monreith Bay.

Right on cue, this fine otter surfaced as we passed below Maxwell's memorial.

It had a crab in its mouth and I heard the crunch of shell as the otter swam past to lunch on the rocks.

Skating about Skate Island: a baby basking shark.

 From Portavadie, we set off down Loch Fyne to Sgat Mor, big skate island.

 The little lighthouse used to be powered by propane and is almost all gas tank. It looked like a rocket. Nowadays it is solar powered.

Between the island and the mainland something skating about at high speed on the water surface caught our eye.

What on earth was it?

It was a baby basking shark, less than two meters long. I had never seen one before and I cant even remember seeing basking sharks in mid October in Scotland before. It was feeding on a rich plankton bloom. The speed it was swimming at was definitely skating speed rather than basking speed. It is great to see basking sharks back in the Clyde.

All this watching an other creature feeding had its effect on us...

...it was time for second breakfast and where finer to enjoy it than on the delightful sands of remote Asgog Bay.

Basking sharks and castles of Loch Breachacha, Coll

At the mouth of Loch Breachacha two magnificent 6m basking sharks cruised past our stationary kayaks.


The water was full of plankton and after cruising past each of us in turn, the sharks resumed their feeding.


At the head of Loch Breachacha there are two castles. The new one on the left was built in 1750 as a more comfortable mansion house for the MacLean chieftain. In 1773 Boswell and Johnson were guests of young Coll while they were storm bound on the island for ten days. Boswell wrote in his diary "On our arrival here, we felt ourselves very comfortable".


The nearby original Breachacha Castle dates from the early 15th century and was the seat of the MacLeans of Coll. In 1590 their rivals, the MacLeans of Duart in Mull invaded Coll and a fierce battle ensued. The Coll MacLeans were victors and tossed the heads of the fallen Duarts into the nearby Allt nan Cean: Burn of the Heads!

Even in the 1950's it was still one of the best preserved tower house castles in Scotland. It was restored for use as a private house in 1965 by a descendant of the Coll MacLeans.

14/06/2009

Splendid, snowy, soaring scenery, serenity and successful paddle sailing to Sannox on a Sunday.

 As we approached Arran...

...the snow topped granite ridges of Glen Sannox soared higher and...

...higher above us. You could travel half way round the globe and still not find scenery to match, yet it is right here on our doorstep. It is not just the scenery that delights the eye on this crossing. On this occasion we saw porpoises and on previous crossings to Arran, we have seen common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, minke whales and basking sharks not to mention numerous otters round the shore..

In the lee of  the Cock of Arran, Sannox Bay was like a millpond. It was hard to believe we had so much fun out in mid channel.

The winter storms had stripped a lot of the sand off the beach since our last visit but all was calm when we arrived.

We wasted no time in unpacking our things for as well deserved second luncheon and a dram of 10 year old Jura to celebrate Maurice's successful induction to the world of paddle sailing!

Sea kayaking round Burrow Head.

A 32km day paddle from Port William round Burrow Head to Garlieston, Solway Firth,  January 2011.

Approaching Burrow Head near slack water.

Tides

Well off Burrow Head: 

The east going flood starts -0600 HW Liverpool (-0545 HW Dover). 

The west going ebb starts at HW Liverpool (+0015 HW Dover) 

The spring rate is about 3 knots. 

Close in to Burrow Head:

Strong counter eddies become established in the last 2 hours of the flood and the ebb, so close in, the tidal flows turn two hours earlier than the above times: 

The east going flood starts +0430/-0800 HW Liverpool (+0415/-0745 HW Dover). 

The west going ebb starts at -0200 HW Liverpool (-0145 HW Dover) 

Close in the spring rate is about 4-5 knots and there is turbulence at the eddy line. This means that "slack water" close under the rocks occurs when the main race is still stonking off shore. If there is any wind against tide, the main race will look quite scary and the eddy line will create very confused water. As you are approaching the head, to take advantage of the inshore slack, you will see great lumps of water from the main race heaving on the horizon and you can have a bit of a dry mouth before you round the corner and actually see what it is like.

We were so far south that  there was almost a whiff of civilisation in the air.

A peculiarly cold form of burnishment, in Port William.

Less fond of basking sharks than otters.

Touching the past on the way to Burrow Head.

The Devil's bridge of Burrow Head.

Navigational aids: #7 The luncheon beacon.

Home to roost in Garlieston.

The basking sharks of Coll and Tiree

Just back from a 120km trip out to Coll and Tiree.


We went fishing...


duh,duh,duh, duh, duh...


...but quite quickly we packed our rods away.


A Cetus is quite a long sea kayak...


...and it took some time...


for these little fellows to pass beneath us.

13/06/2009

14/06/2009

Disappearing breakfasts, otters, sharks and islands in the Kilbrannan Sound.

We awoke the following morning to low water. A feature of the Firth of Clyde is that spring tides tend to occur at midday and midnight.Arriving at a campsite in the early evening and leaving in early morning is therefore associated with LW and a long carry. Many of the "beaches" you see on Google Earth are only accessible at HW.

This is the long rocky gully we carried our boats up the previous night. It was taken with a telephoto lens so it is foreshortened and is longer than it looks.

A decent number of calories were required for our forthcoming labours. In case any one is concerned about any dietary imbalance, I consumed this lot in a whole meal wrap. Yum Yum!

Although the sun attempted to break through, a thick bank of fog rolled in. I just missed the otter in this photo but with the eye of...

...considerable faith I hope you can see the large basking shark through the fog!. I have never seen them in the Clyde so early.

After considerable humphing we set off from Rubh a na h-Airde Baine which roughly translated means "point of the pale high beach"
.

We set off across the Kilbrannan Sound but of the Isle of Arran, which is...

surprisingly large, there was not a sign!