Beneath the great rock fin of Sgeirean Bhuidhe at the Mull of Oa, a dorsal fin broke the surface of the sea.
In this wild place we were the sole witnesses...
...of an amazing display by a pair of bottlenose dolphins.
Sadly both were scarred...
...by small high rpm propellers. I have reported this siting to the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. I hope they will be able to identify these individuals.
Their past experience did not put them off entertaining us.
Their party trick was bring up rocks with kelp roots in their beaks...
...tossing them in the air then whacking them with their tails.
They dived beneath each of us in turn and they surfaced so close that we could have touched them. Clearly they were very curious about sea kayaks. I don't suppose they see much mid week winter sea kayaking in these parts! I am pretty sure that we have seen these particular dolphins before, off the southern end of Shuna and to the east of Cara.
Just amazing!
PS there are more dolphin photos over on Misha Somerville's blog. In one of Misha's photos there are three dolphins though I thought there were only two!
Hi Douglas,
ReplyDeleteI don't know what it is with Dolphins - they just make humans feel good about the world!
I'm constantly amazed at their antics around big ships; particularly when they appear to play "chicken" with huge medium speed props.
LOVELY! absolutely lovely.
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Wow! That sounds amazing
ReplyDeleteThank you Ian, Simon and Da Kayaker, I have seen dolphins before but I am always amazed when it happens. As Ian says, it makes you feel glad to be alive, maybe it is the realization that we are sharing the planet with other creatures that are capable of having fun.
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