YACHT CORRYVRECKAN

Wildlife encounters: Alice the Minke whale

Such is Von's enthusiasm for the Wildlife we see that she cannot help but recount the sightings that we have experienced in whichever waters we find ourselves in.  Her well proven magical capability of summoning creatures of the deep and encouraging them to perform is legendary.  This enthusiasm resulted on one of our guests this year deciding that next year he was going to book on the "previous cruise"!  Well this was not an issue in Mid-August 2008.

After a spot of lunch in the Bay of Pigs - North Jura we headed out into the flood of the Corryvreckan to see what we could see.  Although the Corryvreckan with its fearsome whirlpool is a place that one ventures with due care, in the right conditions it is good for spotting wildlife.  We were sitting in the flood with the engine ticking over and we saw a minke whale heading up into the flood and a bit later another huge fin which after consideration we tentatively decided was a possible risso dolphin.

Nothing prepared us for what happened next...
We suddenly saw something charging towards us out of the Gulf of Corryvreckan, that it was big was clear, but all we could see was some patches of white on either side.  We were a bit worried that we were about to be torpedoed but in the event we were being paid a visit by a baby Minke whale which we called Alice in honour of Von's sister's birthday.

We were very lucky that one of our guests, Nick, had his digital camera on video mode and he captured most of the visit which you can see here.

This cruise was officially designated "The Previous Cruise 2008"!