Kerrera Dolphins

Dolphins! dolphins everywhere

Launching a new hat!

We were recently heading over to Oban Sea Kayak to pick up some new club kit and having gone that distance we were obviously going to have a wee paddle at the same time.
Whilst in the shop, we bumped into David and Andy from FSKC, they were up collecting a shiny new boat, so we arranged to meet at the ferry to go for a paddle round Kerrera.
We got ourselves ready, hung around a bit longer, still no sign of David and Andy. We tried the radio, still nothing, so we decided to set off anyway.

February, but could be May

It was mid February and we were setting off with sun hats and no pogies, it was glorious weather. We had decided to set off north to paddle anti clockwise round the island. With the breeze and tide working with us, we fairly flew down the outside of Kerrera, we then stopped for a bite of lunch down the bottom end. It was lovely and peaceful sitting in the sunshine on our new foldy chairs Hubby dear had just bought. It was his Valentines present to me, not quite a dozen red roses, but much more comfortable! While enjoying the sunshine, I did say that to make the day perfect, it would be lovely for a dolphin to swim by.

Arriving for lunch

Peace and quiet

We carried on round the bottom of the island and back up the Sound.
Just as we were passing Gallanachmore, in the distance were a couple of fins. I was so pleased, the dolphins had made an appearance!

https://youtu.be/qHEyS7s1MIA

We paddled gently onwards, then just drifted. There weren't just a couple of dolphins, there were 3 or 4 having a great old time, leaping and snorting. They weren't in the least bit bothered by us or the boys on the fishing boat who were also watching.

 

There weren't 3 or 4 dolphins, we now realised there were at least 12, but probably closer to 15 - 20, having a real bean feast on the fish. They were leaping, sploshing, zooming all round us. Trying to keep track of them was almost impossible. The only evidence they were under the boats were the bubble trails from their tail flicks, before surfacing again. Seeing them working together, sometimes in pairs, other times four in a row - it was fantastic!

After half an hour we decided we had better get a move on as it was getting a bit late.
Further up the sound, we spotted a sparkling glow! As we got closer, we realised it was David in his shiny new boat, the glow being Andy's day glo, glow in the dark, Tangoed drysuit!
When we had all arranged to meet at the ferry, it would probably have been a good idea to agree on which ferry we were talking about. They had gone down to the Kerrera ferry and had gone round the island clockwise. We must have passed each other possibly at Gamhna, we went round the outside, there was no other way Andy could have sneaked past.
We eventually made our way back across the bay in the near dark.

Oban in the evening

It was a magical days paddling, I didn't even mind missing the icecream shop - that's how special it was!