Porpoise and Basking Sharks off John O'Groats [Archive]

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catherine nicol

11-Sep-06, 12:17

If you want to see Porpoise, Basking Sharks and other cetaceans locally then contact North Coast Adventures......on tel no 01955 611 797 or mobile no 07867 666 273........to book your seat on their wildlife tour and jump in the car and head out to John O'Groats to have a trip to remember for the rest of your life.

I had a great time yesterday. There were some 50+ porpoise around the boat and it was pure excitement.........I enjoyed every minute of the tour.

They saw basking sharks as well on the tour after my one..........I suppose it wouldn't do to have too much excitement all at once or I just wouldn't have coped.

Why not book the boat for a Team Building session. The boat seats 12 people and they are more than willing to add a white water knuckle session to the end of the wildlife tour.

The staff are so knowledgable about the local history and wildlife. They can advise on any topic. Test them !

Go on, take in something different and go for a trip to remember .................. I will never forget the noises and sight of the porpoise that I saw yesterday it was fantastic.

MadPict

11-Sep-06, 13:27

Time was you didn't need to go to sea to see your Cetaceans - they came to you.

Late 60's a Pilot Whale was stranded in the Trinkie....

George Brims

11-Sep-06, 20:57

The pilot whale was only stranded in the Trinkie because someone put it in there. A bunch of them beached near Beauly, and that one was rescued alive. We have a photo of my wife as a wee girl in the background as one of the non-survivors is hoisted by a crane onto a truck. There was a plan afoot to take the Trinkie one to some "safari park" type place, but eventually it was released into the sea.

MadPict

11-Sep-06, 21:35

George,
Was that what happened? It's that far back in my mists of time - I thought it had got stuck in there as the tide turned.

Ah well, I have a couple of other pics (slides) but they are scanning very darkly - if I can figure out how to get them to transfer better I'll post them too.

catherine nicol

12-Sep-06, 20:25

The Pepsi Challenge

13-Sep-06, 01:32

I saw a killer whale in the Pentland Firth a few years ago. Nobody (in Edinburgh) believes me - does anyone have in pix to help prove the case? Tugmistress?

Tugmistress

13-Sep-06, 07:00

sorry pepsi, can't help you, but Kas has some, i'm sure if you pm her she will email you one or two :D

MadPict

13-Sep-06, 09:36

Killer Whale? - that would be an 'Orga' then ;)

I think we spotted some off the coast of South Ronaldsey a couple of years ago...

kas

13-Sep-06, 15:19

I saw a killer whale in the Pentland Firth a few years ago. Nobody (in Edinburgh) believes me - does anyone have in pix to help prove the case? Tugmistress?

Killer Whales are an annual occurance now in the firth.

We saw a pod of 12 followed 5 mins later by another 5, on our trip to Hoy this year.
My photos were not great but someone else got a better one. Here is the link.

http://www.caithness.org/fpb/may2006/photogallery/index.php?gallery=15

Keith Parkes took these photos off of Stroma last year, they are amazing. They were taken from the North coast explorer which Catherine and I were on on Sunday. There were not as many sightings of them though this year as there was last year.

http://www.highlandeye.com/gallery.asp?catid=29

kas

13-Sep-06, 15:26

I was with Catherine on Sunday and we had a fantastic trip. I see Porpoise most calm days in Thurso bay, but to get this close to them was fantastic. Totally different to watching them from land. I was gutted we missed the Basking shark, this year has seen large numbers of sightings. Here in Scrabster there has been at least 5 of them. Up until this year I had never seen one.

I would recommend a trip out of Groats on the North Coast explorer for anyone with a interest in wildlife or the coast.
Stroma was great, due to the high tides this week we got right inside alot of the cave and geology was something else.
If you dont fancy the rib boat, there is also the Pentland Venture, I have also had alot of enjoyable trips on it, including seeing the Killer Whales.

dancingtaz13

13-Sep-06, 19:34

I agree with Kas. I was on the Explorer yesterday... i was the only 1 on it but got the commentator all to myself to tell me about Stroma, the whirlpools, birds, seals and the porpoises. They surrounded the boat and it was amazing. I'd never been so close either. Unfortunatley we didn't see the shark but it had been spotted that morning. The boat ride is something else too.
It's a must for everyone. :)

Wish

14-Sep-06, 09:16

Wow fantastic piccies:cool:

I have longed to see dolphins at Chanory Point for years now and each holiday up there we would sit for hours on the beach and wait, we never did get to see them there, they would usually wait till we gave up and then come and play:lol:

But a couple of weeks ago we took the Mallaig to Armadale ferry (Skye) and whilst I was clinging onto the rails by the lifeboat (I don't do well on boats) I spotted a dolphin leaping through the air, I was absolutely thrilled, I had tears down my face, it was an amazing sight and one I will never ever forget! I wish I could find some sea legs to go on some sightseeing trips to see even more dolphins and whales and the like!

j4bberw0ck

14-Sep-06, 10:32

My boss (with a previous employer) used to loathe coming up north. Didn't like Orkney, resented the time and cost of getting here, and didn't much like me either - strange, eh? :lol: He moaned constantly about lack of "things to do", trees, cities, shops etc etc. He's a Central Belt Scot.......

It all changed one time he had to come up in the car. Lovely sunny day as he drove up through the Highlands and Caithness, to Gills. Onto the Pentalina, out into the Firth, and lo and behold, a pod of Orcas close up to the boat. He talked about nothing else all the time he was here.

I've been here donkey's years and still not seen them. :roll: