tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12280989.post-53116021554997171302008-07-10T10:01:00.001-07:002008-07-10T10:02:12.800-07:00<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">Location: Kyle of Lochalsh</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Position: 57 16.7 N, 05 43.1 W</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Distance covered: 49 nm</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We left Mallaig a little before 10 AM and went immediately on effort.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>Just outside the harbour at the mouth of the Sound of Sleat, we were greeted by extremely calm seas and sunny weather.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>After sighting a few harbour porpoises, a call from Cormac rang out: “minke whale at 90 degrees.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>Our skipper headed towards the whale, but then two more individuals were seen in different quadrants.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>We spent the better part of the morning trying to get close to one of the three animals, and, indeed, we were near enough to hear them breathe on a few occasions.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span><br /><br />At length, we left the whales and porpoises and motored north on the Sound of Sleat.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>The scenery was extraordinary on both the Skye and the mainland sides.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>We passed</p> <p class="MsoNormal">the <st1:placename st="on">Clan</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">MacDonald</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Castle</st1:placetype> on the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Sleat</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Peninsula</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>Susan spotted another minke whale at some distance, but we were never able to approach it very closely.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We steamed to Kyle of Lochalsh and tied up to a wharf on which was an enormous pile of timber waiting to be loaded on a ship. We dined at Gateway Restaurant to celebrate American Independence Day, in recognition of the humiliating defeat of the British and the first step in the collapse of the Satanic British Empire, which to the best of our knowledge now only consists of a small island on the prime meridian and a tiny Caribbean island, <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Barbados</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Several of us imbibed in a wee nip at the Lolchalsh Hotel before returning to Silurian, where we found our skipper waiting up for us like an anxious parent wanting to see his charges safe at home before he retired for the night.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Susan and Dennis Carlyle</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Volunteers</p><p></p>HWDThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07493228299997800929noreply@blogger.com