A Tale of Sula Beag

Hi there!  My name is Sula!  Welcome to my boat, the Sula Beag.  I'm a real sea dog and love to go out on the ocean with the crew to study the whales and other sea life that we see.


A gray day and calm seas make for good whale watching!


Here we go, headed out to sea from Tobermory.


Soon we pass the Rudha nan Gall Lighthouse.


Must keep an eye out for any sea creatures!  There are porpoises around here!


If you get cold in the wind, on the upper deck, come down here and I'll sit next to you and keep you warm and make sure you are ok.


There are lots of common seals and Atlantic seals on the small islands north of Mull.  I don't bark at them.


The weather is being so good that we can take the launch out to one of the small islands so you can explore!  I LOVE riding on the launch!  Too bad the crew won't let me go exploring with you.  I would love to chase a few seabirds and splash in the water!


Did you ever see such amazing colors in the water?  And such a lovely beach to land on!  The islands are so beautiful, let me tell you a little bit about them!


There are lots of beautiful wildflowers on the islands.


The white petals of the daisies just glow against all the green grass!


The water has such beautiful colors, from the palest sea glass aqua and green to the brightest aquamarine and cerulean blues!


The beaches are made of crushed seashells and in some places the shells carpet the beach!


Some of the rocks are covered in algae tinged barnacles, limpets and seaweed with it's little bladders that help it float.


If you climb up to the top of the rocks, you can see out across the deep blue sea to some of the other little islands and watch the seals along the rocks!


Or maybe you'd prefer to find a special shell or two to take home!


The tide will come in and cover most of the beach with seawater, so we'd best head back to Sula Beag!


Now that the clouds are gone, the sea is the deepest indigo blue!  Time to see some whales!


And there is a Minke Whale!  The crew takes photos of them and logs their positions into the research log.  We count at least 6 different whales today!  Isn't that amazing?  And one of them is a well known one called Knobbly because of the knobby shape of it's fin.  He came within a few meters of the boat the first time we saw him today!  I bark when I see whales to make sure that no one misses them!


All this work watching for whales is tiring stuff!  Time for a break!


Time to head back to Tobermory.  Did you see the porpoises on the way back?  How about the Sea Eagle?  This has been a great day!


To end the day, we'll take a photo of the group along with our lovely guide Gail and Captain "Pops".  I was busy helping mate Ewan take this photo!  That's my new friend Lisa over on the right.  I sat with her a lot today!  So glad you could come along on our whale watching trip today!

P.S.  Sula means Gannet in Scots Gaelic.  Sula Beag means Little Gannet.