Cruisin' with Calum

Headed over to Plockton today, famous for being used as the location for the BBC TV Series 'Hamish Macbeth' as well as a for some scenes in the (original) 'Wicker man'.

We'd booked a cruise on Calum's Seal Cruises from there and for two hours wandered around Loch Carron - literally, as the captain let our kids 'drive' the boat for a while - and as well as spotting numerous seals basking on the rocks (some of which were even named; Ron, Cleara & Imba... think about it... ), we were tracked for a good while by a pair of bottle nosed dolphins.

I would have posted some pics of those, but they actually turned out pretty rubbish. It's quite hard trying to shoot dolphins at such close range and when there's a crowd of people all jockeying for position. The fact that I'd also just lost a polarizer filter to the bottom of Loch Carron didn't help either. My fault really as I was letting Euan see the effect of it cutting out the water's reflection but as he twisted it it unscrewed and dropped overboard. I did suggest I could tie the nearby rope to him and send him in after it but, for some reason, he wasn't keen. Luckily, it wasn't an expensive one.

Thought this shot demonstrated a generation and interest gap quite nicely, with the adults watching what looked like a sea eagle over the mountainside as the kids texted, chatted and sooked on their lollipops.

An enjoyable day, highly recommended if you're ever in the area. Seeing dolphins playing in their natural habitat was a real treat and a definite highlight of the trip.