Two rare humpback whales spotted off Scottish coast

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A remarkable sighting of two humpback whales, including one never seen before in Scottish waters, has been witnessed in the Hebrides leaving tourists in awe.

Guests and crew on a cruise sailing aboard the Hebrides Cruises ship up Gunna Sound on Tuesday, July 9 experienced the once-in-a-lifetime double discovery with the majestic beasts.The two whales, including Sinclair - a whale who has never been recorded in Scotland before - were spotted around 13-miles from the Gunna Sound when the whales swam underneath the boat and interacted with the crew.Hannah Lightley, Wildlife Guide for Hebrides Cruises, recounted the experience and explained: "A guest onboard spotted a big blow in the distance as we were making our way towards Gunna Sound."There were lots of squeals and excitement onboard as I then confirmed this as a humpback whale.

We then observed the animal surfacing several hundred metres in front of Elizabeth G with multiple tail flukes.”“Whilst we were immersed in the sighting, Skipper Alasdair then spotted another humpback whale around a kilometre away in the opposite direction, so we then headed towards this animal where it was tail slapping multiple times. "We were 13 miles Northwest of Gunna Sound in around 140m of water.

Once closer, we switched the engines to neutral and that’s when we had the most incredible encounter of the humpback associating with the boat and eventually surfacing just metres from the bow and then swimming under the boat." Photos of the new sighting were then sent to Lyndsay McNeill at Scottish Humpback ID, who manages the Scottish Humpback Whale catalogue.