August 2017
I'm delighted to introduce a guest post from award-winning photographer Tony Burt. Aka, Dad!
In July, Dad came over with Ian Sherwood and took me on the most incredible adventure to Scotland in search of the fascinating and prehistoric-looking basking shark. And haggis. What followed was 11 days of thick, Scottish accents, freezing water, hairy coos and amazing basking shark action that I'll never forget. But I'll let Dad tell you the story...
We sat perched on the side of Shane`s nine meter `Cearban` staring in awe at the meter high dorsal fin closing in on the boat. On the skipper's command we slipped as quietly as possible into the 13 degree water and tried to keep as still as possible. Out of the plankton-filled gloom and heading straight towards us came this enormous swimming mouth. Big enough to slide into and not touch the sides. I could now buy the t-shirt.
Our destination, Scotland's Hebrides and the three billion year old Island of Coll. Once the haunt of Vikings for five hundred years, but now 200 hardy Scots, fifty different ways to prepare haggis, lots of seals, a few `hairy coos` plus Shane and Nicky Wasik of `Basking Sharks Scotland`. Ian Sherwood and I had met up with my daughter Rachel in London and headed up to Glasgow. From here we grabbed the three hour train journey through Scottish highlands to the picturesque fishing village of Oban, had a wee look in the Oban whisky distillery then caught the ferry out to Coll.
