Species: Basking Shark.
Location, Oban, UK. 2015.
August 2015 finally resulted in a successful mission to freedive with Basking Sharks! I have always been lucky with my shark encounters abroad, however in the UK, aside from the rogue catshark, they have always evaded me!
On this occasion however, everything came together. I headed out of Oban with the Basking Shark Scotland team, on a rare perfect weather day. Calm seas and clear blue skies afforded a superb view across to the Hebrides and North to the Cuillins on Skye. Whilst looking out for that enormous dorsal fin breaking the surface we also had Dolphins and Minke Whales in abundance!
We saw 6 different sharks cruising along and when we saw 2 individuals which were near the surface it was our chance to get in the water. The sheer abundance of plankton and zooplankton in the water was the reason for the sharks being there but it also made them tricky to see from a distance, fortunately the sharks actually turned towards us and passed by, so we got a great view of these enormous and elusive plankton eaters!