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UK Tourist & Leisure Attractions - Scotland

Belinda and Mike - follow our tourist travels in the UK

Scotland Holiday & Dolphin Watching July 2004 - page 1

For our 2004 holiday we travelled to the Highlands of Scotland, renting a comfortable holiday cottage near Nairn in Morayshire.  Our main reason for choosing this part of Scotland was to enjoy a fantastic Red Letter Day gift we received to go dolphin watching on the Moray Firth with Sailingwild on board 'Dolphinicity'.
This is page one of three.
Scottish Highlands 1 | Scottish Highlands 2 | Scottish Highlands 3
 

Holiday cottage in Scotland near Nairn, Morayshire
650 miles after leaving Sussex we arrived at our Scotland holiday cottage in Piperhill, near Nairn, Morayshire.  Belinda was just about to make Mike a wee cup of tea to drink in the conservatory.  Looking...

Looking towards Nairn from the holiday cottage grounds
...the other way from the last picture, we had an admirable view across the Scottish Highland countryside towards Nairn on the Moray Firth.  Our holiday cottage was certainly in a lovely setting.

The bandstand in Nairn, Scotland
On the first day of our holiday in Scotland we visited Nairn and after lunch in a nice wee café we heard bagpipe music and found this bandstand complete with a band playing.  Beyond the bandstand is the Moray Firth and, way in the distance, Inverness.

Cooking breakfast in Scotland
Back in the holiday cottage now, day 2 and Mike cooked breakfast.  Now this guy can multi-task, stirring the scrambled eggs and baked beans at the same time!  Pity the sausages burnt in the grill and the popped-up toast went cold.  Hey, nice pinny!

The Moray Firth Wildlife Centre at Spey Bay in Scotland
On our second day in Scotland we partook our Red Letter Day trip to go dolphin watching.  The first part of of the experience took place at the informative WDCS Moray Firth Wildlife Centre at Spey Bay.  At the...

WDCS Wildlife Centre murals
...Wildlife Centre we saw an exhibition and video on the dolphins and other wildlife found in this area of Scotland, together with a complimentary tea in the café.  These are some murals we viewed outside.

WDCS Wildlife Centre: spotting dolphins on the Moray Firth
Dolphins are often spotted on the Moray Firth from the WDCS Wildlife Centre and here Mike thought he'd spotted one!  We were given the Red Letter Day experience as a Christmas gift by Belinda's sister, Clare, hence the reason for going to Scotland this year for our holiday.  After leaving Spey Bay...

Lossiemouth harbour, preparing for the Sailingwild dolphin watching cruise
...we drove west along the Moray Firth to Lossiemouth for the second part of the experience - a cruise out on 'Dolphinicity' with Sailingwild and skipper Tony to enjoy dolphin watching!  So after getting tangled in the life jacket and safety rope, we received our safety instruction and set sail...

Sailing out on the Moray Firth
...leaving Lossiemouth behind.  Despite it about to rain it was quite bright out on the Moray Firth, hence the squint.  The 36ft ketch Dolphinicity uses Bio Fuel and pollution filters and is one of the most environmentally friendly dolphin watching vessel afloat.

Tony the Skipper guides Dolphinicity towards the dolphin watching area
With skipper Tony from Sailingwild at the helm, we spotted some dolphins away in the distance and headed in their general direction.  The sails on Dolphinicity couldn't be used on our cruise as there wasn't enough wind that day.

Getting ready to film the dolphins on the Moray Firth
Here's Mike all set to dolphin watch and film the dolphins we hoped to spot out on the Moray Firth.  Unfortunately it started raining just as the first dolphins appeared - well, it was Scotland after all.

Two dolphins swim up to the Sailingwild boat!
Wow!  We were well rewarded with dolphins swimming up on both sides of the yacht and gracefully ducking and diving before our very eyes!  We shot some video too, see our highland videos.

It's behind you! A dolphin entertains us with a back flip
It's behind you!  An acrobatic dolphin performed a huge leap out of the Moray Firth and back again.  Sailingwild's policy is to slowly cruise up to an area, cut the engine and wait for dolphins to swim up to the boat rather than the other way round.
Check out our tourist resources for relevant dolphin watching websites.
(Update 2007: Sailingwild is no longer trading.  However, there are other dolphin spotting operators)

Dolphinicity moored up at Lossiemouth after going dolphin watching
So our with our thrilling trip over the Sailingwild boat Dolphinicity was once more moored in the harbour at Lossiemouth.  What a fantastic dolphin watching experience!  Our Highland holiday continues with a trip up the Cairn Gorm Mountain >>>

We've previously visited Scotland for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.