Off to Mull in July

[Bigvin]

Off to Mull on the 21st July and staying in Tobermory, have a couple of quick questions for anyone that can help.

Which boat tours would people recommend for wildlife especially the whales and sea eagles?

Lots of the websites are saying to pre-book the boat trips. How much earlier should I do this? Ideally it would be a couple of days earlier so I'd have a chance to look at the weather forecasts, but are they really that busy that I'd have to book weeks in advance?

Also if anyone has advice as to places to go for otters and such like it'd be appreciated. I've looked on various websites and from all the advice given it seems like anywhere on the island would be great to see wildlife. Lol.

Thanks for looking in and for any advice given.

Cheers Lee

 

[Alastair]

You might not need to go far, I saw a sea eagle in Tobermory Bay in April. It was very early in the morning (I was videoing sunrise) but too far to see with the camera I had by the time I'd realised what it was. The giveaway was the gulls mobbing it. We had a better view the next day on the run round to Staffa and a great view of one on the shore a few days later in Loch Spelve.

I can't recommend a specific wildlife tour as we were cruising the island on a charter and could go wherever the weather let us. Any boat trip is pretty certain to see a good range of seabirds, but there are few guaruntees on the big ticket items. You should have better luck than us, we were very early in the season and although we managed to spot some very early puffins off Staffa the only ceteceans we saw were porpoise (although dolphins were being reported on the spotting websites).

 

[cobwebscavern]

Not sure how long you are staying for or how mobile you will be but if you can get away on your own from the east side of the island for the best chance to see wildlife. Dervaig is a good spot.

Can't really comment on the boat trips but the school holidays will be well under way then so if this is a must for you I would book online and hope for the beset with the weather..

Don't forget to take a wide-ish lens to get some nice shots of the "Balamory" houses in the bay...a must for a first trip there.

 

[CarMac]

http://www.discovermull.co.uk/

Can't recommend these guys enough. We've been on their tours a few times now. What Arthur doesn't know about the wildlife on the island isn't worth knowing!! Pam's homemade baking is yummy too! I would suggest booking with them before you get there as they get booked up quite quickly.

Our last trip, we went on the tour early in our holiday then followed a similar route on the days afterwards....and saw plenty of wildlife, including otters.

Can't comment on boat trips as we've not managed any yet but James and the guys at the Sea Life Survey place in Tob are very knowledgeable and helpful.
http://www.sealifesurveys.com/

I'm sure you'll have a great time, whatever you end up doing. It's just over 12 months since our last visit. Very jealous!