Shark hunting in the Moray Firth

I finished early at work today, so this afternoon we took advantage of the nice weather and set off in our wayfarer. Conditions were perfect for wildlife spotting and we saw lots of seals and sea birds as we motored out of Findhorn Bay. However, we were hoping to see a much bigger creature. I've spent quite a bit of time unsuccessfully looking for basking sharks on the west coast this summer but today we got lucky. Who'd have thought my first close encounter with these amazing fish would be right on our doorstep in the Moray Firth? We'd been going for less than an hour when we saw our first shark and then suddenly there were at least four of them. They are huge, around 6-7 metres in length and much bigger than our dinghy. We sailed around gently for half an hour with just enough wind to manoeuvre to take some photos without getting in their way. A truly awesome afternoon!