I am in Coll, a remote, stunning Scottish island and an internationally recognized basking shark “hotspot”. The purpose of my visit was to learn how to have high quality encounters with these plankton-feeders without harming them. Shane Wasik, the owner of Basking Shark Scotland helped me understand why and how we should take care of the species while at the same time, have fun with them. With his maverick attitude, this brilliant marine biologist started this company which offers wildlife tours around Oban, Scotland.

Shane is very enthusiastic about introducing visitors to the abundant wildlife of the Scottish Hebrides and he is also passionate about reducing the impact on the marine environment. Therefore his tours are run under a strict code of conduct. A healthy interaction is a combination of fun and reason. The tourists look forward to connecting with the wild species as much as possible and the tour guide is responsible for reducing their impact to keep it sustainable. If the tour guide fails, and the tourists injure, molest or harass the animals excessively, and as a result the species might change their behaviour pattern and be less tolerant toward humans the next time or worse, they might not revisit this place. If the tour guide wants to keep his business running, he should be very careful with this situation. In the case of Shane, he is not just looking after his business, but he is also engaged with the protection of nature for two strong and deep reasons: Firstly, he is a biologist and that’s the foundation on which he developed his passion for life and secondly, he belongs to the region, which makes him highly committed to it. I believe this is the mix a tourist should always look for at the moment of choosing the operation he is going to travel with: Expertise in the “product”(in our case: a naturalist/marine biologist “selling”marine life) and a sense of belonging to the environment.

We spent the whole day in a boat looking for triangular fins on the surface but we didn’t see any. This is the beginning of the season, so the probability of finding them are low. However we enjoyed the good weather by snorkelling between kelp forest and playing with seals! They were coming very close to us and their curiosity was heartwarming. Thanks to my new equipment from Fourth Element, Apeks and Aqualung I wasn’t cold at all while swimming in waters below 10°C!

Please check http://baskingsharkscotland.co.uk/code-of-practice for more information about their code of practice!