A school of fast-moving mackerel
I had two more drops , including one on an eight-metre shark . That ’ s the biggest fish I have ever seen , as the various whale sharks I have encountered over the years have been sub-adults . Alex Diffley somehow managed to wangle an extra last drop , but after his two previous shark-lite visits to Coll , I could hardly begrudge him the bonus .
“ That first pass was the worst footage
I got on my GoPro ,” Alex told me later . “ I was in the moment and just didn ’ t use the camera . I ’ ve been obsessing over basking sharks since I was a child – I used to call it ‘ the shark with a coat hanger stuck in its mouth ’!”
Alex was given the honour of taking a DNA swab from the 8m shark , leaning out with a long pole to dab a piece of cloth across the shark ’ s flank . The sample of ‘ goo ’ thus collected , Alex popped it into a test tube and a previously unsampled shark was ready to be added to the DNA list . As it was a ‘ new ’ shark , Alex was given the honour of naming it , and so our new friend was christened ‘ Lottie ’, partly in tribute to Alex ’ s wife Charlotte , and also because , as Alex put it : “ I had to do this a lot to see that shark .”
Alex completes the DNA sample , Shane Wasik in background
Alex Diffley snorkelling
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