The Basking Shark is the second largest fish in the sea and was once hunted and processed at Carradale, as recounted in Anthony Watkins's book 'The Sea My Hunting Ground'.
Nowadays they're much less common but can still be seen in the waters around Kintyre and elsewhere up the length of the west coast of Great Britain.
This one was in no hurry to get anywhere fast, slowly circling as it fed, and making its was north up the Kilbrannan Sound.
Visitors to the area shouldn't be alarmed though. The Basking Shark feeds almost exclusively on plankton and so is unlikely to take even a passing interest in bathers. There is a host of infirmation on Basking Sharks on the Shark Trust's Basking Shark website.
![[Basking Shark off Carradale Harbour]](javascript:popupwin('../clips/bigger/basking_shark_1.jpg',675,580))