Screen shot of a mysterious underwater object wins Best Nessie Sighting of the Year
A RIB skipper bagged £1000 when his image of a mysterious underwater shape was declared the Best Nessie Sighting of the Year by the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club and bookmakers William Hill.
Marcus Atkinson, who takes tourists on trips to hunt for the Loch Ness monster aboard his RIB called the Ness Express, says he’s never seen anything like the unidentified shape, shown in the image above, in the 18 years that he has worked the loch.
The photo shows a strange object 23m below the surface of Loch Ness, captured on Atkinson’s Lowrance HDS-10 multifunction display. He didn’t have time to activate the HDS screen shot and used his mobile to capture the image instead.
“It is a bizarre shape to me,” said Atkinson. “I have shown it to other experienced skippers and none of us know what it was. When you look at the size of the contact, it rules out any fish or other creatures that would be in the loch. Because of the depth, it rules out seals, deer etc which leaves us with only one conclusion.”
Atkinson’s image wasn’t submitted for the award in time for the online voting but an expert judging panel deemed the picture so exciting that the skipper received the £1000 prize.
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