HWDT BLOG

26th August 2010

Published: 30/08/2010
Anchorage: Bunessan (Isle of Mull)
Position: 56°19’.312N, 06°16’.007W
Distance travelled: 55.7NM (excluding relocation from Tinkers Hole to Bunessan)

Various seals were seen on the rocks when leaving Loch Tarbert. Almost immediately after starting the survey effort (actively looking out for animals), many basking sharks were sighted at the north entrance of the Sound of Islay, all foraging with their white mouths wide agape, glowing in the green water. So far, the basking sharks are the most frequent observed species of the trip. After a quick looking around and circumnavigating the sharks, we continued our survey route west into the open waters west of Colonsay and Oronsay, from there we went north towards the south side of Mull. Many porpoises were detected and we were fortunate enough to see some of these groups. More basking sharks as well were spotted. With the remaining mussels, a delicious mussel soup was prepared. Before ending the day, we did a full man overboard exercise and discovered that in the meantime other boats had sneaked into the anchorage location we’d chosen for the night. We headed into Tinkers Hole anyway in case there was room for one more only to discover that there were even more boats in there already. A relocation around the Ross of Mull, via the Sound of Iona towards Burnessan occurred, helmed by Shawn. After a Burn’s dinner (including Burn’s poem to address the haggis performed by the skipper), Nienke gave the Bird- ID presentation by role play.

25th August 2010

Published: 30/08/2010
Anchorage: West Loch Tarbert, Jura
Position: 55°57’.939N, 05°54’.618W
Distance travelled: 49.9NM

Calm flat waters guided us from the south-east side of the Isle of Mull to the north-west side of the Isle of Jura. Some zig-zagging on the way enabling us various views on the scenery, but most interesting were the basking sharks which many of us had not seen before. Taking use of the mirror-like sea conditions, Howard went up into the crow’s nest and spent almost 1,5 hours looking for animals from this higher position, spotting various seals, harbour porpoises and basking sharks. Also some great views of diving gannets close by and we even retrieved a dead gannet for closer inspection. Using the man-overboard manoeuvre and a bucket, we picked up the once beautiful animal which was now smelling and getting decomposed. Due to some problems with the acoustic setup, the protocol was slightly simplified which gave us the opportunity to get into the routine of the data collection and the various tasks involved. Inverlussa Mussels were made for dinner accompanied by a full moon and Roddy’s new constellation Tron 5 glittering away in the night sky above us. The various satellites streaking overhead were very much appreciated by our big-city inhabitants (New York, Tokyo). After dinner, most crew went ashore and visited the bothy and explored a part of the remote landscape while Nienke remained onboard fixing the equipment problems.

23rd and 24th August 2010

Published: 30/08/2010
Anchorage: Tobermory harbour (23rd); Loch Spelve (Isle of Mull, 24th)
Position: 56°37’.219N, 06°03’.699W (23rd); 56°24’.533N, 05°44’.436W (24th)
Distance travelled: 0NM (23rd); 36.9NM (24th)

After a first evening and morning full with briefings on living on board, data collection and safety, we left Tobermory harbour. “Sighting! Porpoise!” The call we wanted to hear came from the mast as we travelled through the Sound of Mull, our first sighting as a Harbour Porpoise briefly surfaced near the boat and was gone in a flash. There are 9 of us on board the Silurian on this stormy day: 5 volunteers (Howard, Russell, Mari, Allison, Shawn) and 3 crew (John, Roddy, Nienke) and Lucy from the UK Earthwatch office who is with us until we reach Oban. We all met the previous evening, our first night on board, and yet we’d already melded into a laughing, easy-working team.

Thursday 19th August 2010

Published: 23/08/2010
Anchorage: Tobermory, Isle of Mull
Position: 56°37.218N, 06°03.696W

We wake in the picturesque setting of Tobermory with the sound of rain hitting the deck outside, but everyone is keen to get back out there to complete our final day of monitoring. A quick stop-off at the pontoons to top up on fuel and water and we head out with excited talk of what the day might hold in store. The rain quickly clears and gives way to probably the sunniest day of the trip. Towing the hydrophone past the Tobermory and Ardmore lighthouses confirms the presence of the elusive harbour porpoise. We head south towards the Treshnish Isles counting basking shark as we go! Mouths are gaping, and that's just us! One of them treats us by swimming underneath our bow leaving us in no doubt of just how enormous they are. Everyone gets last minute photo opportunities of these magnificent animals, although Kia and Gemma suspect one of them is an attention-seeking gannet with a fin attached to its back (cabin fever may be to blame)! We reach the glorious stretch of golden sand at Calgary Bay before turning back to raise our sails to sail back home. Gemma heads straight to the science station to enjoy the engine-free sounds from the hydrophone. French toast for second breakfast courtesy of Tim, and Roddy's delicious mackerel pate on oatcakes are served up to keep us going. We see what are probably the same basking sharks on the way back to Tobermory. With such a great end to the trip, the boat gets a good clean down and then so do we. Cafe Fish serves up our final meal together followed by a toast at the Mish Nish before heading back to Silurian. As the waxing gibbus rises in the sky to mark the end of the trip, I am privileged to have spent 10 days in the company of such excellent people, travelled to some stunning locations and watched our Scottish cetaceans and sharks. Thanks for an awesome trip...hope to see you all again soon!! Gemma
Our wonderful skipper Tim has put together a compilation of his photos and videos from the trip and it's on YouTube for all the world to see!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8GmNk-D9fs

Wednesday 18th August 2010

Published: 19/08/2010
Anchorage: Tobermory, Isle of Mull
Position: 56°37.218N, 06°03.696W
Distance travelled: 67.1NM

The morning began a tad slovenly and groggily. The weather was a bit gloomy and one member of the team had a new bump on the head to show everyone. Second breakfast was tasty porridge. We had an early morning encounter with a basking shark in the now calm waters surrounding Soay, followed by a lengthy encounter with a minke in the Sound of Soay. Gemma was excited as she thinks she may have recorded it on the hydrophone (to be confirmed)!!. Our last sighting of the day was with a large basking shark with a perfectly placed spot in the dorsal fin. It was large, silver and flat. Some bright spark named it Baking Tray. Rhum and Eigg looked particularly spectacular in the afternoon sun. Mid afternoon we developed an engine niggle so we changed course and headed back to Tobermory to give it a check over. The port looked stunning in the evening light as mackerel bit on the line and we finished off the day with a coastal walk to Aros park, an early night and, for some, another swift half. No head butting ensued.

Tuesday 17th August 2010

Published: 19/08/2010
Anchorage: Loch Harport, Skye
Position: 57°18.108N, 06°20.987W
Distance travelled: 50.1 NM

A sun-filled crossing to Skye, passing some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable. A couple of minke whales popped up by Neist Point lighthouse and we stayed with them for an hour or more, getting a much better view than the dozen or so people watching from land. Roddy was on hand with the camera to take fin shots for photo-identification purposes. We later discovered that one of the whales had a very distinctive nick in the trailing edge of its dorsal fin, which will make it easier to identify if it is seen again in future. We passed the majestic MacLeod’s Maidens and turned into Loch Harport where the Cuilin Mountains tower over a secluded mooring with a view over the Talisker distillery. A quick run to shore in the peaty waters of the loch and the smell of whisky in the air. The day ended in the lovely Bunkhouse pub with its dog on roof sticking its tongue out to greet us and a few games of pool in the cleverly constructed midge shed. We had a swift half there. The shore excursion ended with us trying to find the local post office to fulfil our mission of posting Tim’s cards. The night ended when one of our volunteers (who will remain nameless) decided to head-butt the Silurian and came second.

Monday 16th August 2010

Published: 17/08/2010
Anchorage: Leverburgh, Harris
Position: 57°46.019N, 07°01.702W
Distance travelled: 53.5 NM

Well, we thought we had trouble counting birds yesterday....HA! As we approached the stacks (Stac Lee, Borraray and Stac an Armin) a few birds circled round us, but it wasn’t until we were closer and looked above and behind us to find the sky full of gannets. Welcome to the Stac Lee gannetry (home to part of the world’s largest colony of gannets)! Thousands upon thousands of gannets circled all around us, but it was strangely quiet. There was a definite lack of screeching. We watched skuas attacking gannets in order to force them to regurgitate their meal before consuming it themselves. Ewww... but fascinating. Roddy took a spin in the tender (dinghy) to the base of the stack in order to say he had touched it. Surprisingly, he returned poo-free!
The journey back to Harris was somewhat uneventful from that point on, grey, foggy and very rainy. It certainly gave our eyeballs a good clean (note: one must invent some windscreen wipers for eyes...). We didn’t have a sighting until we came into Leverburgh Channel, where one lonely basking shark popped up to say a brief hello (we suspect it may have been a juvenile). A quick, soggy trip to the pub to sample the local ale was followed by another lovely dinner of bean casserole (with surprise pickled onions) and mash followed by baked bananas (with surprise cashew nuts).

Sunday 15th August 2010

Published: 17/08/2010
Anchorage: Village Bay, Saint Kilda
Position: 57°48.494N, 08°34.162W
Distance travelled: 55.9NM

An early start and even the usual sleepy-eyed volunteers were up early and bouncing around eagerly. The crossing was mainly calm, with a glassy surface but mid-sized rolling swell to give the feel of the high seas. We saw minkes briefly off to port side again, must be their preferred side. White beaked dolphins were expertly spotted by Roddy from over a kilometre away. They soon joined us and spent time splashing alongside and under the boat for a good half hour. One even entertained us with some spectacular acrobatics. Mid afternoon a vague shape emerged from the mist and then disappeared. Skipper Tim made the funny gag that we had to turn back and that this would be our only sight of St Kilda. Funny Guy!!
But by about 5, the mist began to clear and there it was. WE MADE IT TO ST KILDA!!! Woohoo! The water was green and crystal clear. Bird counting got a bit hectic, with 121 gannets and 70 odd fulmars flying by us in a single half hour survey period! Luckily we went off effort before passing the flock of 200+ fulmars sitting on the water awaiting us. Having met the warden we did the touristy thing, rummaging around the gift shop, before heading to the fairy house and exploring the village and museum. The Soay sheep are very cute, and we were even graced with the presence of the native St Kilda wren (30% larger than a normal wren!). This island is absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful  . First Mate Roddy disappeared with a gleeful look in his eye. He reappeared several hours later with video evidence of his near-death experience with Bonxies (Great Skuas) attacking him on the cliff top. Whether they were protecting their nests or protesting that he’d taken his clothes off we’ll never find out.
Back on board Silurian we had a quick pasta meal and a toast to St Kilda. Kirsty and Leanne changed into their swim wear and went for a splash off the side of the boat. The other girls opted for the luxury of a long, hot shower on the island and a jog along the glorious stretch of golden sand.

Saturday 14th August

Published: 17/08/2010
Anchorage: Leverburgh, Harris
Position: 57°46.019N, a 07°01.702W
Distance travelled: 60.3NM

We left Castlebay and headed North along the coast of Barra. The weather held good all day and the sea was mainly calm - any lingering signs of sea-sickness now well behind us all. The day held a few good sightings - common dolphins and porpoises and a couple of brief spotting of minke off the port side. Gemma came up trumps again with the wise words that the number of dolphins visible at the surface often means more are underneath. We passed through the (soon to be) legendary Hebridean Rectangle where we saw proof that time can slip into reverse - football scores reverted back in time before our eyes.
We moored in the rather uninspiring port of Leverburgh on the south coast of Harris. A beautiful coast with a tricky. but scenic, approach through the Sound of Harris. We stopped off for a quick drink at the Anchorage Bar and Restaurant. A fine sausage casserole awaited us on our return to Silurian. One of the finer British dishes and surprisingly not be found in the Delia Bible. An early night for all - tomorrow, weather permitting, it’s off across to St Kilda - the Holy Grail of islands....

Friday 13th August 2010

Published: 16/08/2010
Anchorage: Castlebay, Barra
Position: 56°57.187N, 07°29.420W
Distance travelled: 58.4NM

The day began well, after a good night’s sleep for all, undisturbed by anchors or raspberries. We left in a warming sun and within a few minutes of first watch starting, Tim spots the first dorsal fin of what proves o be up to eight basking sharks. They circle us for half an hour, occasionally mouths wide open. One swam under the bow giving us ample proof of the huge length they grow to (up to 12 metres). A memorable start to a day that proved mainly glorious with long spells of warm sunshine and calm seas. Blue Peter Minke Spotters Gold Badge goes to Tim for clocking the only whale so far, gone under the waves before any of the rest of us could spot it, but logged for posterity. Later, three porpoises and a couple of seals popped up en route. Highlight of the day for Kirsty has to be the crow’s nest which she describes as the adventure of a lifetime. Excellent coaching down from Tim brought the adventure to a conclusion. Mid afternoon we spot a dead seal or porpoise floating the waves, but tracking back over our path proves unsuccessful and we continue on our way. As we close in on Barra and Castlebay another basking shark pops its’ fin into view, shortly followed by a baby seal heading into the waves. Entering Castlebay the castle comes into view next to a huge CalMac ferry. In 2000 the clan chief of the MacNeils sold the castle to Heritage Scotland for the rent of one bottle of Talisker a year. Castlebay has a beautiful setting a small village that seems caught in time. Shore leave for the Silurian team and a true Scottish West Coast Island pub is recommended by Captain. The afternoon conspires to be a moody grey evening and Friday the 13th lurks in the silhouette of the castle in the bay. The Silurian team head for land. The pub is alive and animated with all sorts of cowboys, mavericks, a kaleidoscope of local characters and weekend islanders. The three men accordion band is in full swing! With a request for a Parisian song and hopes to learn the Scottish jig, the crew watch the locals display the true art to Highland dance. Back to Silurian, giving Dazzlers ‘chip’ van a wide berth. Finish the Friday the thirteenth with the bioluminescence experiment in the sink: the primordial soup. Zenpirate dreams of the adventure to the mystical Saint Kilda.

Thursday 12th August 2010

Published: 14/08/2010
Anchorage: Crossapol Bay, Coll
Position: 56°34.727N, 06°39.427W
Distance travelled: 46.1NM

Bad night’s sleep for a few of us, others slept like lambs. Cap’n Tim was woken at least 5 times as the anchor alarm beeped with cruel regularity. A jar of raspberry jam was also guilty of heinous crimes against the sleepy, rolling like a drum roll as the boat swayed until Leanne put a stop to its evil ways. Morning was overcast but cheered by the sight of 3 common dolphins close to the boat as we prepared to make off. The weather was no better than yesterday but we did see a couple of basking sharks, which was a moment of excitement and a first for Rachael. Other than that there was little to write home about apart from a plastic peanut bag. Clinging on to the fore- mast became too much of a chore, with the waves and salt water more or less blinding us every couple of minutes, so there was an enforced mid-day break. Mutton soup was served to the non-vegetarians. A lot of biscuits disappeared. The waters calmed as evening hit and we anchored off Crossapol Bay on Coll where we took the tender off to the beach for a walk with the hare, the beach sheep and some unidentified poo; what the locals call “an inexplicable amount of excrement”. Food was a huge vegetable curry with chick pea daal. Tim was relieved that the strawberries were good for another day, so we ended the meal with cheese and an astonishing array of oatcakes.

Wednesday 11th Aug 2010

Published: 14/08/2010
Anchorage: En Treadrach, Oronsay
Position: 56°00.873N, 06°13.292W
Distance travelled: 52.3NM

A still morning belies a lumpy day ahead. Everyone seems to have a good night’s sleep in the calm waters of the loch. A grey seal early in the morning promises well for the rest of the day. Grey seals are not a portent of things to come apparently. As we pass Duart Castle, the calm waters leave us behind and we have nine straight hours of battling the Hebridean waters. Gemma, the biodiversity officer, was almost a gonner early on when she was whacked against the table. Two porpoise raced past us, laughing. Our first lunch of tomato soup had a lot of added salt and the birds got a bit of extra bread. Gemma battled on against the elements to teach us visuals, acoustics and data logging. We logged the two porpoises who probably laughed even more. Not a lot was spotted but the hydrophone picked up a lot of the underwater activity we’re sure to see when the weather calms down. Arrived at Oronsay at about six, difficult anchoring but we were soon filling up on Mexican. Two mexican meals already. All that talk of rubbish food in Scotland is obviously an English ploy. On the hillside someone had built himself a shed - a long-suffering Oronsay husband no doubt. A great day out on the water, passing fantastic scenery. Much to reflect on over dinner.

Tuesday 10th August 2010

Published: 14/08/2010
Anchorage: Loch Aline, Morvern Peninsula
Position: 56°30.900N, 05°45.600W

Group arrives in the lovely filmset-like Tobermory, with the exception of one (sorry you couldn’t make it Caroline). With decision made by our skilled, professional and Hebridean Captain, the Silurian team leave straight away. The winds are in our favour and we set sail for Loch Aline, The majestic Scottish scenery is absolutely breathtaking: mountainsides in every shade of rich green reaching from the sea to the blue sky. Our captain has plotted a fabulous course. If weather can stay in our favour we will research, record with hydrophone and photo document all the fabulous species all the way to Saint Kilda.
We drop anchor in view of a huge castle, which turns out not to be the main castle. Good start in the food stakes - Roddy and Gemma prepare a fine chilli. A colourful sunset slips behind the landscape onto a beautiful still evening. We discuss the many cetaceans we all hope lay in wait over the next 11 days. Gemma our knowledgeable and equally sensation {with eagle eye vision} science officer is the guruess of all in these Scottish waters and shores. With specimens of baleen and a whale tooth from Gemma passed around after a dinner, the magnificence of these sea creatures we are to study is overwhelming. The commencing of this eleven day journey is a successful muster of adventurers.

Friday 6th August 2010

Published: 10/08/2010
Anchorage: Tobermory, Isle of Mull
Position: 56°37.215N, 06°03.732W
Distance travelled: 15.1NM

Alas, the final day of the programme. We only surveyed for three hours. We are currently at Tobermory to meet Michael, the person who will film and interview us. After the interview we cleaned the boat and wiped every surface. We were now going to survey around the island for a bit for filming purposes. Nienke cooked us some bean soup for lunch (the best soup on the trip so far). I am happy to go home, yet sad to leave these wonderful people whom I lived with for ten days. We have to get a good night’s sleep tonight since we have a long journey back home ahead of us tomorrow (Tobermory-Oban-Glasgow-London-Saudi Arabia).

Thursday 5th August 2010

Published: 10/08/2010
Anchorage: Loch Na Droma Buidhe, Loch Sunart
Position: 56°39.340N, 05°55.344W
Distance travelled: 54.7NM

A beautiful summery day today! And lots of excellent sightings – brilliant for our last full day of surveying! We headed for Muck because there had been several sightings reported. It was a bit grey whilst we circled the island, but we managed to see a good few basking sharks! Unfortunately, the sea wasn’t really still enough to get a great view of the whole bodies, but we saw plenty of fins and white shapes moving around below the surface (their huge gawping mouths). Magnus and Nienke were lucky enough to spot one breeching (jumping clean out of the water) – it must have been pretty impressive judging from the size of the splash that proceeded! Perhaps more unusually, we saw two sun fish; very weird, unearthly looking creatures! The highlight of the day however, was our third encounter with common dolphins, roughly 18 individuals. This time they were behaving differently again; rolling around, jumping high out of the water, surfing the waves and generally being very playful! I was sat on the bowspread at the front of the boat – it was an amazing experience! They look you right in the eye, and you are so close to them, you could reach out and touch them (if it wasn’t prohibited...). The weather only got better! In fact, Magnus even changed into shorts!! And when we were heading back to anchor at Loch Sunart to top it all off, we had a very brief sighting (about 4 surfaces – so no photos unfortunately) of a baby minke whale – what more could you ask for?

Wednesday 4th August 2010

Published: 10/08/2010
Anchorage: Loch Scresort, Rum
Position: 57°00.794N, 06°16.126W
Distance travelled: 61.2NM

Today, we were leaving Skye after our day off. The forecast wasn’t very encouraging; strong winds and rain were headed our way. However, the first couple of hours we departed, the sea was glass-like, the sun was shining, and the landscape view was amazing. We saw lots of common seals resting on the rocks, but we couldn’t count them since they had to be at water. When we were heading for the Isle of Rum, the sea got really rough, and there was constant rain, and we barely saw any cetacean sightings that on the way. In the evening, Nienke presented a powerpoint about the bi-annual NATO exercise in the area, explaining issues for marine life by noise pollution and sonar, but also discussing current mitigation precautions.

Tuesday 3nd August 2010

Published: 04/08/2010
Anchorage: Portree, Skye
Position: 57°24.775N, 06°10.975W
Distance travelled: 0NM


A well deserved change from the research today! We were going to anchor a few miles away from Portree yesterday to do a morning of surveying with the afternoon off, but the weather wouldn’t permit the other anchorages available – so we had to suffer a full day off! The day started with a full cooked Scottish breakfast, followed by the shore leave. After having a good look round, and a quick trip to the visitors centre, we went for a very nice walk up out of town over some beautiful hills with great views of the Harbour and mountains of Skye and the island of Raasay in the distance. We then sat in on a traditional piping competition! Two 15 minute performances was enough for me for a good while – its’ incredibly loud, and very repetitive with the constant drone of the same chord throughout the music! Fish and chips in the Harbour was a real treat, and then we had a good look round the shops etc. Great weather too! A couple of showers but what else can you expect being in this part of the world? With haggis (an endemic species to the highlands, with a very interesting evolution from prehistoric sabre-toothed haggis, to the friendly haggis we have today – with its left legs shorter than the right to aid its journeys across the mountainous local terrain...) for tea, we’ve had an enlightening experience of some Scottish culture! Back to the research tomorrow...

Monday 2nd August 2010

Published: 04/08/2010
Anchorage: Portree, Skye
Position: 57°24.775N, 06°10.975W
Distance travelled: 58.9NM

Waking up each on his own sometime around 8 o’clock and some even earlier than that and some even later. We had a nice breakfast, some cereal and toast. Then we (volunteers) each had something to do so we can start our next journey in the beautiful Hebrides, Husain had to clean the Anker as it rose up and Tom was on the chain duty and the others were on sail duty and so on. And that’s how we left Loch Ewe, and as the day was going on, we were getting the feeling like all the animals were sleeping and none of them wanted to show himself. All we saw was some plastic bags, and when all of us were losing hope and getting gloomy and sleepy, we heard a shout, ‘‘SIGHTING!!’’, and suddenly it was so fun and exciting because we saw something like 30 common dolphins feeding and jumping and leaping around, and when we got near them they were following the boat and leaping and whistling as if they’re playing with us. Also gannets were diving in to get some fish and 4 gannets were even fighting over the same fish. Now we’re on our way to Anker in Portree.

Saturday 31th July 2010

Published: 04/08/2010
Anchorage: Loch Finsbay, South Harris
Position: 57°46.711N, 06°54.326W
Distance travelled: 44.3NM

The sea was calm and glassy, the weather was warm and lovely, but the sightings were little and short. There was not much action today, a grey seal was the only marine mammal we sighted , however, tonight was our time to cook dinner. Hussain and I were preparing a Saudi dish called “Kabsa”. This was our first time cooking a meal like this and we followed instructions given to us by Hussain’s mother. We had to improvise a bit with the ingredients, and the meal looked nothing like what we were used to back home, but everybody loved it and wanted the recipe. So in the end it was the perfect end to the day.

Friday 30th July 2010

Published: 04/08/2010
Anchorage: Loch Maddy, North Uist
Position: 57°35.530N, 07°09.079W
Distance travelled: 25.3NM

Unfortunately, we couldn’t have had a stronger contrast to yesterday in terms of weather and sightings – lots of rain, choppy seas with huge waves, and just one grey seal to see right at the end (and tonnes of creel pots!). But that didn’t dampen our spirits too badly! We managed to get by, working as a team, with mid-morning bacon butties of course... The angles the boat can reach going over the biggest waves coming from the right direction are fantastic – its like being on a theme park ride! And everything has to be well strapped in under deck, or it would roll all over the place (as demonstrated nicely by the washing up liquid and air freshener!). We were moored up at North Uist at about 3pm, ready for the carrot soup! We had lots of fun playing games such as “Who am I?”, sticking stickers on our head with names from the Queen to Godzilla, trying to work out who we each had through yes and no questions. So maybe not the best day for cetacean research, but good fun none the less!

Thurday 29th July 2010

Published: 31/07/2010
Anchorage: Wizard Pool, Loch Skipport, South Uist
Position: 57°19.411N, 07°14.525W
Distance travelled: 53.1NM

Today we woke up at around eight O’clock in the morning. We were leaving the island of Rum and travelling in a zig zag path till we reached South Uist. We spotted lots of sightings that day since the ocean was completely calm flat. Some of the animals we spotted were about 35 feeding common dolphins, several Minke whales, and a gray seals. We anchored near South Uist, and we then hiked it which I thought was a good shift of mood. We tried fishing, but it did not work out as we hoped it would, so we settled for some fish pie for dinner (out of the freezer), which was delicious. At about eleven O’clock we called it a night and headed to bed.

Wednesday 28th July 2010

Published: 31/07/2010
Anchorage: Loch Scresort, Rum
Position: 57°00.805N, 06°16.031W
Distance travelled: 31.2NM

We’ve just finished our first day upon board the Silurian and London and England seem an age ago already. We spent our first day heading for the Island of Rum managing to spot a few harbour porpoises and a grey seal on the way but the lack of sightings gave us time to find our sea legs, drink some excellent homemade soup and learn about the research.

Tuesday 27th July 2010

Published: 31/07/2010
Anchorage: Loch Na Droma Buidhe, Loch Sunart
Position: 56°39.163N, 05°56.058W
Distance travelled: 6.5NM

As the day started, me (Husain), James and Abdurrahman woke up quite early, about 4:40 in the morning, and got all our bags ready for our next long trip. Heading to Heathrow airport we were getting to know each other more with every conversation, and as we got there we met with our soon to be partners on this trip, Magnus and Tom, who we came to know more on the way to Glasgow. This trip was a long and tiring trip as most of us woke much earlier than normal and we spent the whole day travelling, which was about 13:30 hours, including a plane then a taxi into Glasgow then a train ride followed by ferry and then a bus before we finally made it through to what soon was our home for something like 10 days, where we got to meet our captain, Mr. Glenn, and the first man or should I say woman, Fiona, and Science Officer Nienke. After all the safety introductions and briefings and talks we head to our bunks and went straight to sleep. Plus from all of us here we want to send our great regards to Bryan and Jane =D

Monday 26th July 2010

Published: 27/07/2010
Anchorage: Tobermory
Position: 56°37.201N, 06°03.697W
Distance travelled: 28.3NM

Started out with drizzle in Loch Moidart before we headed out into the Sea of the Hebrides. It was dry for about an hour before it turned into real heavy drizzle and the visibility was down to 600 metres. No sightings until two porpoises made an appearance by Ardnamurchan lighthouse. Predictably, (according to Rod, the Silulian’s first mate) a minke whale appeared immediately afterwards. So that was the last sighting of the trip and we continued through the drizzle and fog into Tobermory Harbour. Excellent bacon sanny and a final presentation from Nienke, followed by boat clean up finished the trip. Fantasic stuff!!!

The trip is coming to an end and I wish we could just turn the boat around and give it another go! It was just amazing. I experienced quite a few new things on this short, but very eventful trip. I never knew that “working” in the rain could be that joyful and amusing. I had my first close encounter with basking sharks and common dolphins and I loved it. The crew was wonderful and I felt right at home. Also the food was great to (thank you Rod and Nienke  ). Loved it! Hope I get another chance to participate on such a trip, because I think that the HWDT is doing a really good job here. Tina.

Sunday 25th July 2010

Published: 27/07/2010
Anchorage: North Channel Loch Moidart
Position: 56°48.127N, 05°50.342W
Distance travelled: 61.1NM

After an early start we kept having sightings - although most very brief - with regular intervals. Some seals, some harbour porpoises, some minke’s and basking sharks, but most enjoyable was the sighting of the common dolphins just south of Rum. We were on our way to 3 basking sharks, when ‘DOLPHINS!’ was shouted front he front of the boat. Leaping they came towards us and they spent some time with us bowriding. Some amazing sight! Also our monkey-like first mate, who climbed down underneath the bow spread to collect some brilliant footage of the dolphins from close by, was a great entertainment value. Our anchorage was a very beautiful place, where we hoped to catch some mackerel (but did not succeed), and we went ashore to stretch our legs and to admire the beautiful pond filled with water lilies on Eilean Shona, from which we went over with the dingy to visit the castle at Cul Doirlinn. Dinner came with a very special gin&tonic (the frozen tonic was cut out of the bottle, but because of the pressure, it first created a lovely fountain in the saloon). Some card tricks and games and then off to bed.

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