Position: 56 24 550N 005 44 431W
Weather: Sunny with light winds
Distance travelled: 26 nautical miles.

At the moment we are anchored in the beautiful Loch Spelve at the south east corner of the Isle of Mull. We left Tobermory at midday this morning to begin a weeklong survey trip around the south western Hebrides. Onboard to share this with us are six volunteers from the Earthwatch Institute, they are Jo, Tracy, Kathryn, Becky, Ian and Clare. The crew for this Earthwatch trip are Duncan the skipper, Genivieve the first mate, Nicole our education officer and Juliet the co-PI. After a few hours of training and bamboozlement by all things nautical we set off down the Sound of Mull. Conditions were reasonable and luckily got better and better throughout the day. We were blessed with flat calm seas, hot sun (some of us even ventured in our shorts – a rarity here in Scotland) and best of all, lots of porpoise sightings. In total we encountered thirteen groups of porpoises and 31 animals in total – an impressive start to the trip – lets just hope this is a sign of things to come!!!!

Log by: Juliet