Position: Lat 56 º 39’. 541 N ; Long 05º 54’. 346 W
Weather: Fairly jolly atrocious, but all good fun.
Distance travelled: Not as far as far can be….I’d say about 22 nautical miles.

First day of fun and frolics successfully completed onboard.

Due to the Scottishly inclement weather we were unable to be quite as pioneering as we had hoped, and rather than heading out to unknown, unchartered completely new territories we hugged the coast and tucked into Loch Sunart. Apparently to practise porpoise detection and recognition in ‘calm’ waters…hmm, everything but calm waters was provided.

We were positively catapaulted Eastwards up the Sound of Mull, with the wind from astern. Very exciting for all the newbies and sailors-to-be. There were shrieks and squeals (of excitement-don’t worry Mum!) as we surfed down the swell, and the waves buffeted the boat. Sea spray a-flying, and horizontal rain made for poor sighting conditions. Nonetheless, the seas provided and we were treated to some avian acrobatics courtesy of the gannets, Manx shearwaters, eider ducks, shags, kittiwakes etc etc…

Tethered to the ‘tethery’ bits, we surveyed the high seas and learned the ins and outs of porpy detection and data collection. Once we tucked into Loch Sunart, things calmed down a little (remember this is all relative-it was still force 5, gusting 6, driving rain…Charging rhinoceros –ok, so that’s not entirely true…) An off-effort Martin (Skipper) spotted a group of six Harbour porpoises not far from the boat-mother and calf, and her second cousin twice removed (father’s side) and a few neighbours. Off out for the day apparently… We clocked another porpy; a few common seals here and there, and the highlight spot of the day was, without a doubt, the two plastic bags (courtesy of Sarah-determined to sight something. Good work Sarah-keep it up)

Having been blown to the end of the loch, we about turned and were steered (wonderfully, so masterfully) by Veronica back the other way in search of a sheltered wee cove for anchoring. Facing head-on wind and horizontal rain we splashed our way up the loch, in search of cetaceans all the while. As if that was not enough, Marcus (our 1st mate) trained us in distance estimation…Hmmm, more training needed we think by the various interpretations thrown up i.e. 20 m versus 350m, when the reality was 70m!

Coastguard warnings of gale force 11 (that’s pretty rough) meant we were ultra-careful in choosing our night-spot, and were treated to the sight of 5 common seals on the rocks, at our anchor-place. Lovely stuff.

All in all a cracking first day on ship, rounded off with great munchies, a bio-luminescence display (little things, little minds and all that!) and the feeling of being wrapped up in the bunk, with winds howling outside. Furthermore, no one saw their breakfast again-one nil to us! Encouraged by our new found sea legs, conversation centred on food and we rattled up cakes for the ‘morrow. NB the plural…*rubs tummy*

So from your international log committee, on board the Silurian, it’s Gute Nacht and sweet dreams for now.

Log by: An international collaboration by Iris and Veronica Jarsch (Germany), Sarah Outen (plain British)