WOW! What a morning! We awoke bright and early to a beautiful, calm and sunny day and prepared to set off – we had a lot of ground to cover today. As we motored out towards the Treshnish Isles, thoughts of the recently sighted minke were still fresh in our minds, and when we spotted some harbour porpoises soon after starting surveying, I had a feeling we might be in for a special day… Soon after, eagle-eyed Marcus gave the shout – ‘MINKE! OFF THE BOW!’ and all eyes were on the water… What happened next made us all feel very privileged, even those of us who regularly work in these waters. An adult minke whale and two juveniles were feeding in quite a close area – one of the juveniles was extremely inquisitive about ‘Silurian’ and kept
kept swimming underneath, treating us to close up views.



After spending some ‘quality’ time with these beautiful animals, we thought we’d had our share for the day, until someone asked whether or not that was a Risso’s dolphin they’d just seen…A Risso’s dolphin?!?! Surely not, our luck couldn’t be that good… But it was, and a solitary juvenile Risso’s approached the boat and swam past, giving us plenty of photo opportunities.

The calm waters with views for miles soon became a distant memory as we sailed into fog. As visibility went from fantastic to 200 metres in about ten seconds we all eyed the radar with concern and optimism, did it actually work and if so, how big did an object need to be before it appeared as a blip on our instruments? The land disappeared from sight and we headed off for Iceland.

But we of little faith, within thirty minutes we emerged unscathed from the fog of doom to see Coll and Tiree clearly in sight. However, anyone on effort at the bow barely regained their bearings before the spray up over the bow was enough to freeze the (legs) off even the bravest brass monkey. The wind was now howling across the bow so that there was some reluctance to switch watches to the one which was sheltered behind the folded sail. Casual sailing clothes gave way to layers of oilskins, thermals and wellies.

But our trauma was lightened by a cry from the ever watchful Penny who had offered herself up as a human sacrifice on a double shift: "basking shark!" she yelled with authority. Martin pulled us to a virtual halt as we watched two fins coming towards us, in fact so close the white of the mouth was clearly visible as it idled past the boat, a juvenile which was still large enough to give you a big fright if you had been in the water. It was very inquisitive and had a few good looks at us before basking off into the sunset.

A late anchorage but well worth it for the day’s excitement.
Position at anchor: 56 33.754’N, 06 42.727’W
Distance covered 64 nm
Weather: clear skies but windy

Log by: Bev

Once again we had poor weather overnight and awoke to a decidedly ‘watery’ sky. However, we spent a couple of hours ashore and by the time we got back to the boat, the sky had definitely brightened. Unfortunately we had to lose Juliet at Bunessan (nothing to do with the lack of sightings!), so we all quietly prepared ourselves for a long day of extra shifts. As we headed out towards Tiree we encountered very large seas and quite a rough ride – conditions that would make even the most hardy amongst us feel a little delicate! After some hurried decision making from Martin, we turned tail and sailed back towards Staffa and the Treshnish Isles. Despite earlier sightings of a minke in the area, we only got a brief sighting of two porpoises, but it was enough to lift our spirits – we were beginning to think all Hebridean cetaceans had done a runner! The weather finally lifted and we sailed to an anchorage just south of Ulva – once again treated to panoramic views of unspoilt Hebridean scenery.

Position at anchor: 56 27.455N, 006 12.975W
Weather: Overcast for the majority of the day, a few passing showers. Clear, calm evening.
Distance travelled: 43 miles

Log by Penny

We left west Jura this morning in overcast skies, moving through a choppy sea. Little different in weather from yesterday and the day before but a stronger wind and a cold spray was splashing over my face while I was on-watch. The waterproofs are uncomfortable, the hood scratches the back of your neck when it’s down and if you have it up the hood stays put when you turn your head.

We passed through the sound of Islay, initially under sail but as the wind dropped, under power. The boat is more comfortable under power; it sits more level in the water but is noisier. Under sail there is peace and quiet and steering the boat is challenging and rewarding, I can understand how people fall in love with sailing. Mind you, It’s not easy to make or even drink a cup of tea when the boat’s shifting from upright to it’s side in a fraction of a second or when the winds suddenly picks up or drops off, always without notice. The skipper assured me that the boat will not capsize, even if it keels over to 90 degrees from vertical – I’m unconvinced but we still made our destination.

We saw our first sea-mammals today at about 1pm this afternoon – a solitary porpoise in the Islay Sound. Shortly afterwards we spotted another, another one on its own. We were watched by a couple of grey seals in the Sound but it wasn’t until about 4pm that we caught sight of another of our quarry – another porpoise. Much concentrated searching and all we turned up for the rest of the afternoon were plastic bags (of which there are far too many floating around in the ocean) and jelly-fish (including one Portuguese Man-o-War – the waters must be warmer than they felt to me).

Today is the first day since we began this trip that the sun started to shine. It has an amazing and beautiful effect on the water, which turned from a dull and uninviting slate-grey sea to a deep blue which reflected the sun like a million small diamonds on the water. As I write this, we are anchored in the harbour at Craighouse on the Isle of Jura, the sky is once more overcast and the water’s returned to its natural slate-grey colour. On the plus side, we are just spitting distance from the Isle of Jura distillery and the Jura Hotel serves a very welcome pint of 80 -/-.

Position at anchor: Craighouse, Jura, 56 deg 54 min N; 6 deg 8 min W
Weather: overcast with showers, advanciung to sunshine with clear skies force 4 SW decreasing during the day
Distance travelled : 46 miles

Written by Chris

Feeling a little worse for wear after Bev’s birthday we made ready to go. After the first of many anchor winching sessions we set off down from our anchorage through the infamous Corryvreckan whirlpool, where we encountered our only sightings of the day. Two groups of two porpoises, furiously swimming against the strong currents of Corryvreckan. As we came into open water, the sails went up for the first time and we surveyed the waters in between the south of Mull and the coast of Jura. Our destination for dinner was West Loch Tarbert in Jura, a very remote spot famous for its raised beaches (which the adventurous amongst us explored before tea).



As we neared its mouth we received a good drenching from a passing raincloud, after which everyone was on deck to enjoy the views.



Position at anchor: 55 57.537N, 005 55.007W
Weather: overcast with showers, force 3 SW
Distance travelled : 50 miles

Position: 56 15.655N, 005 37.806W
Weather: Calm and sunny
Distance travelled: 46 miles

Today was the first day of our seven day Earthwatch monitoring trip. Onboard we are eight – Four Earthwatch volunteers Chris, Magda, and John and Bev and four crew our first mate, Marcus, Martin the Swedish skipper, Penny our research assistant and myself Juliet, marine ranger. We left Tobermory to overcast skies and a smattering of rain, but fortunately for our new recruits, calm seas. As we made our way down the Sound of Mull the cloud lifted and we were treated to a fantastically sunny afternoon. Conditions for sighting animals were perfect and our first sighting of the day was made by Chris – 6 porpoises! We headed south through the Firth of Lorne with frequent sightings of porpoises. Then as we were turning for our first nights anchorage Martin spotted a minke whale! The animal surfaced quietly three times and then gave us the slip. So with sun tanned faces we headed towards the islands of Seil and Luing and anchored inbetween in Cuan Sound – a beautifully sheltered spot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Log by: Juliet