This morning we enjoyed porridge made by a Scotsman (Marcus) and looked inside the lobster pot, which revealed many crabs; shore, swimming and velvet.

We left a little later today due to maintenance jobs. The wind quickly picked up on The Little Minch allowing the sails to be used. I’ve learned how to set my feet apart, keep flexibility in the knees and hips as well as having a rope close to hand, when riding the waves. It is exhilarating standing near the bow ‘on effort’. However, later, when the wind reached almost 30 knots and the boat keeled over 45 degrees, I did close my eyes for a moment. Well, I wanted an adventure!

We passed Taransay today – where the BBC filmed Castaway. A group of ordinary people was placed on the island for a year and was followed as they struggled to survive. Ben Fogle launched his career after this experience!

Our sightings were few again; one porpoise and a seal. This is uncharted territory, so no data is still good data. Disappointment is short lived when you reach another extraordinary wild mooring, this time at Huisinis, where a perfect sandy beach stretched between the rocks with turquoise water lapping by the shore line.

Log by Debbie

PS. The volunteers (Geth and I) made supper tonight.

The morning began with a clear blue sky over Carbost, and some volunteers insisting on a quick onshore detour to the Talisker distillery to stock up for a possible change in the weather. We motored out of Loch Harport, then hoisted all four sails as we passed the fantastic pinnacle shapes of Macleod’s Maidens. Silurian made up to 7 knots in 17 knot winds with some novice sailors getting to practice broad reaches and fine hauls (“what’s that?”) under Duncan’s patient tutelage.

The sea was rougher than the first two days, which made visual monitoring much more tricky. After an initial porpoise sighting at the mouth of Loch Harport, our viewings were exclusively of the odd yacht and fishing vessel and, of course, the glorious cliffscapes of western Skye as we passed Neist Point lighthouse and The Merchant.

Taking our leave of Skye, we motored across the Little Minch aiming for the isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. During the long crossing in beautiful sunshine and strong wind, the monitoring conditions were much tougher as the boat rose, fell and swayed, covering observers with spray. Perhaps we are spoiled by the glorious high pressure zone which has blessed us so far. A barely noticed splash of water and a streak of grey under the starboard side of the hull gave us our second and last observation – a common dolphin.

We pulled into Kyle Stockinish a bit early and, after a stylishly slow meander around the “harbour”, we glided past a small salmon fishery to anchor out of the wind at the top of the Loch.

Log by Terrence

The day began with glorious sunshine – something which stayed with us for the majority of the day, quite a rare occurrence in the Hebrides! Almost as soon as we had set off we had the first sighting – a group of harbour porpoises. We motored through the Sound of Sleat and then headed southwest towards Canna, where there have recently been a number of basking shark sightings. It wasn’t basking sharks we found there, but loads of porpoises, all acting very energetically and some even coming really close to the boat – most un-porpoise like! We even had an encounter with a juvenile minke whale, which surprised us all by surfacing next to the boat while we were with a group of porpoises – it didn’t hang around though and soon gave us the slip. We weren’t too disappointed though as sighting conditions were about as good as they get in Scotland and we even caught sight of a whale surfacing over 3 km away!

As we travelled south of Canna we circumnavigated Hyskeir and then the ever vigliant Debbie gave the shout ‘A fin! A fin!’ – we had come across two adult basking sharks!! They seemed totally unconcerned by our presence and we now think that they were courting – they spent a long time following each other round in circles and then gave an impressive display of ‘synchronized swimming’, where they stayed almost motionless in the water, moving their tail fins in unison. There seems to be a theme developing with this trip!

We left them to it and carried on surveying back up towards Skye, heading for the beautiful Loch Harport. That was the end of the sightings for the day but we all felt extremely lucky with what we had seen. Once we had anchored some of the volunteers escaped ashore for an hour or so, before surprising the crew by going for a swim (those of us who work up here know how cold the water is, no matter how enticing it looks!)!

Log by: Penny

We started the trip in glorious sunshine in Kyle of Lochalsh and headed down past Kylerhea towards the Sound of Sleat. Soon into the survey and our volunteers were already getting their first sightings – two fleeting glimpses of harbour porpoises. We were also witness to two amorous seals ‘play fighting’ – see picture! As the wind picked up, we hoisted the sails for the first time this trip and enjoyed some excellent sailing southwards towards Rum, one of the Small Isles. All too soon the days surveying was over and we headed to our chosen anchorage for the night – far up Loch Scavaig. After some nifty steering by Marcus we eventually found the perfect spot and went for a jaunt ashore in the RIB to explore the stunning Skye scenery. After an ace meal prepared by the crew (as ever!!) we headed to bed, all excited about what the trip might bring…

Log by Penny