After the beautiful evening on Mingulay and Terrence’s fantastic choc chip cookies, we headed to bed last night very happy and anticipating the cetacean encounters we might have the next day. However, this is Scotland and things do not always go to plan - we were woken in the middle of the night by the boat rocking and rolling in a terrific swell. I’m sure everyone did something similar to me – roll over and hope it was just a dream, realize it wasn’t so brace yourself against the sides of your bunk, spend the remainder of the night in a state of semi-awakeness for fear of being catapulted from your bunk onto your neighbouring crew member and cursing Scotlands fickle weather! Needless to say, there were some tired faces at breakfast and it was quickly agreed to scrap previous plans of transects en route to Muck (one of the Small Isles) and head straight for the shelter of it’s northern anchorage!

As we got underway, various extra layers were applied and a small hardcore of volunteers willing to get soaked and freezing stayed out on deck to keep the crew company. They weren’t the only ones keeping us company – we were suddenly joined at one point by about half a dozen common dolphins – they didn’t stay with us for long but were a very welcome sight in a world of grey skies and grey seas.

Mid afternoon and we’d arrived at our destination – the volunteers took a wee wander ashore to recover from the morning’s ordeal while the crew got on with some behind the scenes work (well, someone’s got to do it!) and cooking our last meal together. In typical Scottish weather style, the skies cleared and we were treated to a beautiful evening sunset.

Silurian’s Trip Log – July 24th – August 4th

Day 8 (Monday)

Today we left CastleBay in Barra.

Today we sailed south in a sea and sky of bright blue to explore the islands of Sandray, Pabbay and Mingulay. But more importantly we saw the Seawolf, the Ferryman, the Orca-THE KILLER WHALE!!!!!!


For over an hour a pod of six Orcas lazed around just out of CastleBay watching us as we humbly watched them. We were in awe. What more is there to say than that? I could say how we sailed over wide Atlantic swells with only an expanse of three thousand miles between the Americas and us. Or how we ate and swam on an idyllic deserted Island (Mingulay) with golden beaches and ruined crofts. Or how we then climbed to the Island’s summit to reveal huge sheer cliffs plummeting into the sea, peppered with nesting Fulmars.

But more importantly, today we saw Orcas!

Log by: Gary

Today, having fully rested for a day and-a-bit we left Loch Maddy in time to start monitoring at 9:00, since the winds had calmed down considerably and were much more suitable for surveying – the sun even threatened to shine! We headed out into the Minch, continuing southwards in the direction of our final destination today of Barra – near the tip of the Outer Hebrides. Come midday, despite glorious sunny conditions, there were no sightings so I took advantage of the weather to climb the crows nest and be another look out for suspicious activity of the cetacean kind on the horizon. As promised by others on board, it is amazing up there and pretty special when you’re enjoying the company of gannets and gulls as they fly alongside you! After an 11/2 hours, and not a cetacean in sight I went returned to the deck, just in time for our best sighting so far – a school of 20-30 common dolphins!!

We were treated to sights of ‘waves’ of dolphins appearing in front of us – 2-4 individuals swimming at a speed, in perfect synchrony as well as breaching as they went, with more individuals appearing seconds after. The experience was made even more exhilarating when the dolphins bow rode and were so close that I felt I could almost touch them – it was an incredible scene having 20-30 dolphins effortlessly swimming alongside the boat so close you could hear and see them breathing out with each leap clear of the water and see calves too - keeping up with the group – some so small – just under a metre long, and hadn’t yet developed the slender snout of the adults! The site of many youngsters in the school (of varying sizes) is encouraging news too – maybe it’s a sign that the species is doing ok in this neck of the ocean.

The dolphins were in amongst a scene of frantic activity - the hurry we have been looking for consisted of Gannets that circled above,– one dived literally within metres of our boat, so that you heard the impact of the bird hitting the water, and saw it travel beneath the surface!

After half an hour the dolphins disappeared and we left to arrive at Castlebay, Barra around 4:00. Let’s hope we get some good sightings tomorrow too!

Log by Carolynn