Sunday 11^th June, 2006

Anchorage: Soriby Bay, Ulva

Position: 56° 29’.200 N 006°10’.800W

Distance covered: 43 nm

Lovely sunny windy day. Left Arisaig 7.30ish. Saw no cetaceans all day, but one seal. And lots of seabirds. Part of the way we sailed, the boat heeled over beautifully, so it was great fun standing towards the bow observing, and no-one was seasick. Anchored in a beautiful bay in Ulva at about 5.30pm, and Sharon and Helaine did supper, including chocolate cake with lots of chocolate sauce. Hope there's some left for breakfast...

Jen Berry
Earthwatch volunteer.

Saturday 10^th June, 2006

Anchorage: Loch Nan ceall, Arisaig

Position: 56° 54’.400 N 005°51’.400W

Distance covered: 35 nm

After a slightly noisy night (anchor kept moving and banging against the side of the boat), we started the day with a lesson from Susie on acoustics and its value in monitoring cetaceans especially when sightings can be difficult.

Left Canna and set sail for Loch Moidart. After leaving the harbour and reaching open water we were able to start sailing, however not before getting a round of teas in. The deal made by Dave/Helaine, was Helaine would put the kettle on if we found her a puffin. Guess what - 5 minutes later we found her a puffin. Not too hard when you are near cliffs which make ideal nesting colonies for sea birds.

Shortly after this we were able to hoist the sails and start sailing. This would be our first real experience of observing under sail and coping with the tilt of the boat. Isaac and myself took the first hour of observation on the mast. Due to the tilt, thought I would chose the high side, which was okay for 5 minutes until Dave changed tack and the I was on the low side. The tilt was quite unnerving to start with (the water looked very close) and I did feel a bit insecure, even though I was attached by a harness, so chose to sit and wedge myself. However after about 20/30 minutes I got use to the tilt and it was exhilarating!

After about 3 hours the wind died and it was back to motoring. Also due to the direction of the wind, tacking had been the order of the day, so after 3 hours of sailing we had only gone 7 miles. Decision made to then head for a new destination being Loch Nan ceall, Arisaig.

A quiet day on the sighting side, only 2 porpoises sighted but at least it was something. On the bird sightings it seemed to be the day for guillemots, and sadly we also had a few rubbish sightings, including a black sack that initially had the appearance of a basking shark.

Arrived in at a reasonable time allowing time to give the boat a good clean and opportunity for Kristina and Khiem to climb up to the crows nest. Also had a treat tonight in that we went for dinner on shore!

Sharon Avis
Earthwatch volunteer

Friday, 9^th June, 2006

Anchorage: Canna

Position: 57°03.300 N 006°29.500 W

Distance surveyed: 30 nm

The day started at 00:01 am because we were waiting the beginning of the day; they were giving a toast for my birthday; it's a wonderful experience, I never imagined to be here and to celebrate out of Mexico and to start the celebration very early.

After a excellent sleep, we took breakfast at 8:00 am and to leave with the idea of to found many dolphins and whales.

After almost three hours, the first surprise happened, we saw some dolphins at the right of the boat after some minutes they disappeared. The waiting again, and nothing but we never thinking about the excellent day. Let me explained, after the dolphins we saw minke whales, later many dolphins swimming around of the boat, for me was impossible to see all them because some of them are swimming at right of the boat, others behind at the rest at the left.

We were thinking about the day finish but.... other surprise, basking sharks and whales in the same time, oh my god, it was the best present for me, let me show you what we saw today:

common dolphins: 37

harbour porpoise : 02

grey seal : 01

unidentified doplhins: 05

minke whale: 03

basking shark: 03

So I never imagine to celebrate this day with this kind of surprise.

When we stop in Canna, they gave me another present, I swam for some minutes in the waters of Hebrides Islands, and that was a lovely experience. At night we celebrate again, I blew out the candles of the cakes and we finish this wonderful day.

Isaac Torres
Earthwatch Volunteer.

Thursday 8^th June, 2006

Position: 57°04.000 N 007°17.000 W

Distance surveyed 27 nm

Had a lie in and started the day at 8am after having a good sleep after all our excitement from the previous day. Everyone slept like a log! Had to keep pinching myself to check that I really was on a boat in the Western Isles, sun was shining, yes I did say “SUN” and we had just seen 86 sightings the day before. At breakfast Susie did a quick reality check with us and warned the Team not to expect as much excitement today as we might be disappointed.

Unfortunately I have the sad duty of reporting that our ship's mascot the pipit didn't make it and was given a rather unconventional burial at sea (a rendition of 'The Birdie Song' – including actions). Dave our skipper will just have to find himself the traditional parrot to sit on his shoulder instead.

So activities started with a walk to stretch our legs where we had some close encounters with the local bird life including puffins and razorbills which was made a great deal easier after Susie's expert tuition on sea bird identification.

So well fed and watered we headed off to spot some more cetaceans with Susie's warnings ringing in our ears. But we needn't have worried as within 45 minutes of going On Effort, to our delight an obliging minke whale made a guest appearance, which was to be the start of six minke sightings of the day. A porpoise put in a brief appearance and one seal was thrown in for good measure. After which we headed in to anchor for the evening.

A brisk walk to the local pub followed, only to find it closed! Well it was 11.00 pm by the time we ventured down the road. We decided to have a walk on the beach instead. Entertainment was provided by the Skipper Dave who, having dared to wear his Superman T-shirt then failed to live up to his reputation, and was found lying in a heap in the local graveyard having tried to leap the fence.

Another day in paradise and it's “Cetaceans Galore” so far.

Kristina Home
Earthwatch Volunteer

Wednesday 7^th June, 2006

Position: 56°47.400 N 007°37.600 W

Distance surveyed: 102 nm

A blog is just a slice of life apparently. Which reminds me of cake, and the one I made today. Up until which time Jen and me were the only vols not feeling or being sick. Half an hour in the galley & I lurched up on deck to join the main group.

We had a really early start (even if we did have to go back for a lifejacket, left by someone who'll remain nameless), as we were bound for the hopefully biologically productive area of Stanton Banks to the southwest, which has really varied underwater topography. By 6am, we were seeing basking sharks, and as we entered the Stanton Banks area were treated to bowriding common and white-beaked dolphins and plenty of of minke whales, one of them really close up. We had an amazing day of flat water and 18 hours of sailing. We had the great fortune to see at total of:

basking sharks 7

harbour porpoise 11

minke 6

Risso's dolphin 2

common dolphins 21

white beaked dolphins 14

grey seal 21

unidentified dolphins 4

And that's not all. A tiny LBJ (little brown job), identified as a pipit was marooned at sea. After following us for some miles it eventually landed & flew down into the cabin, where Animal-Hospital-style, vast amounts of attention was lavished on it (a home in a Fruit n' Fibre box and a choice of pumpkin seeds and muesli to eat).

Helaine Clare
Earthwatch volunteer

Tuesday 6^th June, 2006

Anchorage: Gott Bay

Position: 56°30.800 N 006°48.150 W

Distance surveyed: 35 nm

Glorious start to the day, and after receiving our briefing sessions on the survey work we would be completing and a basic guide to the boat, we left Tobermory around midday and headed northwards toward Coll. Split into our rotas, we started to put into practice our newly-learnt surveying and data recording skills.

A slow start, but after we started to follow the east coast of Coll, halfway along the coast the sightings started with cries of 'shark!', our first basking shark of the day, and it was a good sighting with the shark coming very close to the boat and an opportunity to see it feeding. Though a late start, the afternoon went on to be quite successful with 9 sightings of basking sharks, 2 possibly 3 minke whale sightings and 2 harbour porpoises.

Due to the afternoon turning colder and the shock it was to two of volunteers from warmer climes (Isaac from Mexico and Khiem from Vietnam), Susie initiated an aerobics/cabaret session to keep warm with a performance of the Hokey Kokey.

We moored for the night in Gott Bay, Tiree.

Sharon Avis
Earthwatch volunteer

Monday 5^th June, 2006

Anchorage Tobermory

Position: 56°37.200 N 006°03.700 W

The start third Earthwatch trip of the season brought an amazing experience – fine weather. As the volunteers joined Silurian on Monday evening at Tobermory, the bay was mirror-calm, the sky blue and cloudless, and the sun beaming down. Marvellous! Our volunteers are Sharon, Kristina, Jen and Helaine from the UK, Isaac from Mexico and Khiem from Vietnam. We spent the evening getting to know each other, and basking in the glorious weather. Reports were coming in of a real increase in sightings around the area, with the start of the plankton bloom and flat seas. We all went to bed extremely excited. Bring it on!

Susie, Science Officer, UK