17th-25th June 2006
Saturday
I was feeling a little nervous, I didn’t know what to expect really. I spent the afternoon trying to read some cetacean literature so I wouldn’t look dumb later. At 6 o’clock I met the education assistant (eilidh) and Claire another volunteer at the discovery centre, there was going to be 3 volunteers me, Kar wai and Clare. We walked across to the boat with all our stuff (we all looked a bit like pack horses).
On the boat I was a bit shocked to discover that ten people would be living on the yacht for a whole week! We were definitely going to know each other better. At diner we got talking, which was a great ice breaker.

Sunday
We woke at 7am!!!!! And began the journey to Colonsay. We would have a whole day for monitoring, i.e trying to look out for cetaceans, rubbish, sharks and other marine mammals. I don’t really have the patience to do this as I didn’t spot anything. The others mean while spotted porpoises and some un-identified dolphins probably common dolphins.

Monday
In a bay at the top of Colonsay we had a go with the plankton nets (this disgusted me slightly, as 2 nights before, Duncan the skipper had educated us about the sea toilets on board). We were going to scoop out plankton and water samples and then look through them in Microscopes (Yuck).
Anyway, I got over the “phobia” soon after. We saw some very cool tiny sea creatures a.k.a. plankton. This was pretty fun for me, I hated high school biology and we never had the chance to see anything so interesting as this under a microscope.
Later on in Kilchattan Primary School on Colonsay we “helped” Hilda and Eilidh set up their presentations, (e.g. blowing up Duncan the Dolphin). It was interesting to visit seeing a school with only 9 students.

Tuesday
Laura the sightings officer took us on a walk down Colonsay. We were attempting to cross the causeway down to Oronsay, a neighbouring island to visit a seal colony. Under certain conditions (a low enough tide) the causeway would be passable by foot, we were not so lucky.
The tides were in and it would have been dangerous to attempt it. So instead of getting wet we decided on a coastal inspection tour. Laura introduced us to some of the seabirds which included a very cool gannet. The bird dived down at amazing speed and from some high height to catch fish. Due to all the diving salt water causes damage to their eyes and they go blind and then die.
The afternoon was spent assisting students from Kilchattan primary school. With a plankton lab, using the nets, working with microscopes and having lots of fun. The children also had the opportunity to listen to different whale and dolphin sounds.
In the evening we travelled across to Islay in gale 8 winds oh what fun. I got the chance to steer which was lots of fun.

Wednesday
In the morning Laura took us out to look for animals for the touch tank while the education team were at the school. There was that sea water phobia again, in addition to which was the added bonus of falling off large rocks. I managed to pick up a few shells and an anemone.
We spent the afternoon helping Hilda and eilidh with the activities.
In the evening we debated the idea of establishing a Marine National Park in Scotland. We were given some information (local articles, the SNH details etc.) to help us prepare for the debate. It was a good discussion and we established that with so few details about the parks we ought to be a little bit more sceptical about this proposal.

Thursday
Doing something extremely different today we went to the local distillery (where we were docked) for a tour.
We had a little scotch tasting session so after I felt a tad wobbly soon after. I’m not sure if it was the whisky or the after affect of being on a rocky boat for days or both.
In the evening we sailed back to Mull well the south, Loch Spelve. The sea was slightly rough and thinking about the possibility that something would go wrong with the sail freaked me out (but it was fine). We hardly spotted anything we did get to see a few porpoises though, after a late sail we sat down for breakfast at 11pm!!!!

Friday
We motored across to Dunstaffnage marine lab just outside of Oban. Where We were picking up a new engine for the RIB and having a tour of the lab while the staff went off to get some provisions. To be honest I haven’t done any hard science since high school and everything seemed like rocket science to me.
We motored back to Tobermory in the afternoon, by which this time myself and everyone else was pretty drained. Some of us sat down in the saloon and chatted while Susie played some tunes on her i-pod.

Saturday
Our journey has come to an end and I’m filled with mixed feelings. I’m glad that I will be returning to dry land and sad that I will have to say goodbye to the amazing people on board Silurian which are all fun people to hang out with and learn stuff from.

The log was written by Roy