Saturday, 15^th July, 2006

Anchorage: Loch Maddy

Position: 57°35.400 N 007°07.500 W

It took us some time to start off on the survey today, as Duncan and Davie had to lift the dingy onto the deck so that it would not cause drag that would hold us back when sailing. I was feeling much better, after having decorated the side of the Silurian with... breakfast... on the first day.

Before we began surveying, Tom (the cocky volunteer) and I made a bet: I reckoned we would see dolphins today while he thought it would not happen. It was originally set at £5 but in the back of my mind I thought there was a chance we wouldn't see any, so I settled for £ 2.

During the day, Susie, the science officer, and Duncan, the skipper, tried all sorts of permutations to try to fix some noise problems on the hydrophone used to record the clicks from porpoises. I kept myself entertained by watching the gannets dive like silver bullets head-on into the sea after their prey.

We then spotted a kittiwake feeding frenzy, where dozens of such birds feed on prey near the surface. As cetaceans can force the fish up to near to the surface in these situations, we, and especially Susie, were expecting to see the head of a whale or dolphin in the mist of the birds at any moment. We hung around for some considerable time, but nothing else could be seen other than feathers and beaks.

After that I was a bit depressed. My thinking was that if no cetaceans showed up in that situation, with loads of food about, then they would never appear... There had been a tantalising glimpse of either a minke whale or a bottlenose dolphin earlier in the day, but I was now pretty sure this was all we were going to see.

And then, when Susie had all but given up on the hydrophone and decided to start cooking, I was lucky enough to be looking in the right direction and see dolphins heading our way. Like an excitable 5-year old kid I shouted: - DOLPHIN...DOLPHINS... And there they were. Common dolphins, bow-riding along the Silurian. An awesome sight for those of us who had never seen it. They provided us with a 10-minute first-class display, which to me lasted for what it seemed only a few seconds. Nobody remembered the boat routine then, I can assure you.

So when you would think that it couldn't get better, we anchorage in a bay right in front of a sea-eagle nest! Duncan sure as hell knows where to stop for the night. We then went for a stroll in the island, where I was again fortunate to see some wild deer, two stags and three hinds.

So that was it. I've never seen so much wildlife in a single day before. I'm obviously looking forward to tomorrow.

Ricardo

Friday, 14^th July, 2006

Anchorage: Fiskavaig Bay, Loch Bracadale

Position: 56°50.500 N 006°17.100 W

Distance surveyed: 73 nm

Today we saw a large pod of Orca and five blue whales........................................and then i woke up!

A beautiful day, the sun has been shining since we woke up this morning. This was enjoyed mostly by Tom and Ricardo who needed to recover from their brief encounter with the waters of Loch Hourn last night.

We made our way from Loch Hourn round to Skye where we anchored at Loch Bracadale for the night. On the way we had a number of sightings of harbour porpoise and a huge number of birds, especially guillemots.

Duncan dazzled us all with his cooking skills yet again, serving up chocolate brownies with afternoon tea, yum!

Kate, Volunteer