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On board Silurian
Most weeks April through October she is either monitoring the waters of the west coast of Scotland for whales, dolphins, and porpoises, or serving as a floating classroom for one of the many Argyll island primary and secondary schools. Read the log below to find out what Silurian and her crew have been up to each week and all about the whales, dolphins and porpoises they spot! To find out about the latest marine life sightings spotted elsewhere, click here. If you would like to send the crew an e-mail with your questions click here. Click here to view the Silurian Log archive. Tuesday, 19th September, 2006Tuesday 19th September, 2006 Anchorage Loch Na Keal Position 56°28.500 N 006°00.800 W Distance surveyed 0 nm The clear blue skies aforementioned seemed a million miles away as we woke this morning to nasty Scottish weather. With gales predicted and non-existent potential for whale or dolphin spotting we bedded ourselves in for a day of overeating, many cups of tea, lectures and the possibility of a little exploration of the local landscape. Susie began with an awe-inspiring marine acoustics presentation on how cetaceans can 'see' underneath the water using a series of clicks, whistles and other sounds to help distinguish obstacles, search out prey and communicate. Fortunately I also have a highly-evolved way to do this. It has been well-established by our crew and volunteers that I am in need of extra calories as I'm 'growing', and I regularly let out a short bunch of clicks to search out the toast, biscuits or anything else remotely resembling food. This is usually followed by a bunch of whistles to alert everyone to the fact there is food here! With the opportunity to catch up on correspondence, read and generally do that Sunday morning thing, Martin, Janet, Ali, Phil, and Rob could not be lured by the charms of the loch landscape. The rest of us went off to conquer the foothills of Ben More. H and I followed Susie and Duncan as we reached the top and had beautiful views of the local scenery around our anchorage. After a short rest we began our descent, which we found a little challenging in our wellies, but as H pointed out our 40 minute walk up was more like a 10mile effort and our blisters reflected this. Once back Phil was practising our mayday plans using smoke signals from his french apple pie to help alert the locals and give us that smoked musky smell – who needs old spice! After much discussion Ali and I were 'elected' to produce some scones. 20mins on everyone was satisfied and we began discussing Ali's green blotchy bottom. A little wine, haggis and a wonderful desert later, ended an unfortunate day turned good by excellent company. Alex, volunteer, UK # posted by HWDT @ 2:14 AM
 Silurian Log Archives
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