We left Tobermory in the rain at 15:00 on Sunday. The skipper was anxious to get away as he wasn’t too sure whether there will be room on the north pier in Oban as the harbour master has said the Navy cadets will be visiting.
The voyage to Oban takes 4 hours though changeable weather and a steady head wind, which means we have to use the engine. I spent as much time as possible on the bow practicing my marine mammal identification skills learnt from Laura during the previous 2 day marine mammal course. Claire picks up some Porpoises on the new hydrophones installed this season but despite some clear spells where I should easily spotted anything within 100 meters of the boat I only see a couple of seals but too distant to be sure if they were grey or common.
In Oban we moored alongside the navy training vessel HMS Smiter. After a late dinner the skipper and first mate take the RIB and the creel pot, baited with fish from the local fish’n’chip shop, across the bay to Kerrera island to try and catch something interesting for the school visit on the following day. Because the clocks had just gone back it felt later than it was so we decided on an early night and I settle down to my first night on board. We have 7 people on the Silurian tonight, the skipper Duncan and first mate Rob, Eilidh the HWDT education assisant officer, Claire the researcher from the sea mammal research unit at St. Andrews university, two students from the Netherlands Merel and Jacqueline, Lisa a volunteer who has been working in the HWDT office since February and me. I came to Mull for the excellent marine mammal identification course run by HWDT and have volunteered to stay on board for this education trip.
Early the next morning we were woken by Nicole the HWDT education officer who lives in Oban. She is expecting a baby in May and this will be her last education trip for a while.
After a quick breakfast I set off with the first mate to collect the creel pot he set the night before. We found a sand crab, 4 velvet crabs, an edible crab, which refused to come out of the pot, and a sea star. We put these in the touch tank ready for the children. As well as the touch tank the children get a chance to tour the boat, learn about cetacean sounds and collect plankton to view under the microscopes.
The first group of children arrive just as the naval cadets decide to leave so they have to wait on the dock while we shuffle boats. After a safety talk and introduction I help Eilidh on the touch tank. The children, quite possibly the sons and daughters of local fishermen, know far more about sea life than I ever will. I keep quiet and try to look knowledgeable.
We have 3 groups on board during the day, 24 children in all. I also help on the plankton nets, my favourite job. The children are experts at isolating the tiny zooplankton with a pipette and we see some great examples of copepods under the microscope.

We have 2 more days of school visits in Oban before we sail to Lismore where the entire school of 12 children will come out to the boat.
Peter Thornton - Volunteer.

Silurian’s first obligation of the season was as host and platform to a new course for HWDT – An introductory Marine Mammal Course. This incorporates evenings lectures, a day sail leaning how to use the hydrophones and collect data, species identification, what applications all the hours of data logging get used for, as well as Plankton sampling and its place in the food chain.

Once all hands had boarded- on a wet Saturday morning, safety and science lectures had taken place, we headed out into a misty Sound of Mull. It wasn’t long before one of the hydrophones detected porpoise followed by our first sighting. Because of strong winds our route would take us up the sheltered waters of Loch Sunart – where because of a calmer sea state we would be able to sight more seals and porpoise. Participants learnt from Clare how to understand the acoustics software and decipher porpoise activity from clicks and whistles and red dots on the PC graphs. Others mean while where stations at various places around the vessel with a nominated area of sea to observe with binoculars for any cetacean or seal activity.

Penny’s Highland broth and Eilidh brownies were much enjoyed in the damp drizzle. As usual on the west coast, when we can have all four seasons in one day, the sun appeared and gave fantastic warm light to the snow draped hills and vivid, late winter colours from the Sunart oak woodlands. We were able to sail back from far up the loch around the islets, where anyone that wanted could take the helm for a stint. Returning to Tobermory for an evening meal and another talk by Clare on how statistical models of species numbers and habitats are built using the data collated from these monitoring trips.


Unfortunately the weather deteriorated for the Sunday morning but un-deterred Silurian’s saloon was turned into a lab with microscopes lamps and Petri dishes. Two groups joined me in the RIB to collect water samples with the plankton nets, returning to Silurian to study them in detail.

After a lunch aboard and more interesting conversations. Course participants returned to the land for an afternoon costal walk out at Caliach point. Silurian was readied for a week of education around the Oban and Lismore schools. More books, Whale bones, baleen and laptops were loaded, water tanks filled and all deck gear made fast before we headed out of Tobermory bay to the sound of Mull with a crew of nine hands aboard….


Author & Skipper
Duncan Cameron.

Well we are back in operation for another season after our winter lay-up in the Caledonian Canal, Corpach. During the winter we completed the second phase of a three year re-fit plan. So starting the season with Silurian looking very well turned out in a new set of Sails and covers made by Sanders Sails with sponsorship money from the World Wildlife Fund. We spent a lot of time this winter overhauling electrical systems to give cleaner sound for the Hydrophones. Also increasing the efficiency of the boats charging system as with all the science gear running, we consume a lot of battery power.
For volunteers who sailed with us last year, you will be pleased to hear that we have finally got the anchor windlass working electrically so no more winching the hook up by hand in the mornings! We also now have all new windows- sliding and double glazed in the saloon so hopefully things should stay dryer in the Scottish West Coast Summer! All this is complemented with a fresh coat of paint down below to make it fresh, clean and bright.

We slipped our lines form Corpach Basin last Thursday and headed from fresh, into salt water again. The night before we had a couple of inches of fresh snow on the deck so the Lochaber hills were looking stunning with a fresh veil of white as we motored through a bright, crisp morning, down Loch Linnhe.
On Board Rob Pickering Silurian’s recently recruited 1st Mate. Clare Embling and Marjolaine Callait. From SMRU here to Re-install three hydrophones and two PC’s - now we’ve returned Silurian from a workshop, back into a research vessel again.
After an over night stop at Oban to collect the serviced Outboard engine from Stoddart and stock up on provisions we headed up the Sound of Mull, under sail, in 25kts of breeze. Snow on the Mull and Ardgour hill was more reminiscent of the Arctic than Argyll. The new sails making a tremendous improvement to boat speed. Returning to our home mooring in Tobermory by the evening.

Author and skipper, Duncan Cameron