Sunday 28th
We set sail form Tobermory to Loch Tarbert, starting out at 09:00 hours and reaching the anchor point by 18:30. On board was Skipper Duncan, a relief first mate (rob was on his hols and two volunteers, Amiee (an education officer from Essex’s) and Jed (long term volunteer with the trust). After a choppy and rainy start, the wind gradually blew stronger (5-7) but the sky cleared and we passed through the sound of Iona in bright sunshine surrounded by the blue-green waves. Our first mate (relief) suffered from a heavy viral infection to boot!!! Our education Officer and Education assistant, Hilda and Eilidh travelled down separately enabling them to get to Islay on Sunday and could go into Islay High School on Monday morning.
Monday 29th
Continuing on from Loch Tarbert we passed by the distillery in somewhat calmer conditions then the day before, getting underway by 07:00 hrs (EARLY MORNINGS!!). The sun shone through the clouds but the wind continued to blow hard, so up went the mizzen, head and main sails to help us up to 12 knots.
On a south westerly bearing we headed round the southern coast of Islay (The Oa) and were accompanied by 15 ft swell and 35 knots of wind, pretty scary with our first mate still out of action!!!
Eventually we trundled into Loch Indaal to Bruichladdich for 16:00 hrs, to meet up with the education team and settle down for a lovely well deserved dinner! We also said goodbye to our first mate to receive some attention.

Tuesday 30th
Our first education day! We packed up the tender with all the gear we needed for our trip to Islay High School in Bowmore. The expectant faces of out teenage audience were bit daunting as Hilda introduced us and forged headlong into the talk – including food webs, human impacts on the marine environment and bioaccumulation!
After a quick trip to the shops we then spent 3 hours on a long beach and hill walk having the afternoon off was a welcome treat to the hectic schedule. The wind again was ever present – the stunning views of the local nature and the paps of Jura were a fitting reward for all the effort of the four mile round trip – well worth it!
Our skipper went to visit friends who lived on Islay so left the rest of us in charge with instructions to drive a round in circles in the anchor came loose.

Wednesday 31st
Today we were visited by the P1’s and P2’s of Port Charlotte Primary School. We had a great day on the beach and on board Silurian looking at the marine environment. We looked at plankton and a touch tank on board Silurian and played various games on the beach which included listening, remembering, noise games and scavenge hunts (which was thoroughly enjoyed, especially all the dead things the children could find). We finished about 3 o’clock and enjoyed a lovely afternoon relaxing and playing cards, listening to music and making dinner. While we made dinner Hilda (Education Officer), and Duncan (skipper) went to look at a pier that we will visit in a couple of weeks for another education trip. They also went for a bit of a paddle (in kayaks) and met Suzie (Biodiversity officer) off the ferry; she is coming on the boat to work with the hydrophones.

Thursday 1st June (Aimee’s mum’s birthday)
We again were visited by Port Charlotte Primary School this time the P3 & P4’s came to visit us at Bruichladdich. In the morning we went onboard Silurian and played with Plankton and had fun with some sea creatures. Then after a quick tidy up and a spot of lunch Hilda and Eilidh headed back to the beach with the children, and Silurian headed for Oban!
There were a lot of fun activities played on the beach, which included colour charts, the dolphin squid games and a beach hunt.
As the boat travelled up to Oban the weather was windy enough to have 3 sails up (the mizzen, main and head sails). Unfortunately they didn’t see any cetaceans but it was a really nice sail.
Silurian made it to Oban about 12:00 am and met back up with Hilda and Eilidh who had come back via the ferry at Port Ellen. It was Suzie’s birthday so we all had a dram of 15 yr old malt whisky from Bruichladdich to celebrate, then happily went to bed.

Friday 2nd (Suzie’s Birthday)
We woke up in Oban and after a large late breakfast the skipper and biodiversity officer raided the boat to see what we needed to buy for the next monitoring trip and with Hilda’s help they had a fun time shopping. The rest of the folks on the boat cleaned and scrubbed the boat down, so it would be nice and clean for the next visitors to Silurian.
We where also joined by another team member “Rachel”. Rachel was on work experience form Tobermory High school and had been working in the Offices all week. After re-stocking the boat and re-fuelling (a tad messy), we set sail up the sound back to Tobermory with standing in first mate Amiee (volunteer) steering most of the way. Along the way we had a birthday cake for Suzie and packed up all the stuff on board.
After a quick dismount by our skipper and a quick change over with Rob (1st mate) we unpacked the boat and put everything back in the offices to unpack on Monday. We all went to wish Suzie a very happy birthday at the pub (which I think she really enjoyed).
I would just like to thank everyone for all their hard work and effort for this week it was a great success. You were all amazing!