Tuesday 18^th July, 2006

Anchorage: Tobermory

Position: 56°37.200 N 006°03.900 W

*Sings* ‘It’s a perfect day…. Lalala’ If I knew the rest of the words I would carry on singing, for it has been a lovely day out here on the water. We upped anchor from a very misty Arisaig, the sea calm as a millpond, broken only by seals and a few birds. An eerie calm soon engulfed the boat as we headed into the mist, at times with visibility only 200m. Save for sea birds we didn’t see an awful lot until we reached the Cairns of Coll, where, under perfect sunshine skies of blue and with the sea not much more than a ripple we were treated to the sight of 4 basking sharks and the elusive minke whale, finally. Well, everyone except me saw the minke, it seems! We pootled about in the area for about half an hour, watching the baskers munch on the tidelines and looking for a the minke. Well rewarded glimpse of the minke for those lucky enough to be on deck at the time of his second surfacing, too…Unluckily for me I was below!

We’re now heading back round to Tobermory, skies still gorgeous and the sea still calm. Porpies have been sighted too, so all in all its been a good day. Happy times onboard the Silurian, indeedy.

Sarah

Monday 17^th July, 2006

Anchorage: Loch nan Ceall, Arisaig

Position: 56°54.400 N 005°51.500 W

Distance surveyed: 61nm

Our penultimate day aboard the goodship Salurian. Left Loch Torridon and sailed down the Inner Sound, past eastern coast of Skye into the Sound of Sleat to the Skye Bridge were it looked as though the mast was going to crash against the bridge..... but of course it didn't! Then sailed down Loch Alsh to our mooring at Arisaig The weather better than yesterday but still quite dire.

Ricardo, Susie and I sang our way through renditions of Sinatra, The Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Jackson 5 on the mast to make the lashing rain and cold a bit more bearable! Also a Portugese/English version of Girl from Ipanema and then Susie and I finishing off with a marvellous version of Bohemian Rhapsody! Also got through the bad weather with Susie's wonderful leek and potato soup which tasted marvellous- even with a dash of sea water, rain.....and snot!

Unfortunately no cetaceans today but a visit from a grey seal and that most exotic of British birds – the Puffin. Also plenty of diving Gannets.

Last day tomorrow – hopefully the water will last for me to have another 60 litre shower!!!

We are all off to the pub tonight...........to be continued.........

Pauline

Sunday 16^th July, 2006

Anchorage: Loch Torridon

Position: 57°32.800 N 005°42.700 W

Distance surveyed:38nm

What a crazy crazy day this has been....nearly ten hours of riding the high seas, boat a-keeling as the wind and waves did all they could to soak us, providing a rollercoaster crossing of the Little Minch, most of it under sail.

8.30am saw us leaving our anchorage in gorgeous sunshine and lumpy seas, white horses aplenty. Soon we volunteers were lashed onto the deck in foul weather gear and enjoying our first taste of crazy weather. All hail the crew for keeping us safe and getting us all into anchorage tonight-even with our fair share of hairy moments. My favourite one was standing at the mast on Obs with Susie, seeing nothing but sunshine and water as waves crashed over us. All good fun; definitely the highlight of my trip, second only to the dolphins yesterday-their charisma was the boost to our morale, for sure.

Wildlife wasn't really playing our game today, save the hardy sea birds, wheeling and soaring over the waves. Excepting the puffins, of course, who don't really look like they have passed any sort of pilot's licence and instead charge about the skies, only just clearing the water, with a stark lack of grace and finesse, yet oozing charisma with their painted faces.

Other excitement to note would be Pauline running into our cupboard of a cabin shouting 'Open the hatches! The boat's on fire!'. Skipper Dunc assured us that the smoke billowing through the boat (exaggeration for effect) was, in fact, nothing to worry about and after an hour of tinkering he had fixed the problem in the engine room and we were under way again. Happy days, yet glad to be safe and sound, the sounds and smells drifting up from the galley a comforting melange for our battered senses. Anyone who thinks I am exaggerating, then I ask you to spend ten hours in 'interesting' seas, sitting on the deck acting as a buffer to the elements. .. Another awesome day on board, and here's to the last legs of the trip (raises glass) as we head home to Tobermory.

Sarah

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