Monday 7th August & Tuesday 8th August, 2006
Anchorage: Tobermory
Position: 56°37.200 N 006°03.700 W
Distance surveyed: 80 nm (Monday) + 35 nm (Tuesday)

What a day it has been... In fact, what a trip, too. Happy days.
New experiences all round and, as we head back to Tobermory, escorted by an entourage of white horses, I think it is fair to say we have come a long way this week. Not just in terms of covering the miles (which we have done!) but in clocking up some new, exciting and interesting experiences, too.
Yesterday started out as a 'normal' day (if such a thing exists on board Silurian) and, having said our Cheerios to the Bottle Nose Boys and the Thompson folks, we motored South down the Skye coast. What a stunning coast line it is, too; especially beautiful under sunny skies.
With the intention of heading into Loch Nevis to anchor, we tootled on past Mallaig, surprised by the appearance of two porpoises on a very un-porpoise-esque mission (NB I am a biologist not an English student!). Initially the two leaping bodies torpedoing in and out of the waves looked like dolphins, but as soon as they reached the boat they were gone again, clearly having porpoises to see and places to go. Even the 'famous' Silurian couldn't keep them entertained...
It must have been about 6pm when the call came...We were summoned to a meeting on deck to be informed that 'plans have changed' due to 'an event'. Intrigue as to what might have happened, and indeed what was about to happen, too. With hindsight, I must say, it wasn't quite what I expected!
Reports of an as yet unidentified beaked whale having been washed up on a beach at Staffa, just off the Treshnish Isles, meant that we turned about and motored south into the night. Another sterling effort in the galley by Delia, I mean Duncan, kept us stoked up, and a minke sighting in the calm waters off Tiree brought more smiles still. Under the cover of darkness we finally anchored off Gometra at around 11.30pm, with some 80 miles under the belt for the day.
So, to this morning and the rise of the black plastic bag! Few of you will appreciate the fashion statement that is this season's black plastic bag – to be engineered into protective capes, fancy hats and aprons – the perfect gear when there is a whale to take samples from and a post mortem to carry out. Yes, we even had blue rubber gloves!
Leaving Duncan to man the ship, we ventured out in the RIB to the beached whale, a young male some 3.3m long, in fairly good condition, all things considered. Peter gave us a whistle stop tour of the animal and a quick physiology lesson – all very interesting. I was certainly surprised at how dense the blubber is and just how dark with blood and myoglobin the muscle is. We took skin, blubber and muscle samples for DNA analysis and also the head – all of which will allow species identification.
Whilst really quite interesting to see and touch the animal, there was a sense of sadness that this fine young chap had been washed up, and a quiet respect for him, too. After the unforgettable vitality and exuberance of the bottlenose dolphins we had seen earlier this week, the encounter with this beaked whale seemed a perfect illustration of the circle of life and its ephemeral nature, as well as the wonders of the sea.
An incredible week all round. Happy days indeed.

Sarah

Sunday 6th August, 2006
Anchorage: Cabost, Loch Harport, Isle of Skye
Position: 57°19.400 N 006°02.900 W
Distance surveyed: 49 nm

Today we planned to travel across the Little Minch and head towards Neist Point on Skye. Since the weather was unpredictable we decided that I should do a trawl for plastics, which needs very calm conditions, before we headed out to rougher seas. My project is focused on whether the increasing levels of plastic in our oceans are affecting kittiwake declines in the area. Although the trawl was a success I managed to loose my bucket which sank to a watery grave before we could retrieve it.
The crossing was surprisingly uneventful apart from several porpoise sightings which disappeared as fast as they surfaced. We decided to explore the sea lochs around the north west tip of Skye since we had made such good time. Suddenly the people on data were overwhelmed with calls of “RUBBISH” again and again. Plastic bags were followed by empty yoghurt cartons and bottles, we sailed through aggregations of assorted rubbish included the odd hard hat and floating tangles of rope. Although we were all saddened by this unusual parting from the crystal clear waters that the Hebrides are famed for, it was an opportunity too good to miss for my project on ocean plastic levels. As well as a large amount of plastics we found a baby lumpsucker fish which was admired then returned to its home unharmed.
We travelled down the west coast of Skye, taking in the imposing cliffs and marvelling at the diving gannets. The weather for once was perfect – warm sunny skies and a gentle breeze. The day was rounded off with a trip to the pub in Carbost, much enjoyed by all!

Kim

Saturday 5th August, 2006
Anchorage: Loch Eynort
Position: 57°14.000 N 007°19.000 W
Distance surveyed: 34 nm

Still happy days, but a bit less eventful so. Well, you can't expect 12 bottlenose dolphins everyday. Luckily the pictures are still very vivid in our heads, and what is really cool, on a CD for us to take home! Anyway, we have reached Loch Eynort on South Uist. On the way, a couple of porpoises and two basking sharks were very kind indeed and swam past our Silurian. One of the basking sharks was huge, flopping its tail as if waving. The journey was very roly poly, but great fun, as we were trying to stand on your feet! Inspired, we sang all the musicals that we could think of, so maybe it is no wonder no other animals showed their faces. That is so not true. Maybe not so many cetaceans this time, but we were greeted by wonderful birds in this Loch, i.e. a red-throated diver and a sea eagle. Clare and I made chocolate brownies to be the climax of our always tasty supper, and now everyone is trying not to fall asleep ... Personally, I am off hoping to be able to say hi to the seal who was also here to welcome us, so so long ...

Regina


Friday 4th August, 2006
Anchorage: Vatersay
Position: 56°55.400 N 007°31.800 W
Distance surveyed: 42 nm

Shocked. Absolutely shocked that Susie thinks peas are better than broccoli. Anyways, my vegetable nomination can wait, for today was filled with something quite different.
Fog. Thick fog; unrelenting and soggy.
In fact the day started very slowly indeed, with walks ashore as we waited for the weather to clear-even the local trawler came in early due to poor conditions. It wasn't looking promising, and even as we did head out of the harbour at around 1pm, the fog and the drizzle were hugging us tightly.
Kim and Regina started off in the RIB with Ross and Paul as we nosied out around Eriskay, into Barra Sound and then seaward. A couple of hours later Clare and myself swapped places with the other two Silurian folk for our piece of the RIBbing action. And some crazy action it was too. First there was the sheer exhilaration as I took a turn in the driving seat-full throttle, bouncing clear over the waves...
We were running parallel to the South Uist coast when Ross spotted a group of bottlenose dolphins. Moments later there were about 8 individuals, including a neonate and a couple of calves, bowriding and circling us, clearly happy to come across a boat to play with. And play they did, for two whole hours... Silurian soon joined us, and between the two boats we had 12 animals showcasing their athletic ability. Breaching and porpoising, twisting and spinning, leaping and diving; they were the perfect escorts and very entertaining indeed. I for one felt my rude awakening (!) in the morning had been completely justified, and that it was a very effective cure for a previously heavy heart. Happy days.
Another exciting thing about this encounter is that the RIB crew positively identified them as the animals they had seen in a similar area yesterday, so good news all round. Rob's curry was the icing on a very wonderful cake, and hopefully if the fog lifts tomorrow we will be treated to some beautiful views of the sandy bay we are anchored in, too. I am confident Vatersay is best viewed without the white stuff.
This is my fourth trip on Silurian now, and I have no hesitation in naming this afternoon as my favourite few hours from any of my previous trips-in fact of the past few months, too, on and off the water. To be surrounded by such exuberance and agility was a fine treat, especially from the speed machine that is the RIB. Privileged to have been part of such a happy troupe and tired from all the smiling. Happy days indeed.
Oh, and by the way-courgettes win. Peas are so last season.

Sarah


Thursday 3rd August, 2006
Anchorage: Eriskay
Position: 57°04.300 N 007°17.600 W
Distance surveyed: 53nm

The day started off calm and clear, with the forecast promising fair conditions for our journey across to our final mooring at Eriskay. It was a beautiful journey along the craggy coastline of Rum. There was a lot of possible porpoise activity being detected on the hydrophone, but it was some time before we had any visuals from those on deck; a minke whale and some porpoises were noted off the island of Canna. Our first basking shark of the day was seen off the west side of Canna, and it was here that Sarah, Kim and Peter took their first plankton sample, to get an idea of what the shark was feeding on.
It was the perfect end to a great day's motoring when a number of basking sharks were sighted just short of our mooring at Eriskay. A large group of diving gannets initially attracted out attention, and before long a fairly large shark came up to the surface to feed. At times it was even possible to see the shark's snout. We were even treated to the sight of one individual breaching, something many of us had never seen before. One individual swam within metres of the boat which was amazing, close enough for us the be able to make out the texture of the animal's skin.
With a kitchen army hard at work as we came into the anchorage, we were all tucking into dinner before long and clocking up some miles on the island.

Clare, volunteer


Wednesday 2nd August, 2006
Anchorage: Eigg
Position: 56°52.500 N 007°17.800 W
Distance surveyed: 29nm

This trip started from Kyle, where the last one had left off. Sarah, Kim and Regina stayed on from the last trip, and Clare, who's been on a couple of times before, joined us. So all our volunteers are already old hands at this survey business, which is brilliant. We have also been joined by Paul Thompson from Aberdeen University, carrying on the bottlenose dolphin photo identification work started by Simon and Ross in their RIB last week. Ross is still around, and Paul has come with his wife Sarah and children Michael, Stu and Laura, some of whom are taking berths on Silurian, and some of whom are taking their chances in a tent. So all-in-all, it's going to be a busy, busy week. We left Kyle at lunchtime, and headed for Eigg, where we were due to drop of the John Muir Trust baton that we'd picked up the previous week in Tarbert.
Sea conditions were not great for surveying, and the voyage down only yielded a few porpoises, although there were plenty of seabirds, the sun was shining (most of the time), and we had a bonny sail. Midway through the day, elements of the Thompson family jumped ship, and swapped from the bouncy RIB to the luxury of Silurian via a pretty slick moving-craft-to-moving-craft transfer (nice work, lads).
Peter, Duncan, Paul, Sarah and Regina pulled into the ferry slip, with the infamous baton in tow, to be greeted by the strains of something Scottish and bagpipy, a few adults, and twice as many small children. The baton was duly handed over.
Supper was an epic meal of fish pie for 14. While we waited for it to cook in the very exciting new oven, Regina swam around the boat, Stu fished and Laura and I had an extremely long conversation about favourite vegetables. Conclusion: the only thing better than broccoli is peas.

Susie, Science Officer