Our first morning on the boat, we expected a cruel 6.30am awakening but Peter very kindly allowed us a lie-in. Scottish oats did the trick (though they didn’t have to last us for very long as Peter was making bacon and egg rolls by 11am!).

We left Glenelg with James in the crows nest and didn’t have to wait long for our first Porpoise sighting. You don’t get much more than a glimpse of the Porpoises dorsal fins and curved backs, but it still set the day off optimistically. We continued our survey down the Sound of Sleat enjoying the hazy morning sunshine while it lasted, for the weather was set to change. Hundreds of Lion’s Mane Jelly fish floated past the boat, though a bit ugly (and they sting) they are still remarkably fascinating creatures, their destiny set by the wind.
As the sea state picked up with the southerly breeze, our chances of seeing porpoises through the white caps decreased. However, we were still able to detect them with Silurian’s hydrophone, which is towed behind the boat at all times. This underwater microphone ‘listens out’ for porpoise echolocation clicks and shows us when they are in the area. So even if we cannot see them, we can ‘hear’ them instead!

We sailed into Loch Nevis following up reports earlier in the summer of two bottlenose dolphins frequenting this area. Though the dolphins proved elusive we did have some fascinating finds whilst rock-pooling after our excursion to the ‘worlds most remote pub’.

Onwards to Mallaig – and we did see some Porpoises – hurrah! We dropped Cally (HWDT’s project director) off in Mallaig and started to make our way to our final destination for the day - Loch Nanceall in Arisaig. Little did we know the adventure in store as we waved to our friends on the boat ‘Forever Changes’ - Colin Speedie and his partner Lou take Forever Changes all over the Hebrides monitoring Basking Sharks. As we ploughed through the rough seas a plea from Forever Changes came across the airwaves, their gearbox had bust. Forever Changing is a pretty big boat so I was really surprised to see that our Silurian could tow them (at a slow pace albeit!) to our next stop. It took about 1 ½ / 2 hours to get to Arisaig, and great skill was needed to navigate into the shallow and rocky Loch. To be honest I was petrified - I was watching the monitor as Rob expertly guided us in and sure it said we were at a depth of minus 1 metre! Anyway Rob and Peter had us moored up within 15 minuets, Forever Changes were moored up too – all they need to do now is find a new gear box.

Pia and James made a fantastic fish pie, which went down well with wine. I then introduced my fellow boat mates to Rum and orange juice – you have to drink Rum at sea don’t you?

A few of us took the tender to the pub onshore. The wind had died and the journey in the dark was very calm, as we set off Phosphorescent plankton glowed in the water – like zillions of stars in the dark sea, if you ran your hand in the water you could see even more. We had a few drinks with some of the locals and the Crew of Forever Changes and made our way back at about midnight.

One memory I shall take with me of this day at sea is my trip to the toilet after returning from the pub, of course the toilet water is sea water – imagine my surprise to see the Phosphorescent Plankton in the toilet bowl!

Over and out.

Sarah Coombs

WWF Donor Trip
WWF has supported the research of HWDT for the last four years through their ‘adopt a dolphin’ programme. This week WWF staff and some WWF supporters have been out on the Siluiran – HWDT’s research boat working as volunteers surveying the waters around Skye and the Small Isles. WWF’s marine project officers, Sylvette Polowski and Olivia Tomlisnson joined us as we departed from Tobermory for the first three days. The early part of the week saw the building of a high pressure system meaning flat calm seas and clear blue skies, ideal survey conditions. Despite the favourable conditions for spotting cetaceans, sightings were thin on the ground. The Small Isles area is usually a prime spot for seeing feeding minke whales at this time of year, however, we were only able to sight 2 minke whales during three days of surveying.
The second group joined the Silurian crew at Mallaig on Saturday when Sarah Coombs, Mary O’Donovan, Janet Ingram and James and Pia Best were set to work in surveying and recording sightings around Glenelg. Saturday started on a high with a sighting of harbour porpoises before we had even left sight of Mallaig. Later in the day we had another sighting and by then we were geared up to record the details in the HWDT database. After a relaxing drink in the sun ashore we ventured back to the boat and ate a big pot of chilli cooked up by first mate Rob.