Date: Monday 14^th May 2007

Anchorage: Crag aig, Isle of Ulva

Position: 56° 28’.02N 006° 13’.09W

Distance Travelled: 37 NM

The early morning forecast of showers followed by rain did not sound hopeful for a good day on the Scottish west coast. However, the sun was shining (again) and Russell was divining the charts with the lucky fluffy killer whale keyring in the hope of good sightings. We left Gometra harbour under the sunny skies, and were all bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to get stuck into (or rather whipped into!) another day’s hard graft on the good ship Silurian.

We steamed in the direction of the Treshnish Isles in search of growling puffins, but our attentions were unexpectedly diverted. Firstly, by an imaginary giant basking shark (it was nearly as big as the otter!) in the distance and, then soon after, as we rounded the southern tip of Lunga a huge two metre baby basking shark appeared just off the bow. There was great excitement and order was eventually restored by Susie, so that photo identification could be undertaken.

We left the basking shark and Mat piloted us through the treacherous approach to Lunga, weaving through the piled rocks of the north passage to the anchorage, where the hook was dropped and a island-boarding party assembled. Genevieve ferried everybody ashore and nobly returned to guard the ship (from pirates), while everyone else went to experience puffin paradise. The puffins obligingly did the “puffin thing” and arrived in numbers at their burrow entrances to pose for their portfolio shots. We all became acquainted with the growling from the burrows below us, and it was evident that the puffins were doing their DIY in readiness for their expected young for this year. Some muddy beaks were in evidence, as were mouths full of undergrowth (soft furnishings). Just lying on our stomachs watching them go about their domestic lives was a fantastic experience.

Satiated with Puffin World (TM) and with growling in our ears we returned to the good ship to continue with the real work. Exiting the anchorage the same way we entered (without hitting anything) we set off down the west side of the island and towards the Dutchman’s Cap. Before we were even halfway there, we were startled into action again by a cry from Russell, which was eventually whittled down to “there’s a minke around here somewhere!”. We slowed down and searched the horizon and were rewarded with the sight of a wily minke on a mission, which was moving at some speed. Silurian continued south of the Dutchman’s Cap and then headed east towards Staffa and passed Fingal’s Cave and its basalt columns. We joined the tourist boats and the wafting sounds of Mendelsson’s Hebridean Overture joined us from the circling pleasure boats full of day-trippers.

As we headed further east, dark clouds loomed on the western horizon, heralding the earlier predicted showers. However, having had sharks, minkes and puffins all in one day we were beyond caring as our enthusiasm could not be dampened. More surveying proceeded in damp conditions and we retired to anchor in Cragaig, Ulva. We all appeared to have reached breaking point as hot showers were very popular evening entertainment. Other entertainment was watching Christian tie himself in nautical knots, coached by Paul and Genevieve. An evening meal of pasta and pesto, garlic bread and salad was followed by French rap music and sticky toffee/chocolate pudding (with custard).

Swedish word for the day – ‘å’ meaning ‘large slow-flowing stream often found in urban environments in Sweden’

All aboard the Silurian…

Date: Sunday 13^th May 2007

Anchorage: Gometra harbour

Position: 56° 28’.840N 006° 16’.170W

Distance Travelled: 52 NM

This morning, Russell was bandying about his lucky fluffy killer whale key ring, borrowed from his seven-year old son. He was also singing (and, unfortunately, whistling) sea-shanties even more perkily than usual. He had a good feeling about the day to come, apparently.

It was sunny, again, as we headed north towards Scarba, and then changed course towards the Ross of Mull. At this point, Christian was enticed towards the crow’s nest, encouraged by the glassy-calm seas. Unfortunately the sky-gods had not forgotten Russell’s earlier whistling, and Christian’s upward progress climbing the mast was accompanied by a similar rising of the winds. So as we followed the Waverley paddle steamer towards the Sound of Iona, Christian was treated to a bird’s-eye view of some rapidly mounting waves.

Once we reached the Sound, the sea was really quite lumpy, by which time we had let Christian down. Well you didn’t think we’d leave him up there, did you? Chugging down the Sound we were lashed by the elements, and all the volunteers seemed to think they were stood on the wet side of the boat. Then, amidst the stronger winds and bigger seas, we were joined by three bowriding bottlenose dolphins, doubtless come to see why we chose to be out in such shoddy weather. As they rolled on their sides and eyed us from under the bowsprit, we couldn’t help feeling we were being watched by them as much they were being watched by us. In fact, Paul’s convinced he saw one of them give him a cheeky wink.

But the dolphins were happy hanging out at the entrance to the Sound, so after taking some photo-identification images for our catalogue (the dolphins had clear natural markings such as scars and skin pigmentation), we had to leave them behind and carry on towards Ulva and Gometra.

After a bit more pounding into the waves, we ceased visual observations as Russell and Katie were engulfed in a big green wave. All is still and quiet however in our anchorage for this evening, where we’ve just doubled our body weight (again), this time with shepherd’s pie. Even distribution of volunteers and crew around the boat has become essential, to prevent any dangerous listing of the vessel. Oh, and it’s still sunny…

Swedish word for the day – ‘ö’ meaning ‘island’