Most weeks April through October she is either monitoring
the waters of the west coast of Scotland for whales, dolphins, and
porpoises, or serving as a floating classroom for one of the many Argyll
island primary and secondary schools.
Read the
log below to find out what Silurian and her crew have been up to each
week and all about the whales, dolphins and porpoises they spot!
To find out about the latest marine life sightings spotted elsewhere,
click here.
Date: Wednesday 9th May 2007
Anchorage: Fairy Isles, Loch Sween
Position: 56° 01’.770N 005° 35’.600W
Distance Travelled: 58 NM
We left Loch Spelve this morning in subdued sunshine, the water was a flat calm and we could see the fish jumping for the flies. We moved from the Firth of Lorn into the Sound of Luing and onwards into the torrid waters of the Corryvrekan (which was really cool and was Paul and Christian’s favourite part of the day). It then threw us back out the way we came in, into a welcoming party of seals and porpoises. Luckily Susie was on data entry, because the new volunteers would be all fingers and thumbs (Russell uses the “hunt and peck” technique of typing). We passed through the entrance to the Sound of Jura in some choppy swell, which meant that Katie didn’t feel so swell!
During the subsequent transects of the glassy calm Sound of Jura, near the entrance to Loch Sween, it got a bit busy again for Susie (on data logging) as we were joined by a posse of posing porpoises. Susie broke a nail! She jumped up on deck to demand whether we were counting the same porpoises twice. Genevieve fell into an apoplexy of excitement at the sight of two (yes – count them!) Great Northern Divers!
On the way up Loch Sween, Mat was slaving away in the galley in his frilly pinny to produce a super batch of scones for us all. But we still think he needs lots more practice to perfect his baking technique. Every day this week would be just fine. The volunteers also got to visit the Fairy Isles (no fairies were spotted though!) before dinner. We returned to another very satisfying dinner. There was no food left. We have yet to reach the limit of how much can be eaten in the evenings! But we hear a gannet can eat a 55cm ling, so we shall give that a go…
Russell’s highlight of the day was the discovery that there is real coffee aboard and that we have extra-large foul weather gear on board the boat (he has been feeling a little restricted…). All the team are hoping for flat calm so that we can go around Islay (although some are hoping more than others). We’re all going to go to bed tonight with the pitter-patter of rain on the hatches, but we don’t care because we’ll all sleep well because we’ve been working so hard…
The Earthwatch volunteers.
Date: Tuesday 8th May 2007
Anchorage: Loch Spelve, Isle of Mull
Position: 56° 24’.530N 005° 44’.390W
Distance Travelled: 34 NM
As I write, our new volunteers for the second Earthwatch trip of 2007 are sitting around the table looking somewhat shell-shocked. Is it
a) the result of my recently-finished talk on seabird identification
b) the product of a long day at sea in the blustery wind and May sunshine or
c) the news from Katie that she thinks the toilet may be blocked?
Good news, Paul’s just used the facilities and reports that’s it’s all functioning just fine. Widespread relief, not least from crew, whose responsibility it is to rectify any sanitation issues.
We’ve had a lovely day on our first day of surveying. The forecast didn’t look great, and last night the sky used up a year’s worth of rain. But come this morning, it was (mostly) fine, and after the usual training in monitoring and boat protocols, we set off down the Sound of Mull. Volunteers Russell, Katie, Christian (from Sweden) and Paul quickly learnt the routine, and we had a great day of sunshine with a couple of porpoises thrown in for good measure. Mat cooked a brilliant dinner, only surpassed in skill by his navigation into Loch Spelve. Good day had by all.
Susie, Science Officer
# posted by HWDT @ 8:46 AM
