Anchorage: Loch Seaforth
Position: 58° 00’.500N 006° 44’.100W
Distance Travelled: 40 NM

Yesterday the weather had lulled us into a false sense of security which couldn’t last and didn’t….the wind strengthened from almost nothing yesterday, up to Force 6 today - from sunglasses and shorts, to lifejackets and waterproofs. The sightings today comprised two plastic fishcrates. The whales, dolphins, seals and porpoises were all playing hide and seek, and the Silurian lost! On the onboard computer, which shows a visual display of the acoustics picked up from the hydrophone trailed out behind the boat, there were frequent red triangles showing there were porpoises nearby, but we couldn’t see them due to the poor conditions for visual surveying. Two crossings of the Minch were completed, over to Duntulm Bay on Skye, where we anchored for lunch, and then back over to Loch Seaforth on Lewis. The second crossing was rougher than the first, as the wind was against tide, but we all survived (amazingly) to avoid the dreaded sea sickness. There was even onboard entertainment from Rachel and Fiona, who sang a whole karaoke evening worth of songs, despite the wind and rolling seas. Particularly good was the rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which was a real team effort as the lads joined in on the low parts… the Silurian’s version of a sea shanty.

Emma