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: Thursday 20th September, 2007
Anchorage: Tobermory
Position: 56°37.200 N 006°03.700 W
Distance Travelled: 40 NM
Seas not as calm as we had hoped for, so it was hard going on the sightings-front as we travelled up the west coast of Mull, past Staffa and the Treshnish Isles. But the scenery was amazing, and the brisk winds gave us a bonny sail all the way up. By the time we got into Tobermory, we had sighted a few harbour porpoises, some seals and a basking shark. Having cleaned the boat until it gleamed, we spent a much-deserved evening in the pub. Well done everybody for a really good week, in spite of the windy weather. This was the last monitoring trip of 2007, so farewell till next season!
Date: Wednesday 19th September 2007
Anchorage: Bunessan, Isle of Mull
Position: 56° 19’.200N 006° 15’.000W
Distance Travelled: 59 NM
After a very early start we motored out of Loch Craignish; passing through promising waters and sunny skies, which unfortunately yielded no sightings. After passing past the south coast of Mull and Iona we finally had our first sighting of the day, a basking shark! After following this around we followed in Mendelson’s footsteps and reached Fingal’s cave, on Staffa. As we reached are chosen anchorage of the night, Cragaig Bay, a message reached us that killer whales had been spotted west of Staffa. So we retraced or steps to try and find them. Ella and Suzy whilst on observation finally spotted three blows and for a fleeting second actually saw a fin, but then the animals disappeared in the rapidly building sea, and we were unable to find them again. After this excitement we decided to go to Bunessan for anchorage and on reaching this we found another two basking sharks. For dinner Dave ( the skipper) prepared a traditional tea of haggis, swede and potatoes ( haggis, neaps and taties) although not everyone went for the meat option…
# posted by HWDT @ 5:28 AM
