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On board Silurian
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. If you would like to send the crew an e-mail with your questions click here. Click here to view the Silurian Log archive. Thursday 14th August, 2008Date: Thursday 14th August, 2008 Position: 58° 05’.200N 006° 23’.400W Distance Travelled: 45 NM Beautiful sunny day which was promising for spotting cetaceans but then the swell picked up to our dismay and Fiona had to come down from the crow’s nest… Early afternoon - almost losing hope of dolphin encounters – Laura saw a splash in the distance… It was indeed a group of common dolphins and not just a white cap! (yippee!) We were SO excited! There were about 25 including baby dolphins who were bow-riding with us but eventually got bored because their dinner was more important. Several gannets were plunging into the sea to feed as well whilst the dolphins were jumping frantically out of the water to corner the fish. The baby dolphins were adorable; couldn’t seem to swim properly and sometimes flopped over on to their side. Our first dolphin encounter was DEFINITELY worth waiting all these days for! Richard our keen bird-watcher on board, was beaming with delight after seeing his first ever storm petrel. Arrived in the picturesque sheltered anchorage in time for a few practice climbs up to the crow’s nest before our dinner. A friendly Hebridean fisherman kindly gave us some mackerel which our first mate is currently gutting out for our breakfast… # posted by HWDT @ 3:05 PM
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