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: Sunday 17th August, 2008
Anchorage: Tobermory, Isle of Mull
Position: 56° 37’.100N 006° 03’.400W
Distance Travelled: 35 NM
Home again! The end of another trip – and another brilliant one. Animals, volunteers and weather all top notch, not forgetting the star of the show – the west coast of Scotland itself, with its fabulous mountains, lochs, beaches and big, big skies, invariably glowing with the fantastic light that makes for an ever-changing landscape you can never see too many times.
Richard’s time onboard seemed particularly full of marvellous experiences, so after a couple of well-earned beers and a good curry back in Tobermory, we compiled:
Richard’s List of Top Ten Brilliant Things
- Dolphins charging in towards the boat
- Dolphin mother and calf slipstreaming
- 100s of shearwaters wheeling and gliding on the water
- Finding a curlew beak in the strandline
- Sea eagle soaring over the Shiant islands
- Storm petrels
- A vast basking shark swimming right by the boat
- A snorting minke at Hinds Shoal
- Harbour porpoise surfacing
- Sunset over Rum
# posted by HWDT @ 6:56 AM
Date: Saturday 16th August, 2008
Anchorage: Arisaig
Position: 56° 54’.100N 005° 51’.900W
Distance Travelled: 67 NM
We loved our marathon day on effort yesterday so much that we thought we’d do it again today…Up early, and under the Skye bridge, and through the tidal gateway at Kyle Rhea, where the sloshing current sped us through at 11.6 knots. Down the Sound of Sleat, with some warp-speed dolphin wannabe porpoises, and a flighty minke. We surveyed up Loch Nevis, then back towards the Point of Sleat, and were heading for Arisaig and our anchorage, but the evening was so bonny, that we decided to stay out for more. The sea was calm, and the light on all the land surrounding us – Rum, Eigg, Skye and the mainland – was luminous and glowing. The Hebrides at their best. The sun setting behind Rum once we were moored in Arisaig was pretty special too. After the Skipper’s speciality haggis, we popped ashore for a pint and some music, although it wasn’t exactly the traditional Scottish music we had been promised…
# posted by HWDT @ 6:55 AM
