The weather picked up over Friday night, and by Saturday morning, there was a fair old wind blowing, even in our cosy anchorage. We waited out the weather in the morning, and filled the time with some routine boat maintenance (dicky generators, dodgy toilets and duff bilge pumps – all part of the wonderful world of life on the ocean wave). We decided to make a break for it in the afternoon and had the ride of our lives and we battled a gale down to Canna. But Silurian triumphed over the elements, and we arrived safely in the harbour in time for well-earned tea.

It was still blowing (and raining too – hurray!) the next morning. The foolish went ashore for maximum soaking potential (they succeeded - I’ve heard the drowned-rat look is the must-have style for Spring 2008), whilst the wise stayed on the boat and practiced looking at the inside of their eyelids. With things looking considerably calmer, we set off at lunchtime for Rum. It was a good call. The rain abated, the skies cleared, the wind dropped, and we had a magnificent sail into Loch Scresort, with the Isle of Rum looking as striking as she ever has, with her majestic profile against the early evening skies.

The morning was no less lovely, and we set out, via several transects, to Loch Moidart. It was warm, it was sunny, it was calm. Away went the woolly hats and oilskins and out came the shorts, sunglasses and pink noses. Every day at sea is a wonder, but this was a super-wonder, which continued when we arrived at Loch Moidart and had an explore around the lovely Swallows-and Amazon islands and bows-and arrows castle.

Our last day sees us zig-zagging back to Tobemory past the Small Isles, Ardnamurchan and the Cairns of Coll. Another fine day, with a slight haze over the calm waters.

Porpoises a-plenty have been detected on the ever-conscientious hydrophone, and we’ve seen a fair few too. But no sign of anything bigger yet – some minke whales and common dolphins have arrived for the summer, but no sightings from Silurian this week. However, our seabird sightings confirm that spring has sprung, and we’re looking forward to our next survey later this month…

Many thanks to our hardworking and highly entertaining volunteers this week – it’s been a great one!

Susie, Science Officer

Welcome to the 2008 research and education season onboard Silurian!

Our season started back at the end of March with a very successful collaboration with the Marine Mammal Science MRes at the Sea Mammal Research Unit. 44 knot winds and a horizontal blizzard in the Sound of Mull were no match for the fearless students, and the trip went very well. Since then, we've run two marine mammal courses - all before the end of April.

Now we're in the middle of our first full monitoring trip of the season. Volunteers joined us in Tobermory on Tuesday night (29th April), and Wednesday saw us transecting up to to Canna in fair weather. Thursday took us across the Sea of the Hebrides, through the Sound of Barra and back to spend the night in Eriskay, where we had a fantastic walk from the harbour to the village, enjoying a grand pint in the The Politician, a sunset walk back along the blonde beaches and a slightly late dinner (11pm) back on the boat. Today we went back and forwards through Barra Sound again. We had been hoping to spot the bottlenose dolphins that are resident in the Sound, but no sign of them, either today or yesterday. We carried on over to Skye, where we are currently anchored in Loch Harport. All in lovely sunshine.

We've had plenty of porpoise detections on the hydrophone, but sightings have been few. There's a major military exercise going on round the Hebrides at the moment, and military boats have been outnumbering cetaceans somewhat. But the weather's great, and life onboard really good - even as I write, Andy is in the galley baking bread whilst we are all in awe as the sun sets in firey glory over Macleod's Tables.

Susie, Science Officer

Students from Iona Primary School spent the morning on Silurian exploring the boat, learning about HWDT’s research and investigating marine animals. They wrote:
Something I learnt today was velvet crabs have red eyes and that another name for them is devil crabs. Ben
I enjoyed today because we got to listen to the sounds of animals and we got to touch and feel some of the animals like sea urchins, crabs, starfish and sea anemones. Rhona
One thing I enjoyed today was looking at the scallop. The eyes were in its mouth. Xzava
I liked the whale and dolphin boat because it was interesting and fun. We looked at crabs, lobster and starfish. Stephen
I liked today because we got to hold all the crabs and scallop and I like going to school. Declan
I enjoyed everything. Duncan the dolphin
I enjoyed today because I had fun jingling forks and knives off the side of the boat and hearing it on the computers. Malcolm the minke whale.

Silurian was today anchored off Bunessan on the Isle of Mull. In delightful weather three groups of Bunessan Primary School students boarded for marine life workshops. The P1’s and 2’s were too busy to write about their visit. The P3 to 5’s wrote these comments:
If I could visit Silurian again that would be good. I was a catfish for the game. Something I learnt was that scallops had eyes. Cara Morrison P4
I liked when the lobster splashed everyone. Josh
I liked when you picked the crab up and when you picked the lobster up. Daniel
I liked the crab and a scallop. Stewart the shrimp
Something I learned was about the crab. Lewis the lion fish
I liked the bit when you picked up the crab and the anemone. Linzie
I liked the bit about the crab. Sean
This afternoon P6 and 7 students wrote:
One thing I enjoyed today was when Adam said the crab was looking at Neil. Blair
I enjoyed looking around the boat and doing the test. I also liked looking at the animals and feeling them. Daisy Williams
I enjoyed looking at the starfish. I learnt all about the boat. Neil
I saw lots of things today but mostly liked the king scallop it was very bumpy and rough and it was because it shut and I got such a fright it was really funny. Kirsty
I smiled when I made friends with a starfish. I liked it when I held the wee starfish. I enjoyed my day on the Silurian. I liked working with Daisy on the starfish. Daisy
We got to see all animals. The sea urchin because you got to handle it and see where it lives. Darren Clark
I enjoyed today because I learnt about the king scallop. I found out that its eyes were under its shell. Heather
Something I learnt was sea urchins are not as prickly as they look. Antony
Today I learnt about the female and male crabs. Adam Doc

12 Salen Primary students of P5 to 7 came aboard Silurian today for a workshop on marine life between 9:30am and 11am. They learnt a lot and here are some of their comments:
One thing I enjoyed today was getting to touch the starfish and the sea urchins. They were cool and I loved it. Mollie
I enjoyed today because I got to go on the boat. I learned that edible crabs looked like pies and I enjoyed touching the crabs and lobster. Andrew
I liked the starfish and the crabs. Robert Kennedy
I learnt that scallops had eyes. Angus
I enjoyed being splashed by the lobster. Emma Hall-Maclaclainn
I enjoyed the whole thing from start to end. Shannon May Maclean
I liked holding the lobster today. Cullen
I enjoyed touching the animals. Jamie
I liked getting splashed by the lobster. I learned about all of the animals. Stuart
I liked the crabs and the lobster. Ewan Bennett
I liked the whole thing. Carys
I liked touching the things. Katherine

Today 34 Salen Primary School students from P1 to 7 learnt about Silurian as a research vessel and also about local marine life. Here are some comments from the students:
I liked your boat and I learned a lot. I won’t forget. Bethan
Today Salen Primary School saw crabs and lobsters. Claire
I learned that crabs have hairy legs. Daisy
The two things I learned are that hermit crabs are small and sea urchins have legs. Saffron
I liked touching a lobster. Robbie
I learnt that hermit crabs live in shells. Scott
I enjoyed today. Hannah
I liked touching the crabs. Murdo
I enjoyed today because I touched an urchin. Sarah
I liked the lobster and I got to touch the lobsters back. Matthew
I learnt that a lobster has legs. Scott Thomson

Tobermory High School Eco-committee arrived at 1:30pm to come aboard Silurian for a marine life workshop. Here are some of their comments:
Getting to hold the baby starfish was really cool. The baby furry crab was so cute. We even had a visitor from a seal. Charlotte
I thought it was cool how the scallop has lots of eyes. Colin Laurie
Nice to learn about the animals especially the lobster. Jakob (S2.1)
I enjoyed all the animals and the seal. Mary Hall. (S1)
I really enjoyed the bit when we were touching the sea animals. Tom
The fuzzy baby crab was so sweet. Florry Cash
A good hands-on approach. Dexter Govan
I enjoyed looking at all the animals and the hydrophone. Amy Barlow
I liked when me and Colin tangled the cutlery. James Boa
Your hair gets very windswept, so take a hair bobble. Lorna Miller
I liked it when we held the sea animals. Cameron Brown

Date: Thursday 20^th 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 our last survey trip of 2007, so farewell until next season!

Date: Wednesday 19^th 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…

Date: Thursday 20^th 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 our last survey trip of 2007, so farewell until next season!

Date: Wednesday 19^th 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…

Date: Thursday 20^th 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 19^th 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…