HWDT BLOG
Thursday 23rd May 2013
Published: 24/05/2013
23/05/2013
Distance travelled: 0NM
Anchorage: Kyle of Lochalsh
Today the weather knocked us down, but not out. We swapped sea legs for some unused land legs. They turned out rusty, but managed to take us over the bridge to Skye. The most daring made it all the way to “Saucy Mary’s cafe" at Kyleakin. The master chef, Tom produced his best soup so far, onions and garlic, and then Olivia took us through the HWDT research results from 2003 until 2012. Much discussion was had about the 9 killer whales which appear not to be breeding, or interacting with other N E Atlantic pods. Then some of us were ready for ”forty winks”, and others for a second walk.
After a tasty Chilli con carne with guacamole for dinner and some extraordinary brownies, some of us headed for the Kyle Arms pub where a lively game of cards took us past midnight rounded up by a walk back to Silurian under a bright shining full moon.
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Wednesday 22nd May 2013
Published: 23/05/2013
Date: 22/05/2013
Distance travelled: 38.4NM
Anchorage: Kyle of Lochalsh
We set out in chilly but clear conditions. Our course took us up the Sound of Sleat and through the Kyles of Rhea into Loch Alsh. At that point we turned west to head under the Skye Bridge heading for Portree, but with the wind picking up immediately, under the bridge, we encountered slightly rough conditions i.e. a force 7 with wind over tide, and we started to rock and roll. After a few minutes of it our skipper prudently decided discretion was the better part of valour, given the volunteers on board, and we turned back to calmer waters. The only casualty was a bottle of Worcestershire sauce which broke from its moorings and crashed around the galley causing mayhem! We then travelled back down past Loch Alsh and into Loch Duich, past Eilean Donan castle. The lochs and the mountains were bathed in intermittent sunlight and glowed with colour. Loch Duich was devoid of marine life sightings but we did record some interesting deterrent alarms from fish farms. We journeyed back down Loch Duich and anchored for the evening at Kyle of Lochalsh. The skipper provided us with a traditional Scottish meal of haggis, neeps and tatties to round off an exciting day.
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Tuesday 21st May 2013
Published: 22/05/2013
Date: 21/05/2013
Distance travelled: 56.9NM
Anchorage: Isleornsay, Isle of Skye
Set sail on calm seas heading towards Rum, passing Staffa, Tiree and Coll. Seas remained relatively calm and 6 unidentified seals were spotted, as well as 3 grey seals, and 6 porpoises while another 11 porpoises were detected on the acoustics but were to shy to pop up to say hi. The first terns of the trip were spotted and there were reports of minke whales off the Cairns of Coll but although we passed by we did not spot them. Our first bit of litter was spotted (crisp packet, and no we don’t know what flavour!). We were all looking forward to anchoring at Rum because there was the potential for showers but the weather was meant to be closing in so we headed up the Sound of Sleat, on glass like seas, to Skye and anchored off Isleornsay, where there was a very nice pub.
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Monday 20th May 2013
Published: 21/05/2013
Date: 20/05/2013
Chicken stir fry emerged from the galley last eve and, coupled with some well earned wine, brought us almost to the point of sleep. Olivia took us through the schedule of birds we were to record and the list of boats to be logged. Then we fell asleep.
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Sunday 19th May 2013
Published: 20/05/2013
Date 19/05/2013
Distance travelled: 51.3NM
Anchorage: Bunessan, Isle of Mull
We awoke to calm conditions and set off after breakfast. We sailed through the Sound of Mull, south past Loch Spelve, further on round the south coast of Mull up into the Sound of Iona through the mist where Iona Abbey of Iona loomed mysteriously above us. As we drifted through we passed by guillemots, razorbills, a few shearwaters and gannets bobbing around in the still waters. Other birds sighted included eider ducks in flight, colourful, clown-like puffins and, spotted on the pink granite unique to the south coast of Mull, were cormorants and shags. During the day, we sailed a total of 51.3 nautical miles and saw 8 porpoises, 2 grey seals, 2 unidentified seals, and ended the day by anchoring in Bunessan. We are now writing this having settled down with a glass of wine whilst our cooks for the day prepare us a final meal of the day.
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Saturday 18th May 2013
Published: 20/05/2013
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Thursday 27th September 2012
Published: 28/09/2012
Anchorage: North Lismore
Distance travelled: 76.1NM
Team bonding is going well on the Silurian. The day starts with our secret sign (we cannot tell you what it is – it’s a secret). Then there is the recitation of the team motto “Swell is Swell”, delivered while fist-bumping (refer to a previous day’s blog if you were not paying attention). Finally we sing (not very well) the team song “I Am Sailing” by Rod Stewart. Then we are ready for action.
Today produced the best sighting of the trip so far (even better than the showers at Tarbert). Tony and Flavia were on the mast when the four fins that usually transform into waves did not do so on this occasion. Four bottle-nosed dolphins heading directly towards us! They dived under the boat, circled around under the water and appeared again on either side of us, bow-riding. There is not really any ecological reason why dolphins do this – they seem to just enjoy it.
Everyone was up on deck, cheering and whooping. The bow-riding lasted about three minutes and Olivia was able to identify one of the dolphins as 5043, a member of the Inner Hebridean pod of bottlenose dolphins. Lily decided on the spot that she would like to adopt this dolphin and give it a name. This is great news, as this will bring in much needed funds to the charity. Thank you, Lily. And a special mention goes out to the yacht Aquilla who radioed us to tell us the whereabouts of the dolphins, and without whose help we’d have never got to meet these beautiful animals. It emphasises how important the public is to the trust’s research.
The dolphins, however, proved to be rather fickle. A larger boat with a bigger bow was passing in the opposite direction, and the dolphins left us and attached themselves to their bow-wave. We thought we would never see them again. However, the dolphins briefly returned about fifteen minutes later, as if they were saying goodbye.
After a calm, serene 8am start to the day, complete with beautiful sunrise, we finally dropped anchor a little later than planned in a rather rainy, windy, misty mooring at the north end of Lismore, in Loch Linnhe at about 7pm. We travelled through calm seas with perfect sightability where we had big swells, reminiscent of yesterdays sea conditions, to the calmer, more sheltered waters of our mooring place. Unfortunately we couldn’t moor up earlier where we planned to on Seil Island (where there was a nice little pub) but the delicious stir fry that Emma made for us and a few glasses of wine and games of bananagrams more than made up for that. We could listen to the howling wind in the warmth of our saloon, and we even had the luxury of music courtesy of Lily’s ipad, the Kinks, Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin… we haven’t heard music for 9 days. Lily and Ellie were getting on down and showing us their moves.
The seas around volunteer Susie, and crew members, Emma, and Olivia’s home island of Mull seemed to be full of an unexpected richness of marine mammals today. Some great sightings of curious common seals taking a good look at us as they swam by and plenty of harbour porpoises, pretty near the boat who seemed to be more playful than would be normally expected.
Once again we’re all rosy cheeked and glowing and starting to feel like we’re getting to grips with the daily routine, with our various roles, with sea states, and distance gauging, with knowing our gannets from our kittiwakes, from our gulls, with distinguishing logs confidently from marine mammals, but alas, it is day 9….last full day tomorrow!! And only 20 miles left to travel down the Sound of Mull, back to Tobermory where we started our adventure on the high seas. There, we’ll get the boat all shipshape again and have a final meal together at Café Fish (their motto: where the only thing frozen is the fishermen!) and reminisce with perhaps a whisky or two over our totally out of the ordinary, perhaps once in a lifetime experience.
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Wednesday 26th September 2012
Published: 26/09/2012
Anchorage; Port Ellen, Islay
Distance travelled: 71.3NM
Once again, the weather has cancelled most of our scientific research. The day is sunny and beautiful, but the wind is howling on our nose and the waves are too bouncy for observing from the mast. Crew and volunteers are clamped firmly with tethers, some of us in the cockpit and some on the cabin top . We were able to detect six harbour porpoises with the hydrophone, all of them in the calmer water.
We departed our cosy berth in the Tarbert marina at 6:30 and rounded the Mull of Kintyre just at soup time (We are all operating on Emma’s time now). The tide was with us, even so, there were standing waves at about 1.2 meters. Our intrepid captain Tim then changed course to Port Ellen, on Islay. That’s when all attempts at observation ceased, as our trusty ship bravely soldiered through sharp, peaky waves at around 3 meters, and occasionally at 5 meters. Mate Emma buried the bow several times, and everything below that could move, did move. The speedometer read 10 knots but we could barely make 6 knots headway into the wind. This made for a longer day than usual. We finally dropped anchor at around 6. Port Ellen seems to consist mostly of a distillery. Sadly, captain has cancelled shore parties due to the windy conditions. Never fear, the good news is that Jason is concocting a famous stew, certain to be a five star dining delight.
Unofficial sightings from the deck:
Campbeltown Leisure Centre (missed opportunity for a shower)
Mull of Kintyre (cue Paul McCartney and skirling bagpipes)
Volunteer shouting “huey” over the side of the boat.
Amazingly Emma continued to provide us with refreshments while the 5-metre waves raged, covering us in spray. These included pasta with a sea-salt topping, tea (shaken, not stirred), and upside-down cake. We were sad that Olivia did not gain any data for her research, but we had great fun on the white-knuckle roller-coaster ride across the North Channel. To pass the time we decided to play I-Spy. Tony chose ‘W’ for the first word and, incredibly no-one guessed ‘water’. Perhaps it was too obvious.
While we were whiling away the hours up on deck, avoiding the nausea inducing conditions below, playing games, trying to think up sea-related singalong songs, below deck our cabins were descending into chaos. We re-entered to find our clothes strewn around the place, ginger beer bottles (thankfully intact) rolling around the floor and Flavia’s rather delicate laptop and uncased camera lying on the floor too! Janine broke the alarming news to Flavia, who, (after shaking the laptop, and finding that it rattled) sloped off, depressed, saying she couldn’t bear to look and find out the extent of the damage. Janine tested them out, and to our surprise, they worked!! Time for a celebratory bowl of rice crispies. All is well! (just those pesky peat-stained trousers to restore to their former glory now!). We all like a happy ending, what an exhilarating day, that has left us all rosy faced and glowing as we settle down to relax in the cosy comfort of the saloon.
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Tuesday 25th September 2012
Published: 26/09/2012
Anchorage: Tarbert
Distance travelled: 500metres (to the pub)
So it turns out that the weather gets the better of us today and we’re moored up in Tarbert all day. It’s far too windy, blowing a gale, forecast Force 7 to 9. We’re not going anywhere in a hurry. We’ve been stood down from our roles and are Amusing Ourselves. We tidy our cabins, shower at will, write postcards and potter around the town. Flavia taps away on her laptop, Lily taps away on her I-Pad, Janine taps away on her phone. Ah, the lure of electronic gadgets. Tony hits the streets on another of his runs, Ellie hits the laundrette and Susie hits … her nose. But more of that later. Emma’s lovely food still arrives at the same time as when On Effort even though we really haven’t done anything to earn it today, and we have another of Olivia’s Presentations “Research Results” which provide a fascinating insight into the surveying work of the trust over the last 10 years and what they’ve discovered.
But, for now, cast your mind back to the early hours of September 25th and what you were doing. Sleeping soundly? Probably. Dreaming? Possibly. Headbutting a piece of wood several inches above your head? Unlikely - unless you are Susie. She’s on the top bunk in her cabin which unlike the other bunks is a bit of a challenge and so she has developed a few strategies for getting in and what to do once you’re in, also known as “Bunk-Mounting Made Easy”.
(1) The Cantilever. “OK first foot on top of chest of drawers. It’s really too high but I reckon I can do it. Good. Now up onto the bed. Can’t sit up so need to slide in horizontally on my back. Am going to have to let go of chest of drawers at some point and cantilever myself in. Is this all going to go horribly wrong? No, have managed it. Am in. But there must be an easier way.”
(2) The Forward Glide. “OK. Starting off like before. First foot on top of chest of drawers. Still too high. Really hope I don’t pull a muscle in my thigh. This time I’m going in forward. Getting ready to launch…. Well that’s got me onto the bunk up to my waist. Need all my upper arm strength to get all the way in now but I can do it. Done. Am in. But there must be an easier way”.
(3) The Spiderman. “Right, I’ve got a top tip about opening a drawer to create an extra step. Am very excited.. There’s a downside though. The only thing I’ve got to grip on now is some beading around the top of that cupboard. It’s only a couple of cms wide. Am gripping with just one finger. But I can do it. Other foot on top of chest of drawers. Ooh not as high now. That’s a bonus. Thigh muscle safe for now. Right, so now all I’ve got to do is lever myself up and in horizontally using the three points of contact. I can do it. Done! That was the best so far.
(4) Handy Feet Technique. “ Right, now I’m in bed but I can’t sit up. Not a problem. I can just use my feet as hands! Need to rearrange my bedding? Not a problem. I can do it with my “handy feet”. Need to pass something up to my head end? Again, not a problem. The “handy feet” will take care of it. I think I’ve cracked this. Famous last words.
None of the above is any use to Susie at around 3am on 25th September. She’s having a dream about harbour porpoises (yes really), sits bolt upright in excitement and bashes the bridge of her nose on the wooden beam above her bunk. From now on she’s on the bottom bunk for her own safety and the techniques will be passed onto Flavia, who will no doubt take Bunk-Mounting Made Easy to the next level.
In the afternoon, some of us take a walk to Tarbert Castle, some take a walk to the local pub and some stay back to doze and read. Susie and Tony cook a delicious Thai green curry and rice and after dinner we all play Bananagrams (google it then buy it – it’s fab) and chat away. We’ve had a lovely day even though we’ve not been able to do what we intended. The weather forecast is still iffy but we’re in the safe hands of Tim and no doubt tomorrow we’ll be back to porpoise spotting … and not just in our dreams.
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Monday 24th September 2012
Published: 24/09/2012
Anchorage: Tarbert
Distance travelled: 39.8NM
Catastrophe! New Orleans Saints lost 27-24 (points? goals? tries?) to the worst team in the league. The Saints are in danger of living up to their nickname of the Ain’ts (ain’t gonna win). No fist-bumps all round this morning. Note to non-Americans: the fist-bump is the southern version of the high-fives, using the fist rather than the palm of the hand (do not try this at home, children).
Anyway, there was no time to dwell on our sorrows. This morning something is different in the air. We are in a race against time. Manchester-like weather is moving in from the west and we need to reach our destination before it hits. There is a definite sense of urgency. No leisurely breakfast today. Olivia stands in the saloon at 8am. “Ladiiieeeeesss! . Breakfast cleared in 20 minutes!” Janine is in the heads cleaning her teeth at this point. By the time she has finished there is another call “Ladiiieeeeesssss. Breakfast cleared in 10 minutes!”. She’s thorough but surely time can’t be moving this fast! And something else is missing. Captain Tim’s briefs! (Editors comment: just in case there is any misunderstanding, this refers to Tim’s briefings every morning where he gives an excellent overview of where we have been and where we are going). We find ourselves, as if by magic, on effort by 9am. Our earliest start so far.
Today we came from the north end of the Kyles of Bute, Burnt Isle, round Ardlamont Point and upper Loch Fyne, returning via Ardrishaig (Jason’s home town) ending up in East Loch Tarbert. En route we sighted a common seal, the infamous unid seal and two separate harbour porpoise sightings comprising six individuals. Thanks to Flavia, Susie and Ellie for their eagle eyes in the harbour porpoise sightings. There were far less seabirds than we’d seen previously out near Ailsa Craig and the open sea but a few gannets were still sighted. Gannets are our largest North Atlantic seabird with a wingspan of up to almost two metres. They are beautiful birds with long wings, tipped almost up to their elbows in black. They tuck in these lovely elegant wings and dive headlong into the sea to catch their prey, fish. The sight of them doing this has had us all enthralled over the last few days. It’s truly spectacular. The sad thing though is that the repeated pressure of them doing so eventually renders them blind, which is how they tend to meet their ends. It’s a tough life out there for the wildlife. Us humans could do better not to make things worse.
Sighting!!! The volunteers on the mast saw them first. Olivia confirmed the sighting. Tim expertly set a course to close in on the phenomenon, ably helped by Emma, Olivia and Jason. And there they were directly in front of us in all their glory. We laughed. We cried. We hugged each other. This was the most emotional day of our lives. Yes, it was the shower facilities at Tarbert harbour. No more Houdini-like contortions in the confined spaces of the boat shower. No more worrying whether Emma would switch off the water supply if we exceeded our 8-litre quota. No more wiping ourselves down with wet-wipes. No more smelly bits. We could shower in a big cubicle, with limitless water and locks on the doors. They were even free of charge and hairdryers were also available.
Tarbert is a great place. There is a Co-op and numerous places to sample malt whisky. What more could Susie need? Dinner consisted of bangers and mash with sugar-snap peas and onion gravy. There was wine and good conversation. What a great way to finish off the day. Could tomorrow be even better? Find out here!
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Sunday 23rd September 2012
Published: 24/09/2012
Anchorage: Burnt Isle, Bute
Distance travelled: 47.1NM
Once more our intrepid explorers set off on their continuing adventure. The sea was rather choppy to begin with and our American friends thought that the swell was not swell. Later it calmed down and we were introduced to our next challenge, the crow’s nest. Susie and Tony were raring to go and climbed up the mast like mountain goats. Flavia needed some gentle persuasion from Emma: “You WILL go up!”
Tonight we are staying at Burnt Isle. Susie is disappointed. There is no local malt whiskey and no co-op here, so she cannot indulge her two favourite pastimes. Flavia expressed a desire to sample Scottish “nature”. Off we went to Bute in the evening and, after landing and fighting off the marauding locals, we went on a nature walk. After some hysterical shrieking from the rear of the party, we discovered that Flavia’s wish to sample “nature” had come true. She had got stuck in a peat bog and slipped over, covering herself in black peaty slime. Flavia was unconcerned and seemed happy with her true Scottish experience, although she is destined to spend the rest of the trip without any trousers. (Yet another meaning to the word “sightings”)
Although we did not have many new sightings today (apart from Flavia in a peat bog), the lack of sea mammals is useful information in itself, as it gives an insight into their distribution in the Hebrides. Moreover, there were fifteen acoustic detections of harbour porpoises today, which means that they are out there!
Dinner time passed with constant updates from the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs American football game. (You have no doubt stopped reading the blog now, as American football has the same effect on non-Americans as cricket has on non-English people). The result is still pending as we make our way to our beds, weary after our valiant efforts of the day. If there is a big cheer in the middle of the night we will know that the Saints won and Ella will be happy in the morning. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s thrilling instalment.
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Saturday 22nd September 2012
Published: 23/09/2012
Anchorage: Lamlash, Isle of Arran
Distance travelled: 47.1NM
After his unfortunate luck where sightings were concerned over the last couple of days, and the lingering memory of the yellow wellie, it turned out that today was actually Tony’s day. In fact it was to be everyone’s day with a number of incredible sightings. We left Campbeltown in fine weather, all fired up after receiving our new briefing. One of our roles has been extended! They’re very clever, the crew on this boat you know. It would have been far too much for us a couple of days ago but now we’re ready to take on something new. Relay, if you remember is the middle-man role, where all you needed was good hearing and a loud voice, to receive details of sightings and relay them to the person At The Computer. Bit of a doddle really. But this was no longer to be. Olivia gave us a new presentation “Sea Birds and Boats” the identification of which is to be part of Relay’s role.
OK, so how on earth do we remember this lot! Right. If it’s black backed, white underside, with a pointed beak, black legs and fast flapping wings it must be …. a what? Whereas if it’s black backed, white underside, a funny kind of laterally flattened chunky bill, black legs and flappy wings it’s a razorbill ..., no, a guillemot … no, a shearwater … no a razorbill. Whereas if it’s black backed, white underside with a pointed beak, fast stiff wings, but red legs it’s a … oh I haven’t a clue. And to make matters worse they’re changing into their winter coats, for goodness sake, so might not exactly look like that anyway. Lily comes back off her first stint and says “Well! That’s something I know I’m NEVER going to be good at!”
But once again under the expert guidance of Olivia, Jason (one of our fab crew who is volunteering whilst also working for the Scottish National Trust) and Tim our trusty skipper, we slowly begin to pick them out from each other, although for part of the time it seems to be “Gannet”. “Gannet”. Gannet”. Another gannet”. “Gannet diving”. “Gannet flying”. “A squadron of gannet”.
So today is all about the animals. We head out from Campbeltown into the Firth of Clyde and to Ailsa Craig, also known as Muffin Island if you would believe Tony. Once there we are told to come Off Effort and we spend the next hour gazing at thousands of gannets whose home is this lump of strange rock in the middle of the Firth of Clyde. And it’s not even peak breeding season, which apparently turns the rock white with feathers and goodness knows what.
Once back On Effort we take up our positions again and it’s not long after that we have our first exciting sighting of the day. Yes, our first. There is more than one. Lily, from Georgia USA was on Relay counting gannets. In her words … “I was thinking, I really can’t count any more gannets, and suddenly this thing appeared out of nowhere and it really made me start”. You really have no idea where and when an animal will surface. Quite often when you’re in a trance-like state thinking that every wave is a fin. It was thrilling! It was a minke whale! We saw it surface three times before it left us, and it left us wanting more of course. We hung around for 20 minutes or so but then reluctantly carried on but not before Flavia had jumping up and down at the mast several times in excitement. Thrilling, and it redoubled our efforts.
Our second sighting was down to Susie. Whilst scanning for boats on Relay, her binoculars scanned a little bit closer to the boat and she spotted a fin. Turned out that this fin was attached to a basking shark. You only get an idea of the size of these lovely placid animals, flapping their tails around whilst filtering the equivalent of an Olympic sized swimming pool in an hour, once you see them in the flesh. There was a considerable distance between dorsal fin and tail. Unfortunately the side effect of this exciting sight was that it spawned a rash of fake sightings. One basking shark and 24 bits of wood and floating logs. It’s really not what we’re being asked to do when we’re being asked to “log” data.
After a day of great sightings, great food and great weather we’re all looking forward to what tomorrow brings. Everything about this trip is fantastic, from taking part in research, to the way the crew look after us, to the beautiful scenery and the lovely boat Silurian. Bring on the leaping dolphins!
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Friday 21st September 2012
Published: 22/09/2012
Anchorage: Campbeltown
Distance travelled: 64.6NM
Now you wouldn’t think so but there are other people on this trip apart from Tony. But if you remember, this is his day and he is hoping to make up for his lack of sightings. Success! He sees two seals. It doesn’t matter that these were “Off Effort” i.e. we’d stopped recording sightings - a seal is a seal is a seal. Earlier in the day though Tony had confessed that when he’d been “At The Computer” he’d been asked to record an “Unid Seal” and had wondered why Olivia, our Scientific Officer, had not mentioned this species in one of her briefings. Unid, incidentally stands for “Unidentified”.
Janine became very excited early on when she thought she had seen a basking shark but unfortunately it turned out to be a cleverly disguised piece of wood. The highlight of Susie’s day was when she spotted some marine litter. “Marine Litter! Right side! Bottle!”. Then it all got a bit silly on the mast. “Heading 180 degrees!” What was it doing? “Bottling!!!” For those not in the know, that’s seal behaviour when it pokes its head up and has a look around. I guess it was one of those jokes where you had to be there. Was there a message in the bottle? We’ll never know, but if it was, it would probably be from the whales saying “Sorry we’re not around today – gone fishing!”.
We travelled a long way, 64 miles, and whilst we only visually sighted seals the trusty hydrophone picked up 17 harbour porpoise signals. So how did we know they were harbour porpoise?
Well, one of the roles when you’re At the Computer is monitoring the hydrophone. The first time you listen to underwater noise, it’s pretty shocking. For the cetaceans in the area it must be like trying to hold a conversation with your friend whilst (1) eating rice crispies (the sound of snapping shrimps) (2) someone dragging and scraping a rusty gate along the pavement behind you (trawler), (3) playing a synthesiser in your other ear fixed on “Annoying Repetitive 80s Beat” (Animal Deterrent Device used by fish farm owners to deter seals from nicking their salmon) and (4) doing some impromptu roadworks right in front of you (boat engines). If it was you, wouldn’t you want to leave the area to have your conversation in peace?
We did see off a British Navy Destroyer though that appeared briefly en route and then appeared to changed course. And a submarine too. Little Silurian lives to survey another day.
Our shore leave for the day takes us to Campbelton where we can use on-land shower facilities. Yes, we’re back to Tony. He has the luxury of two showers in two days. From one extreme to another, the first being in the “cosy” shower room on the boat with ultimate privacy, to a communal shower in the local leisure centre in Campbelton, where he gave new meaning to the word “Sightttiiiingggg!”
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Thursday 20th September 2012
Published: 22/09/2012
Anchorage: Craighouse, Jura.
Distance travelled: 43.7NM
Day 2 and …. a wellington boot is sighted! When asked to relay whether it was seen on the left or right side of the boat, one of the volunteers, Tony, wonders, ironically, whether he is being asked to describe whether it is a left or right boot! Such is the quality of relaying information from mast, to deck, to computer. Although we are only on our second day of sightings, under the patient tutelage of Olivia, the Scientific Officer we are working pretty slickly as a team.
There is so much going on, on this trip. Our roles as assistants to the Scientific Officer are varied and ever-changing. There’s Being up at the Mast, the eyes of the operations, constantly scanning the seas for marine mammals. Next comes Relay, the mouth of the operation, a bit of a middle-man role responsible unsurprisingly for relaying information from the mast, and finally At the Computer, the brain of the operation, where sightings are rigorously stored for later regurgitation and analysis. More to come another day about being at The Computer. We rotate at half hour intervals. Within an hour on the first day, Olivia had us working as a team. Pretty good going, although we are all fingers and thumbs with our many layers, and the fastenings of our lifejackets.
Two days ago we gathered on the pier at Tobermory, from far flung places such as Brazil, America and … Manchester. From Scotland itself, Skye, Loch Fyne and Tobermory. One of our American volunteers lost her luggage at Heathrow and wonders if things could get any worse. She is rather relieved once on board, to find that everything is so deftly managed and perfectly organised by the first mate Emma who pops up with tea and delicious apple cake at every possible opportunity. We are fed and watered at regular intervals to keep up our collective strength. When at the mast, alert and waiting for the next sighting, a cup of risotto magically appears and we never ate a better cup of risotto in the rain before. Actually we never ate a cup of risotto in the rain before.
Later in the day, thanks to Emma’s fine navigations skills, we pass safely through the Gulf of Corryvreckan between the islands of Scarba and Jura. The tide races at this infamous narrow channel. With its bubbling cauldron of a whirlpool, it can treacherous in bad weather. Tim, our skipper tells us the tale of the “Virgin Pools” the punchline of which will have to remain untold in this tale, but could potentially cast aspersions on the virtue of whole of the Western Isles females. Later we moor up for the day, and form a shore party that heads to the local pub at Jura for a dram of their smooth eponymous whisky.
Although it rained most of Day 2, the intrepid Silurian ploughed on relentlessly. Provided with heavy duty wet weather gear, the volunteers confidently take up their roles. “Sighting! 90 degrees, distance 200 metres, bearing 180, harbour porpoise”. Sighting! Grey Seal, bottling.” And yet again, “Sightiiiiingggg”! Unfortunately all sightings occur whilst Tony is below deck Being At The Computer. He sees nothing apart from the yellow wellie. The rest of us are treated to a magical 21 harbour porpoise and seven seals in one day. Tomorrow will be Tony’s day.
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Friday 8th September 2012
Published: 08/09/2012
Anchorage: Tobermory
Distance travelled: 25.2NM
We woke up to our last day on the boat and what a day it was to be. It was quite a sad to think that it was our last day but we were enthusiastic because we were travelling out to the island of Coll. So we headed off as usual after breakfast onto our last adventure on Silurian. Today was the best weather we had all the time that we were at sea. The sea was crystal calm which we weren’t used to. It was a pleasant surprise. As we exited the Sound of Mull we spotted a few harbour porpoise which were always lovely to see. As we passed Ardnamurchan Point we began to pick up faint whistles. The excitement began to grow and the eyes became more alert. Whilst we heading out to Coll we saw a few more harbour porpoise and many seabirds. We had this idea that these secretive sea mammals of the sea were late because they were stuck in rush hour but suddenly a sighting!!! They were common dolphins, about 28 we counted in the end which were jumping clean out of the water and circling this particular spot from quite a distant from the bow, however, the people at the mast hadn’t spotted it so people at the stern of the boat had to keep quiet. After the people at the mast spotted them we all scurried round the boat to grab our cameras. The dolphins began to arch, jump and swim towards the boat. The young were jumping out of the water flapping their tails in excitement. Our excitement was growing evermore as they came closer to the boat and the best possible treat happened where they began to bow ride the boat. It was spectacular being able to see them right next to the boat clear as anything underwater swimming and then jumping out from all directions. We then came across another group of common dolphin which also played on the bow, torpedoing out of the water before aggregating underneath a group of gannets where they began feeding. As we left them to their lunch all you could see on our faces were big happy smiles. We could understand why there is such a thing called dolphin therapy to cheer people up which certainly worked for us. We were so pleased that we saw something as spectacular as this on the last day because it made up for the weather we had during the week. We headed back into the north of the Sound of Mull where we saw a few harbour porpoise and many creels. I’m sure we will be shouting creels in our sleep after the amount of times we have seen them. As we came into Tobermory even though we had smiles on our faces it was all quite sad that this was our last day out on the beautiful Silurian and its fabulous crew. Before the emotions started running there was one last job to be down, a good scrub down of the whole boat. Everyone was assigned an area to do on the boat and everyone became was very defence of their area afterwards. After we scrubbed ourselves down we went off to the Mishnish, a lovely local pub for a few drinks before we headed off to Café Fish where we planned to have dinner. The food was absolutely scrumptious with clean plates all round. Full bellies, so we decided to go back to the Mishnish and then to Macgochans for a drink and a nice chat about everything and anything.
It was getting late so we all headed back to the boat for our last sleep on Silurian. It was a fantastic day to finish on with all those common dolphins and a brilliant end to a never forgetting trip. The crew; Olivia as science officer, Emma as first mate, Sam as skipper and Jason as Olivia’s assistant, were the best people for the job. They made the trip for what it was. The crew were all very knowledgeable and also just a great laugh to be around. They made the rain driven days enjoyable and all the volunteers would like to say a big big thank you for everything you have done for us on this trip. We will never forget these experiences we had. Thank you again to the crew, Silurian and us the amazing volunteers on this trip.
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Thursday 6th September 2012
Published: 07/09/2012
Anchorage: Tobermory
Distance travelled: 25.1NM
During the night the stormy weather came in which for the first time on the trip some of us felt the swaying of the boat during the night. It was quite funny to wake up to the crew dashing about the boat to get the anchor up whilst we all sat down eating breakfast. The strong winds had pushed us about 30 metres away from our original anchor site. So after breakfast we set off from Oitir Mhor Bay. Because the seas had picked up overnight we sat up on deck whilst crossing the Firth of Lorn. Silurian was tilting side to side whilst going over the waves with ever increasing spray and we were all having a whale of a time. Whilst still looking out for sightings we played games like Noah's Ark and name six sea animals for each letter of the alphabet. Even when we were playing these games we still made sightings of harbour porpoise, common and grey seals. It became much calmer when we entered the Sound of Mull but each time we had travelled through this area it threw up something different. This time it was heavy rain which felt like hail. Even though this sounds pretty bad it was actually good fun and a great experience which we all enjoyed. The weather was turning for the worse though so at the north of the Sound we decided to head to Tobermory Bay and moor there for the night. When we arrived at Tobermory it was only 13:30 so for the rest of the day Olivia had already planned fun activities for us. After we got out of our waterproofs we all sat round the table and tucked in to a warming macaroni cheese which Emma had kindly made. Olivia explained the first activity to us which was to pick two animals associated with the sea and create a fact file. We all choose our animals and got to work researching them. After 45 minutes of finding out general information and any interesting facts about the animals we sat round the table and told everyone about each one. This was a great activity to do because we learnt lots and it was just good fun. Olivia then set up a slideshow explaining what research they had gathered between 2003-2011 and what has happened to that research on managing species and getting to grips on the species which inhabit the seas around here. It was very interesting information and it just emphasised why we came on this trip in the first place, to help these sea mammals around the Hebridean coast and get a better idea about these beautiful creatures of the sea. After that we played a few rounds of bannagrams followed by hearty bangers and mash with vegetables and onion gravy which our kind skipper, Sam made; a brilliant dinner for a rainy day. Olivia then told us that we had seen two harbour porpoise sightings (two porpoise in each sighting), three commons seals, one grey seal and three harbour porpoise detections which was pretty good for the type of weather we had today. After a few card games we decided to head off to bed. Overall even though the weather wasn't on our side today we all had fun.
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Wednesday 5th September 2012
Published: 06/09/2012
Anchorage: Kerrera
Distance travelled: 47.7NM
We all woke up to weary eyes and many yawns because we had stayed up late playing the card game cheat but after a good breakfast we felt a lot brighter and more awake. We weighed anchor and headed off from the cute little area of Salen back down Loch Sunart. Just as we left Salen we spotted a harbour porpoise which we all believed was a good omen and it turned out to be that way in the end but I will get onto that later. The waters around Loch Sunart were calm so for the first time on the trip we were able to climb up to the crows nest and be look out from there. Just before we left Loch Sunart we had a sighting of six velvet scooters which was a rare treat. As we left the loch we started to feel the weather change from still waters to a blustery sea. We entered the Sound of Mull which we knew very well now and the waters flattened. Along this stretch we saw many harbour porpoise, common seals, grey seals and lots of seabirds including kittiwakes and terns. We had a single sighting of a kestrel and a diver species. Food glorious food and today was no exception. We were served a filling sandwich followed by a wrap with couscous, guacamole with salad. Emma also made some flapjacks later which went down a treat. After leaving the Sound of Mull we went on to explore the Firth of Lorn. Around this area we saw even more seabirds, harbour porpoise and a few common seals. We choose to anchor in Oitir Mhor Bay which is a little bay just off Kerrera near Oban. The weather all day had been kind to us with sun or white clouds and the evening was no exception after we anchored. The sun was shining down onto the bay where the magnificent Silurian had settled for the night. We decided to head ashore where some of us had a little relaxation, others explored along the shore and three of us scrabbled up one of the hills on Kerrera where we had spectacular panoramic views. After a good explore of the island we headed back to Silurian. Olivia played us the HWDT DVD and then went through everything we sighted and detected on the hydrophone. Throughout the duration of the day we had 16 harbour porpoise sightings, 7 common seal sightings, 3 grey seal sightings and 20 harbour porpoise acoustic detections so overall that first porpoise sighting did become our lucky charm for the day. After that we ate a hearty chorizo stew and played a game of cheat and then head off to bed for a well deserved rest for all of us.
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Tuesday 4th September 2012
Published: 05/09/2012
Anchorage: Salen, Loch Sunart Distance travelled: 22.8NM
We woke up to a lovely day at Tobermory, however we looked out from the bay and we saw many white caps. The stormy weather had hit the west coast overnight into early morning so we hunkered down in Tobermory. Olivia planned a funny morning of aquaculture debates, team building exercises and riddles. The riddles carried out throughout the day but finally we answered every single one. The teamwork game consisted of balancing a pole in a group of four with the top part of the finger touching the pole trying to get it right down to the floor without anyone's finger leaving the pole. One team did really well whereas the other fell apart, but it was a good laugh. After all the fun-filled games we decided to head off into the Sound of Mull. The seas were quite choppy which made it that little bit more exciting. We turned around at Bloody Bay and headed up Loch Sunart. We saw many manx shearwaters and other seabirds which was great to see. The food as usual was scrumptious with a sandwhich each and a cup full of squash and feta risotto. The mountainous area around Loch Sunart was impressive and was a lovely area to explore. Even though we did not see any sea mammals during the day the hydrophone detected 10 harbour porpoise during our time up Loch Sunart which was positive to know. There was a little place called Salen where we anchored for the night. We headed ashore to the local pub and a very nice one it was where we had a drink together before we headed back to Silurian for the evening.
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Monday 3rd September 2012
Published: 05/09/2012
Anchorage: Tobermory
Distance travelled: 49.2NM
After a good night's sleep, breakfast and our sea mammal, bird and boat ID eyes at the ready we headed off from Loch Creran. The weather forecast was gale force 8 for the day so we decided to stay in sheltered waters. This was the first day where we had to look out for different sea birds and boats to get an understanding of what other things are around us and to keep us on our toes. We sailed up Loch Linnhe where we spotted two amazing white-tailed eagles and had two close encounters of harbour porpoises calmly arching out of the water alongside the boat. We spotted many seabirds and became better by the end of the day. Now back to the food front, we had a lovely sandwich for second breakfast as usual with a lovely tomato soup for lunch. All the day we kept on using the range finder trying to get our eye in to how far things were and we were still rusty by the end of the day but we will get it in the end. The weather was going our way until we headed out of Loch Linnhe and suddenly the prevailing winds hit us and the waves began to pick up. This is the real Scottish weather which we all know about which was great fun riding over the waves. As we travelled up the Sound of Mull the seas calmed down and we had another close encounter with a soaring white-tailed eagle which flew past the bow. We decided to moor in Tobermory for the night because it is a nice sheltered area and it also meant we could have a nice warm shower. After everyone had a wash down, we headed off to one of the local pubs for a drink each before we headed back to Silurian. We looked at the acoustic data that we recorded throughout the day and it found 16 harbour porpoise detections. Olivia told us afterwards that even though we haven't been able to explore further out to sea due to the weather that we have surveyed the furthest east this year. Monday was curry night and after diner we decided to play games such as whist and bannagrams. We also decided to make the tiles for bananagrams into a pyramid and played our own version of Jenga with a matchstick to push out the tiles. After that amusement we all became very tired so we all got ready for bed.
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Sunday 2nd September 2012
Published: 02/09/2012
Anchorage: Loch Creran
Distance travelled: 48.8NM
We awoke to a much brighter sky then yesterday which lifted all our spirits and we were raring to sail out of Lochaline and find these mammals of the sea. As we headed down and out from the Sound of Mull we had a fantastic treat awaiting us where we came across two grey seals, six common seals and six sightings of harbour porpoise. What a great start to the day! We then headed down the Firth of Lorn where we came across some choppy seas of the Atlantic and for a period of time we had to concentrate both on the seas but also keeping our balance. To keep us going in these harsh conditions Emma and Olivia got us together a sandwich each of our leftovers from yesterday and a lovely risotto. The elusive sun which we had all been told about finally came out and we all basked in its warmth. The seas calmed down and we were able to spot a grey seal bottling and two harbour porpoise jumping high out of the water for a split second before they headed off. As we travelled back up the Firth of Lorn we had a close encounter with two harbour porpoise which we were very lucky to see because most of the time they do not come near to boats. As we anchored in Loch Creran we analysed the hydrophone data and found 20 harbour porpoise detections. We are now sitting down waiting for our dinner of shepherds pie and hopefully a dessert, yummy. After that we are planning to play more funny games, a little educational game and ‘Guess Who?' with all the crew. I believe we will all sleep well tonight after a tiring day out at sea. A fantastic start to an exciting trip onboard Silurian.
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Saturday 1st September 2012
Published: 02/09/2012
Anchorage: Lochaline
Distance travelled: 14NM
After a good nights sleep, we woke up to breakfast soon followed by the Science Training and all the safety talks. We headed off from colourful Tobermory at about midday. As we left the harbour we hit some wet weather including some strong gusts of winds. To us this seemed typical Scottish weather but according to the crew it has been beautiful up to now, either they are lying or we have just had some bad luck. Anyways back to the sailing, one common seal graced us with its presence, sticking his head up above the surface, displaying what we now know is called bottling behaviour. It seemed very pleased to see us and we were indeed pleased to see it. Whilst onboard each day we get treated like royalty with a breakfast, a sandwich, a second breakfast, cups of tea and coffee throughout the day and some little treats and today we got baked some lovely chocolate brownies with blackberries and raspberries by our head chef Emma. We decided to anchor in a little sheltered area called Lochaline where we made our first dinner as a team. We made a lovely bolognese and a banging apple crumble to go with that. As we were just clearing our plates we had a little common seal as a guest who stayed round our boat for a while before heading off. After this encounter we took a closer look at the hydrophone data which we had collected and found that there was a harbour porpoise somewhere along the Sound of Mull. We then played educational games, card games and our own rendition of ‘Guess who?' which was a great laugh. After a tiring first day we all headed to bed looking forward to what tomorrow brings.
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Saturday 25th August 2012
Published: 26/08/2012
Anchorage: Loch na droma buidhe Distance travelled: 53.6NM
An early and overcast start from Inverie dock was followed by hints of sunshine as the wind picked up by midday. Passing Rum we saw many shearwaters all ducking and diving for whatever fish were being chased to the surface by deeper predators. The engine was barely necessary as the wind continued to blow hard and sailing was well under way. Four harbour porpoise visuals and 28 acoustic detections later we were well on our way around the south side of Eigg. This was followed by some acoustic detections of common dolphins however the choppy landscape precluded visual confirmation of their presence. With the winds ferocity increasing steadily (to a force 8) an executive-skipper decision was made to change course and end our day in Loch na droma buidhe. All in all a wise decision as minutes later on a gentle jibe the Mizzen sheet broke free halting our sailing. Now heading across the swells with Rachel and Loree soaked to the skin with waves breaking over the bow it was time to call it a day for the survey and we all hunkered down at the back of the boat. On arrival at the Loch a group swim helped our appetites which were satisfied with hot vegetable curry and some gooey chocolate brownie. A good end to a rather windswept and adventurous day.
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Friday 24th August 2012
Published: 25/08/2012
Anchorage: Inverie, Loch Nevis Distance travelled: 47.2 NM
We awoke to a day with grey skies but beautifully flat seas, perfect spotting conditions. An early sighting of a minke whale feeding on the fish that we saw jumping out of the water was a great first sighting of the day. We stayed with it for a good 20 minutes which allowed us to get some photos for the ID catalogue. It felt like we had entered the land of the seals passing 22 of the animals bobbing in the water through the Kylerhea passage. Passing under the Skye bridge we encountered porpoise after porpoise. Just when we thought our sightings for the day couldn't get any better a flappy fin was seen by the volunteer on the mast. At first sight there were shouts of shark but on closer inspection it was one of the biggest sunfish any of us had ever seen. What a weird animal! At 6pm the skipper showed off his skills and sailed us smoothly along side the pier at Inverie. While 2 of the crew opted for a leap off the 20ft pier, another emerged from the depths holding two gigantic star fish. The rest of us spent the evening in the most remote pub in the whole of the UK. We encountered yet another animal demise, a young common seal pup, which we took measurements and samples of. After another 2 course meal a few of us had the energy for a game of bananagrams while the others just had enough energy to crawl into bed.
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Thursday 23rd August 2012
Published: 24/08/2012
Anchorage: Portree, Skye
Distance travelled: 49.1NM
Another day of high hopes (matching the high sea swells). Staying upright at the mast proved a challenge and all eyes were on the lookout for sightings. After scanning the skies all day a lone common seal was spotted close to the side of the boat. At the end of a tiring day dolphins teased us with their whistles being heard on the hydrophone but despite scanning the horizon through the rain and wind they remained elusive. We anchored at Portreee, a beautiful spot and took advantage of the local hostelry. Back on board we were treated to live music from Roddy which was a lovely end to the day.
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Wednesday 22nd August 2012
Published: 24/08/2012
Anchorage: Eilean Beag
Distance travelled: 50.8NM
Another ‘site-full' day. After starting in the rain, weather broke to sunny skies although a bit cooler. Harbour porpoises started our day. We travelled out into the wide ‘grey' wonder and were rewarded with many sightings. The people on bird watch had their observation skills challenged as there was a frenzy of bird activity feeding with the dramatic sight of gannets diving and Skuas scattering the many smaller birds. As predicted the minke were close on their tails. Roddy on the mast sighted a strange white object in the distance. On closer inspection this was the sad, but fascinating sight of a dead minke calf providing a feast for the bird population. We ended the day in a beautiful bay at the Summer Islands with an intrepid few leaving behind their sea legs to climb to the top of the nearest island and admire the stunning views. Essential supplies of heather were harvested to enable our skipper to ‘address the haggis' in style.
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