Date: Friday 11th September
Anchorage: Bruichladdich, Islay
Position: 55°45’.882N, 06°21’.453W
Distance: 63.0NM

Today has proved to be the best weather we have had thus far. The waters were perfect for sighting, even though, to our dismay, not many sightings occurred throughout the day. Nevertheless, we were definitely enjoying the weather and the blue waters, so much so that some of us shed off our oilskins and wellingtons to show off some skin under the rays of the sun. The beautiful day brought along a lone basking shark, spotted by the skipper. It was the first non-seal or porpoise we had seen on the trip. Riveting! We hope that this is only the beginning of good weather and more sightings to come. Because of the calm conditions, we spotted quite some storm petrels, and even a bonxie attacking another bird. After a day at sea we decided to anchor by a small, picturesque town that seemed as if it came from a postcard (Portnahaven, south-west Islay). Dozens of seals were sun bathing as we attempted to anchor adding to the beauty. However, the tide was too strong and the water too shallow to allow for a proper anchoring. It was too bad as the spot was absolutely beautiful. It was decided to travel a little further around the corner into Loch Indaal. Currently, we are drooling as the smells of Federico’s much-awaited-for mussel pasta are slowly cooking in the galley. Then there is Phil remaining persistent in his efforts to catch mackerel. Phil’s average catch has been a fish a day - not quite enough to serve nine people, but it has been quit sufficient for starters! Time to pick mussels out of their shells! Cheers. Phil managed to catch enough mackerel for a main for tomorrow, already looking forward to it..... After today’s lovely dinner, all travel possibilities for the next few days were discussed, resulting in a busy schedule ahead of us for Nienke wants to make most out the forecasted good weather days to come.

Date: Thursday 10th September
Anchorage: Scalasaig, Colonsay
Position: 56°04’.136N, 06°11’.034W
Distance: 49.0NM

Today was the second morning that we woke up to the skipper’s delectable porridge. Most of the hours surveying consisted of staring at water with only a few sightings. However, the weather & views were excellent and none of us has lost hope as the days are only getting better. Additionally, although we spotted only few porpoises, the hydrophone detected 28 groups, almost as good as the record for this season which is currently at 29 groups. We stopped in Colonsay for the evening, and decided to wander to the nearby pub - which turned out be quite interesting as our first encounter with civilization. After a pint and a memorable experience with a very drunk local, we were ecstatic to return back to the boat. We have begun to think of the boat as a home and refuge. Dinner was a venison casserole with rice. Tomorrow’s meal is of constant concern, as people are becoming more and more imaginative and creative - always forgetting that it was decided the day before. We bought an extra 5-kilo bag of mussels in order to have another dinner of mussels. The count for the number of proposed meals for tomorrow: 5. Today we encountered some new birds compared to yesterday: gannets, shags and fulmar. Interesting to note that fewer numbers of seabirds were spotted today.

Date: Wednesday 9th September
Anchorage: Loch Spelve, Isle of Mull
Position: 56°04’.136N, 06°11’.034W
Distance: 49.0NM

Today our sightings consisted of a few seals and harbour porpoises. Although the rough whether the previous days (actually the last 6 weeks!), the Sound of Mull was quite protected and even the sun came out to greet us. The hydrophone recorded something interesting that Nienke pointed out: when the ADD noises were no longer within detectable range the harbour porpoises appeared in large numbers. Many groups were spotted visually and even more were detected acoustically. It seems that the harbour porpoises are affected by the ADD sounds. For dinner we managed to get ahold of fresh mussels from the nearby mussel farm. While some stayed on boat preparing dinner, some people went ashore and did some exploration. A group of seals were spotted onshore. They remained extremely curious even after plunging into the water while we went ashore. Today was our first day of bird spotting, and the ones spotted today include manx shearwaters, guillemots, razorbills and kittiwake.

Date: Tuesday 8th September
Anchorage: Loch Sunart
Position: 56°39’.404N, 05°53’.766W
Distance: -NM

Spent the day at anchor, some of the time very windy. Learned about birds and fished for mackerel. Hopeful that will be able to move off tomorrow as the weather forecast gets better. Today was a fairly slow day, but for a second day it was quite nice. There were quite a few activities going onboard. Some people were holding lively conversations about public health, corporate law, and the likes. Other people were fishing; only two were caught today. All of us, but snoozing Federico, had an interesting lesson about the different types of birds we could possibly encounter. As these activities were ongoing there were ominous weather broadcasts predicting the weather to worsen for a while before getting any better, first time this season a predicted force 9-11!!!! However, we did get a glimpse of sunshine right before dinner which gave all of us some hope of the days to come. Dinner consisted of four delicious and fresh mackerel, cottage pie (it was the first for some of us), and vegetables from Phil’s garden.

Date: Monday 7th September
Anchorage: Loch Sunart
Position: 56°39’.404N, 05°53’.766W
Distance: 17.8NM

Day One
We left Tobermory on Monday afternoon. The forecast wasn’t great so we headed to the Sound of Mull and Loch Sunart. We saw several harbour porpoises , common seals, otters, and amazingly we saw two sea eagles and loads of creel. One (eagle) circled far overhead, soaring and at such a distance you could see its huge wingspan - a truly magnificent sight! Due to the forecast we anchored in a quiet inlet, and in the evening the skipper took us in the tender to look at seals. We spotted a mother common seal with two young sitting like bananas on the rocks. They didn’t seem bothered by our appearance at all. They even gathered the courage to take a peak at the curious and alien humans with their dingy entering their territory. We’ve had some time to adjust to boat life, and much seems to revolve around food and the next meal while waiting for the weather to improve! We had delicious haggis (first for the Italian and American), tatties and neaps followed by fruit crumble for supper. The other priority at the moment is listening to the coastguard’s weather forecast. The wind sounds like a passing steam train, although we are very sheltered here – no chance of taking a trip beyond our anchorage at the moment.