Anchorage: Crossapol Bay, Coll
Position: 56°34.727N, 06°39.427W
Distance travelled: 46.1NM

Bad night’s sleep for a few of us, others slept like lambs. Cap’n Tim was woken at least 5 times as the anchor alarm beeped with cruel regularity. A jar of raspberry jam was also guilty of heinous crimes against the sleepy, rolling like a drum roll as the boat swayed until Leanne put a stop to its evil ways. Morning was overcast but cheered by the sight of 3 common dolphins close to the boat as we prepared to make off. The weather was no better than yesterday but we did see a couple of basking sharks, which was a moment of excitement and a first for Rachael. Other than that there was little to write home about apart from a plastic peanut bag. Clinging on to the fore- mast became too much of a chore, with the waves and salt water more or less blinding us every couple of minutes, so there was an enforced mid-day break. Mutton soup was served to the non-vegetarians. A lot of biscuits disappeared. The waters calmed as evening hit and we anchored off Crossapol Bay on Coll where we took the tender off to the beach for a walk with the hare, the beach sheep and some unidentified poo; what the locals call “an inexplicable amount of excrement”. Food was a huge vegetable curry with chick pea daal. Tim was relieved that the strawberries were good for another day, so we ended the meal with cheese and an astonishing array of oatcakes.

Anchorage: En Treadrach, Oronsay
Position: 56°00.873N, 06°13.292W
Distance travelled: 52.3NM

A still morning belies a lumpy day ahead. Everyone seems to have a good night’s sleep in the calm waters of the loch. A grey seal early in the morning promises well for the rest of the day. Grey seals are not a portent of things to come apparently. As we pass Duart Castle, the calm waters leave us behind and we have nine straight hours of battling the Hebridean waters. Gemma, the biodiversity officer, was almost a gonner early on when she was whacked against the table. Two porpoise raced past us, laughing. Our first lunch of tomato soup had a lot of added salt and the birds got a bit of extra bread. Gemma battled on against the elements to teach us visuals, acoustics and data logging. We logged the two porpoises who probably laughed even more. Not a lot was spotted but the hydrophone picked up a lot of the underwater activity we’re sure to see when the weather calms down. Arrived at Oronsay at about six, difficult anchoring but we were soon filling up on Mexican. Two mexican meals already. All that talk of rubbish food in Scotland is obviously an English ploy. On the hillside someone had built himself a shed - a long-suffering Oronsay husband no doubt. A great day out on the water, passing fantastic scenery. Much to reflect on over dinner.

Anchorage: Loch Aline, Morvern Peninsula
Position: 56°30.900N, 05°45.600W

Group arrives in the lovely filmset-like Tobermory, with the exception of one (sorry you couldn’t make it Caroline). With decision made by our skilled, professional and Hebridean Captain, the Silurian team leave straight away. The winds are in our favour and we set sail for Loch Aline, The majestic Scottish scenery is absolutely breathtaking: mountainsides in every shade of rich green reaching from the sea to the blue sky. Our captain has plotted a fabulous course. If weather can stay in our favour we will research, record with hydrophone and photo document all the fabulous species all the way to Saint Kilda.
We drop anchor in view of a huge castle, which turns out not to be the main castle. Good start in the food stakes - Roddy and Gemma prepare a fine chilli. A colourful sunset slips behind the landscape onto a beautiful still evening. We discuss the many cetaceans we all hope lay in wait over the next 11 days. Gemma our knowledgeable and equally sensation {with eagle eye vision} science officer is the guruess of all in these Scottish waters and shores. With specimens of baleen and a whale tooth from Gemma passed around after a dinner, the magnificence of these sea creatures we are to study is overwhelming. The commencing of this eleven day journey is a successful muster of adventurers.

Anchorage: Tobermory, Isle of Mull
Position: 56°37.215N, 06°03.732W
Distance travelled: 15.1NM

Alas, the final day of the programme. We only surveyed for three hours. We are currently at Tobermory to meet Michael, the person who will film and interview us. After the interview we cleaned the boat and wiped every surface. We were now going to survey around the island for a bit for filming purposes. Nienke cooked us some bean soup for lunch (the best soup on the trip so far). I am happy to go home, yet sad to leave these wonderful people whom I lived with for ten days. We have to get a good night’s sleep tonight since we have a long journey back home ahead of us tomorrow (Tobermory-Oban-Glasgow-London-Saudi Arabia).

Anchorage: Loch Na Droma Buidhe, Loch Sunart
Position: 56°39.340N, 05°55.344W
Distance travelled: 54.7NM

A beautiful summery day today! And lots of excellent sightings – brilliant for our last full day of surveying! We headed for Muck because there had been several sightings reported. It was a bit grey whilst we circled the island, but we managed to see a good few basking sharks! Unfortunately, the sea wasn’t really still enough to get a great view of the whole bodies, but we saw plenty of fins and white shapes moving around below the surface (their huge gawping mouths). Magnus and Nienke were lucky enough to spot one breeching (jumping clean out of the water) – it must have been pretty impressive judging from the size of the splash that proceeded! Perhaps more unusually, we saw two sun fish; very weird, unearthly looking creatures! The highlight of the day however, was our third encounter with common dolphins, roughly 18 individuals. This time they were behaving differently again; rolling around, jumping high out of the water, surfing the waves and generally being very playful! I was sat on the bowspread at the front of the boat – it was an amazing experience! They look you right in the eye, and you are so close to them, you could reach out and touch them (if it wasn’t prohibited...). The weather only got better! In fact, Magnus even changed into shorts!! And when we were heading back to anchor at Loch Sunart to top it all off, we had a very brief sighting (about 4 surfaces – so no photos unfortunately) of a baby minke whale – what more could you ask for?

Anchorage: Loch Scresort, Rum
Position: 57°00.794N, 06°16.126W
Distance travelled: 61.2NM

Today, we were leaving Skye after our day off. The forecast wasn’t very encouraging; strong winds and rain were headed our way. However, the first couple of hours we departed, the sea was glass-like, the sun was shining, and the landscape view was amazing. We saw lots of common seals resting on the rocks, but we couldn’t count them since they had to be at water. When we were heading for the Isle of Rum, the sea got really rough, and there was constant rain, and we barely saw any cetacean sightings that on the way. In the evening, Nienke presented a powerpoint about the bi-annual NATO exercise in the area, explaining issues for marine life by noise pollution and sonar, but also discussing current mitigation precautions.