Anchorage: Tobermory Bay

Today Silurian became a floating classroom once again to welcome the students of Tobermory Primary School onboard for marine environmental education workshops. The crew included Skipper John (the lion's mane jellyfish), First Mate Emma (the Eider duck), Education Officer Gemma (the grey seal) and Education Assistant Andy (the angler fish). Sitting comfortably alongside the pontoon in Tobermory harbour, we saw a total of 18 P6&7 children who eagerly jumped onboard to find out about the marine life of western Scotland and the work of HWDT. Here's what they had to say about their experience onboard Silurian:

'My favourite part was when we had the hydrophone in the water and we were listening to the sounds' – William
'My favourite thing was finding out all the facts because they were very interesting' – Abbey
'I really enjoyed learning about the binoculars and how to look for wildlife' – Fraser
'I enjoyed doing the treasure hunt. I learned that whales don’t squirt water through their blowhole' – Graeme
'My favourite part of the day was standing on the deck looking for sightings with the binoculars' – Anna
'I enjoyed John’s impression of the lion’s mane jellyfish and also looking through the binoculars with Andy' – Alexander
'My favourite activity was when we were using the binoculars. We had to look for animals; when we spotted some we had to shout ‘sighting’!' – Asha
'Today I learned all about the marine life of Tobermory. It made me laugh when Gemma the grey seal made her very off noise. I thought that the life-size bottlenose dolphin called Duncan was very interesting!' – Eilidh the eel
'Today I learnt how to track animals in the waters. I enjoyed doing the treasure hunt and it made me laugh when we were making nicknames and actions for our names' – Molly
'Today I learnt about what to shout when you saw an animal onboard. I enjoyed working with everyone. It made me laugh when Gemma did her seal impression. One thing I found interesting was listening to everyone’s animal name. I will remember Gemma’s seal impression. One surprising thing was seeing Duncan again' – Bekah the basking shark
'It made me laugh when Gemma the grey seal made a really funny snorting noise. I really liked trying to find the animals and I liked seeing Duncan. I also liked my noise because I was an Irrawaddy dolphin so I had to squeak' – Isabel the Irrawaddy dolphin
'Today I learnt what to say if you spot an animal and I enjoyed learning what to do if we were going to work onboard Silurian. It made me laugh when Izzy made a noise of an animal. One thing I found interesting was how to get the sounds. I will remember to always wear a lifejacket. One surprising thing was going on the boat. I thought the best bit was seeing Duncan' – Sophie the seahorse
'Today I learnt how to tie a sheet bend and Silurian is a lovely boat. I would love to work on the boat. Gemma makes odd seal noises!' – Lee the limpet
'Today I learnt about the Silurian and what’s onboard. I enjoyed spotting a seal on Calve Island. It made me laugh when we were thinking of animal names for us. One thing I found interesting was the software for the hydrophone. I will remember looking for animals. One surprising thing was Gemma’s grey seal impression' – Fergus the flying fish
'Today it made me laugh when everyone had to come up with their animal names and actions. Gemma the grey seal was really funny. I will remember looking for any animal in the bay and seeing one of my friends get clipped on to the mast' – Vicki the velvet crab
'Today I learnt that a flying fish makes a vroom noise! I enjoyed looking for birds. I found Emma’s cheese and I realised that it’s actually a rope. I will remember Gemma’s grey seal impression. One surprising thing was the size of the beds onboard. I thought the best bit was finally understanding what we were talking about!' - Tommy the turtle
'I really enjoyed looking through the binoculars' – Gosia
'The thing that I enjoyed the most was listening to all the noises that whales and dolphins make' - Corrie

Thanks to all of the children for making today such a great day - we really enjoyed meeting you all! Silurian then hosted an open boat event where members of the public were invited to join us onboat to find out about our research work. All that remained for us to do was to get our touch tank ready for Friday, thanks to our fantastic local fishermen who provided us with some marine animals to teach with.