"Best experience ever!"
Our popular floating classroom school visits provide primary school children the opportunity to jump aboard our research vessel, Silurian, experiencing what it’s like to live and work as a marine mammal scientist.
Thanks to our generous funders, Baillie Gifford, Sea Changers and the Highland Council, during September, we set sail for Shieldaig and Gairloch, welcoming aboard 4 schools we’ve never managed to visit before.
“A really amazing morning. Really well pitched and paced. Our topic is biodiversity of our local area so fits in really well. All learners were really engaged from start to finish, despite the weather! Thank you.”
The trip started with a two-day sail; leaving Tobermory on Saturday morning with the aim to reach Shieldaig - the location of our first floating classroom session - on Sunday evening. As we left Tobermory harbour, spirits were high, with beautiful seas and skies. The team collected as much scientific data as possible during the voyage, deploying the hydrophone and keeping watch for any sign of whales or dolphins. Our first destination was Mallaig, to pick up Andy, our much-needed Education Volunteer. Andy on board and the team complete, we continued our journey towards the Skye bridge, making our way through Kylerhea before the tide turned.
With a busy week ahead, the crew enjoyed a relaxed evening, with beautiful skies, treated to the sight of thousands of stars (everyone tried their hand at some night time photography). The crew also took a chance that they might see some bioluminescence and dipped a bucket overboard. Much to Sadie, our Education and Sightings Officer’s delight, after swishing the water in the bucket a few times, she got her first glimpse of bioluminescence.
The following day, enroute to Shieldaig, the crew were preparing for a week of welcoming school children onto the boat, with a team briefing and setting up resources. On approach to Shieldaig, we were delighted to be welcomed by a couple pods of harbour porpoise, and shortly after, were escorted (though only for a couple minutes) by a pod of curious common dolphins.
The first day of school visits consisted of transporting the children from Shieldaig harbour to Silurian using the tender. Ferrying some delighted children who, despite showing some uncertainty about the tender at first, soon enjoyed it so much they wanted to go faster!
“I liked going on the dingy and exploring the boat”
Once aboard Silurian, the pupils were soon set the challenge to explore the entire boat, searching for the most important things needed to live aboard for over a week. This ‘hunt’ included counting the beds, learning how to flush the toilets and discovering where we hide our Cocopops (which became a popular challenge for pupils throughout the week).
But the most exciting part of the trip for these budding scientists, was discovering how we watch for whales and dolphins. Standing beside the mast and learning about the importance of calling out bearing, distance, heading, they were suddenly shocked by the surprise splash that indicated something was nearby. Sure enough, after scanning the seas, they shouted “SIGHTING!” as a single harbour porpoise was seen floating (yes floating!) by the boat. Luckily, it was just our trusted 5th member of the education team, Paddy the porpoise.
“I enjoyed acting out spotting whales and dolphins and estimating how far and big”
Shortly after the session finished, the crew set sail for our next destination, Gairloch, where we would spend the next 4 days alongside. As we were leaving Shieldaig, the crew enjoyed a farewell surface from a single minke whale.
Making our way along the coast towards Gairloch, the crew kept a watchful eye on the sea, hoping we might be lucky and spot the recently spotted humpback whales in the area. Although no humpbacks were around, we had a fantastic escort into Gairloch by a pod of over 10 common dolphins bow riding, under a rainbow filled sky.
The next couple of days the crew welcomed pupils from Gairloch school. With lots of excited faces arriving, the crew wasted no time and got them stuck into learning all about the science that takes place on the boat, including using acoustic monitoring. With the groups split into two, the pupils took it in turns to watch and listen for whales and dolphins. At the Science Station, they discovered why and how whales and dolphins use sound, to communicate and echolocate for hunting and navigation, and why busier and nosier seas can be a challenge for these animals.
At the end of the activity, the pupils were quizzed to see how many of the sounds they could remember, impressing the crew with their fantastic memory and listening skills, by identifying all the different sounds!
“I enjoyed learning about the animals and how they use echolocation to see, hunt and communicate and more. ”
“I enjoyed learning the different sounds and how they eat, and what they eat. I enjoyed to learn what they do when they see an animal”
“Seeing the tooth of a whale! And looking through the binoculars. The whale mural on the ceiling”
“I thought that learning about the sounds of the animals and looking through the cabin was very fun and I liked identifying all the things around the boat. Thank you for having us!”
“ I liked listening to all the sounds and exploring the boat and being outside looking with the binoculars and shouting sighting (all of it!) Thank you!”
“An excellent opportunity offered to our learners. Despite living by the sea, each child deepened and broadened their knowledge and confidence. ”
In the evenings, whilst alongside the pontoons in Gairloch, Silurian’s hatch was opened to the public and over 20 visitors joined the crew on board. The team enjoyed sharing more details about the work of the Trust and their experiences of what life is like on board, with some adults and young teenagers eager to join us in the future for a week’s research exhibition.
As we moved into our last few days of the trip, the weather took a turn, with wind and rain forecast for the rest of the week. Luckily for the team, Donna from the Gairloch Marine Wildlife Centre was kind enough to open their centre, providing a sheltered spot to greet the children, don their lifejackets and explore at the end of their floating classroom visit.
We spent the next few days welcoming pupils from Bualnaluib and Poolewe schools. Although the weather may have been damp, it definitely did not dampen the children’s spirits, especially when learning how to watch for whales and dolphins up on deck, where they were delighted with a real-life sighting of a couple of grey seals! With lots of keen observers up on deck, they wasted no time in shouting “SIGHTING!” so loud, it was certainly heard clearly by the data recording team of children below deck.
“My favourite part was seeing the seals!”
“ I really enjoyed everything so much but if I had to choose, I would choose when we were outside and saw a grey seal. ”
“I liked looking inside and seeing all the beds and things. On deck I liked looking at the steering wheel and hydrophone. My favourite thing was probably the hydrophone and the computers. ”
Our final group of the week was also our youngest, with a group of very eager P1-3 children from Bualnaluib school, taking on the role of Silurian volunteers. These excited youngsters were a joy to work with, with so many of them eager to learn about Silurian itself, spending time at the helm and ‘sailing’ the boat into their imaginations, hunting down the anchors and working out where the crows nest is.
“It’s been fantastic. Really well pitched to this age range. The children loved it and so too did the adults.”
After a successful, but challenging week for weather, we reflected on everything we had delivered, and the experiences offered to almost 100 children. The pupils learnt how to conduct visual surveys - including spotting with binoculars and shouting “sighting!” With some pupils, being expert spotters, providing both the degrees and distance of their sighted animal. They learnt how to monitor whales and dolphins using acoustics, demonstrating fantastic listening skills, identifying all the new sounds they’d heard. And finally they experienced what life is like living and working on a whale research yacht, choosing which role they would like if they were a member of the crew - we may have some future science officers and skippers in our midst!
“I wish I could come again and live here”
“I didn’t like it. I loved it!”
“Very worthwhile, time well spent. The pupils were fully engaged the whole time. Great structure to the visit. Thank you. Tapadh leibh!”
We would like to extend a warm thanks to Gairloch Harbour for hosting us and Gairloch Marine Wildlife Centre for opening up their visitor centre. A big thanks to everyone else who made it possible, including our fab boat crew, Bruce and Brian, and long term volunteer, Andy.
