Song, sailing and sketches on the first Teen Trip of 2022

Every year, we offer dedicated teen research expeditions, providing young people with the skills, and experience of being a marine scientist on board a working research yacht. Below the teens recount their experience surveying Hebridean Seas.

The teens arrive and introductions begin. With the most important question being…what would your superpower be? Vital information required before any research trip surely. After breaking the ice, berths were allocated and the teens received a briefing on boat living and safety from Skipper, Charlie, and First Mate, Bruce, before enjoying a delicious spag bol made by fourth crew, Pippa. After dinner, Science Officer, Sadie, delivered species ID training, introducing the teens to the many marine species they may encounter during the expedition.

With a long and exciting first day of surveying to come, everyone went to bed early, ready for the adventure ahead of them.

DAY 1 (Alex)

Over breakfast, we looked out into Tobermory harbour to see what kind of conditions the day would bring. An uncomfortable swell and grey, drizzly clouds did not look promising. However, almost as soon as we set sail, the sun appeared and we were treated to warm, bright conditions for the rest of the day.

Having been trained by Sadie on survey protocol, practiced distance estimation and taking turns shouting SIGHTING at one another, we took to our positions.

Our passage took us through the Sound of Mull, out into open waters, and towards Loch Spelve. Choppy conditions and an abundance of white caps in the Sound made spotting hard, although we were all excited to start the survey with a seal or two. On the hydrophone, some mysterious underwater sounds were picked up, including something that sounded like the clatter of knives and forks on dinner plates! Clearly the seals were having a gourmet lunch.

The early afternoon was chaotic to say the least, with howling winds and very lumpy seas. Just before starting a tricky gybe, the vegetable cupboard exploded (scattering leaks, sweet potatoes, and courgettes all over the floor), an indoor alarm went off, and our radio received a mayday call from a nearby ship. We responded and Charlie helmed us closer to the vessel in distress. Luckily, the coastguard was on hand to help, so after waiting for twenty minutes or so, we sailed away and resumed surveying.

Many flocks of feeding seabirds put the crew on edge, and we were primed and ready for a minke sighting all afternoon. But if there was one there, it did not reveal itself. A small pod of porpoises surfaced briefly, showing us their triangular black fins and, on one occasion, a blunt, smiling head.

After being called “off effort” for the day and sailing past Loch Spelve, we decided to anchor in Kerrera for the night instead. The crew went below for chores and hot chocolate, with James and Finlay cooking a lovely risotto which included mushrooms, peppers (yellow) and the most important, the main ingredient, more than half a carton of oat cream!!! 😉😊

DAY 2 (Finlay and James)

The following morning, we awoke half an hour earlier. Most of us were very tired after a rocky night. Sadie spotted a porpoise and was looking around. Ten minutes later, while eating breakfast, someone saw it reappear and everyone was excited and energised for the day. Fortunately, we managed to get a picture.

To avoid the tides which would form a whirlpool obstructing our journey, we set off earlier. An hour or so in, a grey seal was our first sighting of the day. A plethora of porpoises followed. We travelled between Jura and the Scottish mainland and saw more porpoises. We passed the whirlpool and then saw more porpoises. And then we saw a big porpoise, which turned out to be a mysterious minke and went ‘with whale’ for around 15 minutes but it was nowhere to be seen. We were determined to find it, but decided to move on and continue the survey. In total, we saw 18 porpoises.

Travelling by Islay, we spotted what we thought was a plastic bottle – but sadly, it was actually a dead guillemot floating belly up in the water. Two more followed. Due to the prevalence of Avian Flu, we decided to record the number of dead birds we saw. If you see a dead seabird, report it to DEFRA on 03459 335 577.

After finishing a long survey, we were all below deck packing the binoculars away, when James caught sight of something splashing out of the cabin window. They shouted “breach!” and we all ran on deck. There were two grey seals, porpoising (jumping fully out of the water and splashing), possibly playing or hunting.

Whilst we were distracted by the seals, Bruce surprised us with a man overboard drill. Bob (our faithful fender) was chucked violently off the stern. Some people immediately grabbed the danbuoys and pretended to throw them into the water. Everyone else followed procedure by keeping track of Bob’s location. With Bob back, we went below deck for the evening, enjoying yet another surprise from Bruce, a lovely cake, which to some of us smelled like bacon!

DAY 3 (Everyone)

The day started with an optimistic chat about what sightings we would see and of course breakfast. Breakfast then led to hoping and praying in a ritual manifestation for a good minke sighting. Eventually we set off from some of the Ardmore islands and everyone sluggishly rushed about to get their foul weather gear and life jackets. The sea was much calmer than expected and our chances of sighting something were excellent. We saw a few seals and nothing else until we crossed over non-existent overfalls at the Mull of Oa, where we saw something major.

Heard on the hydrophone was a dolphin whistle and shortly after, an unidentified large dolphin appeared, spotted from the mast. This excitingly turned out to be one of around five Risso’s dolphins, which surprisingly to everyone came close to the boat.

Whilst heading out away from the Mull of Oa, a glimpse of a minke was spotted. Everyone was alert and a “with whale” commenced. This led to more minkes being sighted. A juvenile minke started to associate with the boat. There was a period of around twenty minutes where we collected photographs for ID and we could see it clearly underwater due to its white ‘minke mittens’.

Through the ‘bumpy bumpy bits’ (Charlie, our skipper, 27/7/22), nothing was sighted, however more minkes were spotted briefly lunge feeding around large flocks of birds.

When we then resumed the transect, some of us took to the helm under the expert guidance of Charlie and Bruce. Soon a straight line competition had commenced and we were all vying for star sailor, trying to keep the boat on as straight a line as possible, as per the survey protocol for transect surveying.

As we approached our anchorage, we began to see more and more seals, eventually mooring by Nave Island, which turned out to be a breeding ground for seals.

This time Pippa’s cake smelled of lemon and thankfully it was! 😊 😉

Ailsa, Anna and Helen cooked a lovely chilli dish for the team and the evening was spent playing games, including the Silurian tradition that is ‘Pass the Pigs’.

DAY 4 & 5 (Sadie - Science Officer)

After another session of ritual manifestation, this time for bow riding common dolphins, the team started the survey day optimist with near perfect conditions. Travelling from Nave Island towards the Ross of Mull, it didn’t take long for their manifesting efforts to pay off, when a distant pod of common dolphins were spotted, followed by two more, which all converged on the boat to bow ride.

After the excitement of the common dolphins, the team had a bit of respite from shouting sighting, allowing the volunteers at the mast to enjoy the conditions, while those on break got a turn climbing up to the crows nest or spending time at the helm, taking part in the straight line competition.  While others, spent time drawing the animals they most wanted to see, which as we’d already learnt previously in the week, seemed to help entice the animals to us, with Alex’s drawing of a seal and associating minke becoming a reality.

Credit: Drawings by Alex

Passing Dubh Artach lighthouse and with Iona in sight, Science Officer Sadie, took the opportunity to have a quick climb of the crows nest, having been shown how expertly it can be done by the agile teens! After a short time 10 metres above those watching out at the mast, Sadie spotted common dolphins far in the distance, prompting the team to keep a keen eye on the horizon. Shortly after this sighting, a minke whale was also seen in a similar area, commencing another ‘with whale’ to try to obtain Photo ID images. As we approached the first minke whale, the common dolphins came to investigate the boat, while the team kept a close eye out for the minke whale, the eagle eyes amongst them, spotted a second one appear – this one lunge feeding!

After spending some time photographing the minke whales, the team went back ‘on effort’ in search of more sightings, the location proved a popular feeding ground however, as soon, the team were shouting sighting every couple minutes as a total of 5 minke whales were spotted along with even more common dolphins. The flurry of excitement was a wonderful way to end another long and productive survey day.

The volunteers went ashore before taking a cool off in the sea, diving from the boat and swimming laps around it. Dinner was served after a performance from Finlay of his epic poem about the day, with backing track created by James. After a delicious haggis dinner and one final talk on how their hard work surveying is allowing us to learn so much about the animals they are seeing, the volunteers finished the night under a beautiful burning sky, singing a chorus of Adele’s ‘Someone like you’ with another near by boat and youth group on shore.

The final day started, as was now tradition for the team, with a manifestation session, with the whole team deciding to push the boundaries, hoping to see killer whales.

After a surprise man overboard drill, the team readied themselves for their last day of surveying, as we aimed to make our way from Camas Tuath to Tobermory. With slightly choppier seas than previous days and sun glare, it wasn’t always easy spotting, but distant common dolphins and a mysterious blow from an unknown species were recorded. As we approached Rubha Nan Gall Lighthouse, a very excited sounding Anna, shouted SIGHTING! and we recorded our last animal of the trip, that of a wee harbour porpoise.

With the final stretch of the survey complete, the team went below deck to give Silurian some love, by doing a deep clean, making her tip top for the next trip. Enjoying some free time to make use the of harbour facilities, the team enjoyed a takeaway from the local chippy, before the crew shared their stories on how they got into the career, providing useful insight and advice to the teens. The final presentation was given, a wonderful recount of all the hard work the teens had done, along with a slideshow of the best moments. Finally, Charlie and Bruce announced the winner of the straight-line competition – Helen! – and Sadie presented each teen with their own unique certificate. The evening ended with an exciting ‘after eight relay’ and drawing game, which had the whole team in fits of laughter.

The crew would like to extend a massive thanks to James, Helen, Alex, Anna, Ailsa and Finlay who joined us on board for a week of surveying, sailing and singing. We had a fab time and were blown away with your teamwork, encouragement of one another, positive attitude and willingness to get stuck in with everything. It’s exciting to know that you are the future of marine science, and we wish you all the best of luck in your applications to University and future careers. Hopefully we will see you again, back on Silurian in the not too distant future!

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the teen researchers on this survey, we have added to the scientific evidence needed for change in Scottish waters, Surveying 319km, circumnavigating Islay, Jura and Mull, with 90 sightings of 186 animals from 6 species.  

Showing the track lines of the area surveyed during TT1

If you are 16 or 17 years old and are feeling inspired to spend seven days at sea, working alongside scientists as marine mammal field biologists, why not join our Teen Research Expedition next year?  

THANKS ALSO TO NATURESCOT FOR SUPPORTING THE DATA COLLECTION ON BOARD SILURIAN.