Weather: Calm - Flat Calm

Location: Loch Hourn

Food: Ahhh Come on it's a saturday its obviously curry night - and it was, in the words of Tony the Tiger GRRRRREEEEEEAAAATTTTTTTTT!!

Ok, was a busy night last night and I had the intention of getting up really early to get the sunrise and to see if I could get any dolphins. After a few hours sleep I slumped out of bed and took a quick look out of the port hole- I was back in bed 10 seconds later. it was grey, horrible and visibility was very limited. When I woke up it was gone breakfast and I lay there wondering why no-one had called me. Making my way up to the main lab I found out that the vibro-core had a minor fault and it was receiving attention and that swath was delayed for a few hours. The weather outside was horrible and at 10 it was drizzling and horrible.

Spent some time on the bridge - the display for the swath system was not displaying correctly so when and had a look at it. The Captain, Darcy and Steve were having fun dodging fishing buoys which litterd the channel outside Loch Hourn. The visibility was still quite limited and everyone was quite annoyed by this - for days the Captain had been saying that this was the most spectacular loch in Scotland. We had the bad luck of choosing a day when the visibility was very poor.

During the morning meeting it was decided that as we were in this area we would extend our original plan to swath the mouth of the loch to swath as far into the loch as we could and then use this data to identify possible drilling sites.

However, as we crept closer and closer to the loch the clouds started to lift. At first they revealed the bases of steep mountains and gradually the peaks were visible jutting out from amongst the clouds.

Mountains covered by clouds

After a while we all started believing that the captain was right - as the clouds lifted it revealed and absolutely stunning loch. The clouds added to the beauty as the clung around the peaks and drifted across the forests! As we made our way cautiously into the loch a large group assembled on the fo'c'sle deck to admire the view. The peaks of the mountains were stunningly impressive and the stillness coupled with the quietness was unbelievable (ahhh come on I had to shout to see what the echo was like...)

In a way it was like a reward!! Everyone has been working really hard the past few weeks and seeing Loch Hourn was a total bonus. I couldn't stay around for too long. One of the main reasons for entering the loch was to swath the bottom as well as sub bottom profiling(see what’s under the seabed). The loch yielded some fascinating features and a number of landslides that had ended up in the loch were visible on the swath.

When we got to the end of the loch it was necessary to go and check the internet dome again. On our previous visit we had noticed some oil and wanted to see if it had gotten any worsee - it looks like someone may had spilt a few drops and we mistaked it for a leak..... keeping an eye on it though. Although the internet is not critical to the ships operation - a lot of people have become reliant on it - especially a certain person posting this blog!! There's no shortage of people looking for you if the Internet isn't working!!

Whilst Eamonn was signing-off the necessary paper work for working on the "Monkey Island" I went on the foc's'le to take a picture. As I was taking a picture I was startled by the ship's horn being sounded - IT'S LOUD. Whilst we are on the "Monkey Island" it is necessary to isolate a few systems and it is a requirement to test the ship's horn when these systems are reactivated. i just happened to be stood right outside - then about 10 feet in the air. I turned to look at the bridge to see Titus bent over double laughing like mad and a grinning Eamonn.

Once we had taken a look at the internet dome the BGS team started coring various locations throughout the loch. this gave us a few hours break to look at the other systems in our charge. As they cored the last site I went back onto the foc's'le where I met Bernie who was on the look out for eagles which are known to live in this area. The captain also came out and we spent some time looking at the scenery.

More swathing then and a lot more swathing through the night at the entrance to the loch!

PART 1: JC015 ROGUES GALLERY!!!!

The first part of today's blog features some of the now familiar faces of JC015

The Captain and Darcy get ready to head into Loch Hourn

Eamonn is wondering why Jim is pulling a stupid face!!

Dave working hard to get the shot right.

James filming the truly amazing scenery

Gottcha

the Usual Suspects: Julia, Dave James and Dan

James in Loch Hourn

Julia in loch Hourn

Dave in Loch Hourn

The Captain and Chris

Jim gives the internet dome a bit of TLC

Eamonn takes a look at the Internet Dish

MORE PICTURES

RRS James Cook in loch Hourn

RRS James Cook nudging her way through the loch

RRS james Cook in the loch

Coluds in the valley

For some reason I love clouds, mountains and trees.....

DAVE SMITH'S PICTURES
Copyright Dave Smith (c) 2007

Neil and Dave in the Coffee shop

The Captain and Chris on the fo'c'sle

Carrying the core barrel from the vibro core. Left To Right: Neil, Dave, James, Julia and Bob

Deploying the vibro-core in Loch Hourn

Deploying the Vibro-core

Kev and Andy waiting for us to get to the next drill site