An unpromising start to the morning. Fog shrouds Eigg. Up early again today, expecting to leave at day break, the team are left with little to do but eat toast and wait for the world to come into vision. Today we must sail to the mainland to drop off Helen, pick up fuel and relish in a (much-needed) shower at Arisaig Hotel. We resign ourselves to a day of necessary drudgery and housekeeping. When the fog begins to clear around 10am, we head off. The sea has many ways of throwing us surprises, and none better than an inquisitive young minke whale.

The "small" (around five metres or 16.4 feet) juvenile seems extremely curious. It sticks its whole head vertically up above the water's surface (a behaviour known as spyhopping) allowing us to take detailed footage of its double blowholes and long pointed rostrum. The calf has a distinctive notch on its dorsal, which could give us a clue to its movements in the future. It decides to spend nearly an hour with us, swimming away then speeding back towards the boat to "investigate" the zodiac, which gives us plenty of opportunity to film its movements and appearance at close quarters. After feeding eight hungry people 'round the clock, the ship's stores are running low. Anna and Kara drive to Mallaig, a fishing town on what's labeled the "Road to the Isles", to empty the local shops of pasta, bread and oranges.

We meet the rest of the team, who have sailed around the coast from Arisaig, in Mallaig harbour, where we tie up, dwarfed by fishing vessels, Caledonian MacBrayne ferries and the RNLI lifeboat. Stacking away 17 bags of groceries in a 46-foot boat is a science in itself -- toilet rolls stashed above bunks, long-life milk stowed in the bilges, and catering-size tins of soup stacked beside Polish breakfast cereal and German biscuits, remnants of Song of the Whale's previous survey work for harbour porpoises in the Baltic Sea. Despite the gloomy start, it was not a bad day after all. Monday marks the start of three days of visits from TV crews interested in filming Song of the Whale in her element.

Song of the Whale has starred in numerous TV broadcasts throughout Europe, Canada, the USA, and in the Caribbean. The scientific research carried out onboard is one of IFAW's most powerful tools to advocate for greater protection and understanding of marine animals and their habitats. First in line is a Scottish television crew, keen to film our work with Scotland's largest and most charismatic coastal visitors.

It's always good to know that news teams are interested in our research, even if it means a 6:00 am start and a long, cold day at sea. Their patience is rewarded as we are able to observe a number of whales throughout the day (some of which are lunge feeding), and are also able to film the porpoises and grey seals which have been an added bonus to each day we've been in the Hebrides. Our recurring disappointment is that -- despite more than 50 sightings of minkes -- we are no nearer our goal of collecting a faeces sample. Even the presence of national media fails to cajole our whales into delivering what we desperately seek! One restraint with media visits is that even the keenest crew can only spend a limited time with us, and so we are unable to make the 10 hour round-trip to where we last spotted the basking sharks. Instead, we provide our own digital video footage from the hours of range tracking we have successfully filmed in the past week. That way, the story of Scotland's sharks and the measures needed to protect them can still go out.