Sailing “over the sea to Skye” as expressed in the historic Skye Boat Song, encapsulates the magic of arriving at this beautiful Island from the sea. Centuries later, a sea voyage is still the best way to soak in the incredible scenery and atmosphere of this very special island, however our guests enjoy luxury hospitality and a gourmet menu delivered by our four specialist crew.
Skye is a large island with many iconic places to visit and is very popular with visitors, which can sometimes lead to access problems and battling with crowds. However our vessels and guests, arriving from the sea, are often the only visitors on our anchorages and shore excursions, with stunning scenery, evocative history and rare wildlife all around.
Many of our cruises to St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides drop anchor at various points along the coast of Skye, but there is a new cruise for 2020 that focuses almost entirely on the island. Responding to requests from guests who wished to return for another cruise, owner and Skipper of Hebrides Cruises, Rob Barlow developed an exclusve 8-night itinerary, “Cruise around Skye: secret coastlines”, which circumnavigates the whole island, calling in at stunning coastlines, seldom-visited small islands and some of the iconic attractions of Skye. With an expert Wildlife Guide on board and accompanied shore excursions, guests will see the best the island can offer.
Another 6-night cruise itinerary, "Skye and the Small Isles: Hebridean Horizons" Island-hops the four islands of Eigg, Muck, Canna and Rum which make up the "Small Isles" before exploring the south coast of Skye. This cruise is popular because a lot of time is spend exploring the islands, which all have unique characters, rather than having longer spells at sea to reach remote destinations.
Finally, our third Skye cruise itinerary is the 8-night "Skye, the Small Isles and the Shiants" cruise which travels up the east coast of Skye via "Inner Sound" to reach the remarkable Shiant Isles, a hugely important nesting site for seabirds and often described as a mini St Kilda due to its stunning geology.
During any cruise around Skye, at least 60 seabird species are spotted, often many more. White-tailed eagles & puffins are usually seen, often multiple times, with golden eagles fairly frequent sightings. Porpoise, dolphins and minke whales are also spotted on almost every cruise as are red deer and otters, The very rare sightings include orca, sunfish and other types of whales such as humpback and fin whales. You have to be out in these waters to strike lucky! We do of course have many interesting discoveries on our accompanied shore trips too and our Wildife Guides identify many species of plants, fungi, lichen, butterflies, moths and insects native to Skye.
The whole experience was amazing from start to finish, and that’s even though we never managed to reach the Outer Hebrides, like we'd been hoping (too much wind/swell in the Minch, thanks to hurricane remnants from across the Atlantic, so the Captain advised we turn back to Skye). We chartered the Emma Jane for 8 days, and there were three generations of us from 11 to 65 (including two kids). Most amazing was Chef Louis, who did the impossible, and served food to suit us all, despite our varied and complicated dietary issues. (Very, very tasty food too.) He was ably assisted by Jenny, our Steward, who kept everything running smoothly. And now everyone misses having their breakfast toast served to them in a Harris Tweed toast cosy. The scenery and wildlife were just as amazing, ably interpreted by our naturalist guide Lynsey. We had several pods of dolphins come surf the bow wave, much to everyone’s delight. As well as eagles and many other bird and mammal sightings, as well as rainbows, castles, perfect beachcombing beaches, and so much more. Lynsey led our rambles ashore, with options for the less energetic among us to still enjoy a stroll while those with younger knees tackled the hills. James, our captain, did a fine job of avoiding the worst of the swells, and he consulted with us each step of the way, so even though we were disappointed not to get to Lewis/Harris, we knew it was for the best. James and Lynsey also made for excellent hosts at dinner. This trip was to celebrate our 30th anniversary, and James managed to surprise us by having his daughter pipe in our cake while we were docked in Tobermory, in fine Scottish style. I’ll keep overusing the word “amazing” as it’s the only word which just about manages to capture the experience. Highly recommended. If you are thinking about doing a Hebrides cruise, do it, and do it with these people. You will not be disappointed. Thank you James, Lynsey, Jenny, and Louis; you made our trip extraordinary.
Barry Twycross: 15 August 2024Private Charter 8 Nights