Our guests John and Jenny Bartram and Steve Lloyd are the first of our guests to send us images of the Flannan Isles. This new 10-night cruise is in our “far-flung islands” collection, calling in at Harris, Taransay, and the Flannan Isles with stopovers on Skye and the Small Isles en route. Highlights of the cruise included a shore visit to a beautiful Taransay beach, a visit to the Callanish Stones, and calling in at the amazing Shiant Isles. Perhaps the high spot of the cruise was being able to actually land on Eilean Mor on the Flannan Islands, with its famous lighthouse. Being able to land on Eilean Mor is a very rare occurrence so we were delighted to be able to provide this opportunity of a lifetime to our guests to go onshore to soak up the atmosphere and history of this evocative island.
There were also great wildlife sightings during the cruise, with a basking shark, common dolphins and Minke whales spotted. On the Flannan Isles, the bird list included fulmar, Manx shearwater, European and Leach’s storm petrel, great skua, greater and lesser black-backed gull, and herring gull. And of course the gannet colony.
John and Jenny and Steve have cruised with us several times before and we love having them on board. We look forward to their next trip with us next year aboard Emma Jane. View John and Jenny’s and Steve photos in the gallery below and a few of Skipper James's images from the same trip.
What a truly memorable week even though the weather was a little wet at times! The Elizabeth G is just perfect for cruising around the islands. Rob, our skipper, took us to the most magical places to drop anchor for lunch and at night. Some of my best memories are, the ship going quite close inshore as we watched a sea eagle flying through a rainbow back to its nest, hearing red deer calling and then fighting as it was the rutting season on the hills surrounding us when we were overnighting in a sea loch, watching wild otters swimming in the kelp with some inquisitive seals when we stopped for lunch and seeing the night sky with no light pollution or planes flying over. Mealtimes are also very special on board with everyone eating together and sharing their stories of the day and listening to the plans for the next day. The cruise on the Elizabeth G was my first holiday travelling solo so I was little nervous about it but I really didn't need to worry at all. The crew were very welcoming and the group of fellow guests were very friendly. There was always a lot of laughter at mealtimes and out on our walks. We were lucky to have Nigel on board who is a fantastic photographer so he was giving us tips on how to take photos of both the scenery and wildlife. If you are thinking of going, just book it, you won't regret it so long as you like good company, wonderful food and fantastic scenery! I am now booked on the St Kilda trip next year and am looking forward to it already...
Melanie Rogers: 24 September 2017