Review : St Kilda and the isles of the Outer Hebrides

31 May 2025

This was our third annual cruise with this excellent family business, and our first on the Elizabeth G (previously we had been on the Lucy Mary), and we are already booked back on the Elizabeth G in 2026 to the Flannan Isles. Getting to St Kilda has been on our bucket list for a long time, and when the weather turned bad two days before we embarked, we were resigned to being lucky to even get to the Outer Hebrides. During the early bad patch, skipper Iain worked his magic to keep us away from the rough seas and winds, whilst finding us idyllic inlets to explore and overnight in, whilst Trinity our steward and Izzy our chef kept our minds off the weather with great food and great service. Onboard and on our daily trip ashore, our wildlife guide Gill kept finding loads of wildlife and plants to wonder at and be educated on, so spirits were actually quite high despite the weather, which alleviated slightly a day or so in and allowed us to run across to the Outer Hebrides, where the pattern of great food, great service and great nature spotting continued. And then, late in our ten day window of opportunity, skipper Iain gave us the great news that the weather had improved to the point where a dash out into the Atlantic was feasible, but only for a one night stay. The next day, and with an extra early start, we hunkered down while the Elizabeth G used her stabilisers to the full in what was still a bit of a swell to us landlubbers, such that we arrived a few hours later “shaken but not stirred” at St Kilda. After a quick lunch, we headed ashore for a magical 5 hour visit, with incredibly clear and sunny skies overhead from the moment we arrived on the island, with rain only starting to appear as we headed back to our floating hotel for our well deserved dinner. The following morning we toured the rest of the archipelago, and marvelled at the stacks and the impossibly large numbers of seabirds everywhere. The weather had continued to improve, and so a longish leg was agreed upon, taking us down to Barra and Vatersay where we spent our second last night before a trip ashore to enjoy the phenomenal beaches on Vatersay. Our penultimate day was a trip to Rum, and this was the only trip ashore in the whole 10 days where we were actually rained upon (for only half of our shore trip). Then finally back to Oban first thing on the last morning, leaving us all feeling that we didn’t want it to end, and also that it seemed that we had been out on our cruise for a very long time! While there were so many highlights on our cruise which added to the main event of St Kilda, one which will stay with us for a long time was when Iain handed control of steering the Elizabeth G to both of us in turn, and spent a good amount of his precious time educating us on all things maritime. Truly the crew make you feel that nothing you want is too much trouble, and their welcoming attitude, along with the excellent, different and always interesting discussions with the other passengers, gave a jovial, friendly and fun atmosphere to the whole escapade. We look forward very much to our 2026 Hebrides Cruises experience. See you again soon. John and Aileen MacLean.

John and Aileen MacLean