Skye and the Inner Hebrides cruise, Scotland

Waste: The company rescued and restored two beautiful traditional fishing vessels which would have been destroyed due to decommissioning and gave them a new life introducing people to one of the most pristine and scenic areas of Europe. Exploring Argyll in a group by boat is much better for the environment than travelling by car, and in fact it is much quicker by boat to get to the remote areas. During the conversion of the vessels, sustainable and recycled materials were used as much as possible and even now if repairs are required we take pleasure in finding materials that can be re-used. While on board, everything is recycled and carefully disposed of when on shore. The crew regularly collect rubbish from the water or on the beaches which is disposed of at the next recycling opportunity. Local producers feature highly in our menus, thus reducing food miles and packaging - we often pick up supplies direct from the farm or boat - no packaging required! We encourage our guests to fish and drop lobster pots; mackerel or crab are almost guaranteed but we do get other fish and the occasional lobster which guests will find on their plate at their next meal!

Water is very precious on board because of storage and this reduces overuse for example guests are encouraged to have short showers. We only change guests linen and towels on request to avoid wasting energy on cleaning them unnecessarily

Suppliers: We are very fortunate to have some outstanding food and drink producers and suppliers in Argyll, especially seafood, hill beef and lamb and a range of speciality foods. Our guests love the fact that they are enjoying the local speciality produce and that they often get to actually meet the producers themselves while en-route on their cruise. Many of our food and drink suppliers provide free range and organic produce and we favour such producers. We also used local suppliers to undertake the original conversion of the vessels which was carried out in the local marina. These suppliers continue to work with us to maintain the vessels, from engineering and joinery to making the cushions and throws for the cabins. We also supply local toiletries in the guests ensuites