Hebridean island hopping cruise in Scotland

Planet

Loving the area as he does, owner Iain is very careful not to pollute the marine environment. All waste on board is brought ashore, for recycling.

During the skippers briefing, before casting off, passengers are advised of our environmental responsibility, for example not to throw anything overboard.

The company vessel “Splendour” is herself a wonderful example of re-using materials as she is a converted wooden trawler, which had outlived her usefulness as a working boat but serves magnificently in her new role as a small-boat cruising vessel. She boasts a magnificent Gardner engine, which is known worldwide for economical cruising and being kind to the marine environment. The engine is ‘keel cooled’ which means there is no overboard discharge from the cooling system and therefore no possibility of heavy metal contaminants entering the ecosystem.

All food and drink on board is sourced locally to keep the carbon footprint to a minimum and also because no finer provisions can be found elsewhere, especially seafood from the Skipper’s birthplace of Tarbert, Loch Fyne. Our guests will love going ashore with our Chef to buy live seafood from Neil Prentice in Tarbert who only sells seafood which has been caught in a sustainable way, i.e. potted or hand dived. All fresh produce is sourced within our cruising grounds.

There is masses of space on the deck for stowing passengers own bicycles and three kayaks are provided to explore secluded bays ensuring that wildlife is not disturbed. This encourages guests to explore the waters we visit and also onshore “under their own steam”, thus causing no pollution through their activities.

We cruise in an area which is a magnificent habitat for a large variety of bird and animal species. When these are spotted we are very careful to observe at a respectful distance to ensure we cause no disturbance to the presence of wildlife

We also encourage guests to use the readily available public transport with links to Holy Loch near Dunoon running every 20 minutes from Glasgow. On return we recommend the train service departing Oban to Glasgow.