Alternative Boat Hire

05/07/2024

North coast of the Ross of Mull, under sail aboard . photo: Charley Streather.

26/06/2024

This is an urgent appeal for your support, to help stop our heritage restoration project from running aground.

23/06/2024

Island days, Festival weekends.
Birthe Marie landing into Lunga's west gully after a fickle wind brought us via Dutchman's Cap (with help from the Perkins when it fizzled out). photo: Stewart Jardine. The Treshnish Isles now in the care of
Late Ferry duties after the photo:Neil Jardine

19/04/2024

Birthe Marie hauled out for pre season work. After a certain number of years of annual paintwork maintenance there comes a time when it all the paint has to come off. A back to wood repaint is more work but it makes sure the paint is well attached to the wood it is protecting. Birthe Marie is 91 years old, and about 50 percent of the wood is original, but new or old the wood needs to be looked after.

19/09/2023

Its a wrap for 2023. Thanks to all who supported us this season and apologies to those who we did not mange to get afloat. To enable focus on ongoing building work, Birthe Marie's crew, Mark and Stewart are swapping their seaboots for site ware.

21/08/2023

Excelsior looking fab

05/05/2023

26/12/2022

On the first day of Christmas... my true love gave to me... a magnificent Gannet! created by Rona

26/12/2022

Boxing day stomp, North Western gullies

24/12/2022

Happy Christmas folks, and best wishes for 2023.

19/09/2022

2022 has been a year of hot weather down south but a mixed bag in the Hebrides, but we have had some brilliant trips and many great folk aboard, so thank you all for coming, in good weather and in the more challenging days! We are stopping for the season at the end of this week as we have a building project to focus on imminent.

10/09/2022

23/07/2022

Gordon Stewart's shot from the BBC 'your pictures' page

03/07/2022

As Mark is off island 03/07/22 till 07/07/22 there will be no response from facebook during the next few days, and no availability for boat trips.

26/05/2022

A wild trip to the Small Isles.

30/04/2022

Birthe Marie will be running trips again from Monday 2nd May, with spaces available this week on Wednesday's day trip and Thursdays afternoon trip.
Photo credit Anja Jardine.

07/04/2022

Note that MCS is not the same as the MSC we have relied upon for years to guide our choices when buying seafood. Some doubt about the robustness of MCS's case in consigning Scottish West coat brown crab and lobster to their red list.

21/01/2022

Today a tree towing quest from Ulva to Iona. Destined to be a replacement mast for another localy owned boat a fine log was delivered by sea, a 26mile round trip. Many thanks to Iona seafood's 'Ameranth', the Isle of Ulva Ferry, and Stewart, Iain, David and tractor man Sean and decent January day for suitable conditions. Photo credit Stewart Jardine.

05/12/2021

Mike's moody shot of the friday night ferry arriving, with our high school children home for the weekend.

The beast that spews forth our high school children on a Friday evening.
It’s the island equivalent of the school gates. Parents wait anxiously on the pier for their children to emerge, the kids just want to keep walking. 👀
The beast returns hungry at 0600 on Monday (weather permitting). ☹️

20/11/2021

Brings back memories of our faithful island class ferry 'Morven', a very convinsing model!

31/10/2021

Iona Calendars for 2021 now for sale. See below...

9 boxes have arrived, the table is set up.
'Iona Calendar 2022 Dispatch Centre' is now open!
(for more info see https://ionavillagehall.org/donate/new-isle-of-iona-2021-calendar/)

06/02/2021

Why do mending old wooden boats take a lot of time? this picture illustrates a typical situation, a plank section needs replaced, to get it off the fastenings have to be cast off, here the rubbing strake needs to come off too, then the rubbing strake needed either replaced or repaired (in this case opted to repair the forrad half and replace the after half, so then they need scarfed together, all the old fastening holes need to be reused or plugged, if you know you can't gaurantee the holes will line up, then they should be plugged, then finally you can replace the plank section!

06/02/2021

This is wooden boatbuilding on shipbuilding scale!

12/01/2021

Winter work alternates between shed work in the wet and wild, and maintenance on Birthe Marie over in Bull Hole on the good days, today: still, frosty and bright, so some deck maintenace underway. For a break, a quick wander ashore on Eilean nam Ban gave some different views of the beautiful land and sea all around