Due to popular demand we offer a carefully selected range of marine wildlife voyages. Most people do not want a drawn out, slow passage with just a few glimpses of wildlife and heritage features. They want to get there fast and have a whole mixture of experiences, to become engrossed and lose track of time. This particular voyage is suitable for all ages and abilities where we endeavour to make su
re that everyone obtains their own unique experience. So with the help of our specialist boats and expert skippers and guides. Farne Islands Voyages is unquestionably one of your best options. The sailing will be a whole mixture of powering up, creating some exhilaration, and passing the “boring bits” and then suddenly pulling in and stopping and talking with you about the wildlife. We will get you close to the wildlife and share our knowledge and passion for it. We will engage with you rather than ramble on a dictated passage and we like a bit of spontaneous humour! The Voyage is very interactive in all respects, but at the same time we stick to strict Codes of Practice (that we helped instigate) and we will not in any event engage very sensitive areas or willingly disturb wildlife. The wildlife extends from the obvious, to include a wide spectrum of rarer and more interesting from the lichens and flowers on the rocks to jelly fish, passing butterflies and Gannets flying a hundred miles from the Bass Rock in Scotland which you can see feeding in the surrounding waters around the islands. We have porpoises, dolphins, seals and birds, but there are peak and low times. The caves, and heritage and some wildlife are with us all year. You will cruise through rock gorges and visit steep towering pinnacles, some large, some just big enough to squeeze the boat in. Then you will almost be touching one of the highest highest sea cliffs in Northumberland. It is incredibly rare not to encounter seals as we have one of the largest grey seal colonies in the northern hemisphere of approximately 4000. In the autumn we have the added delight of sighting the seal pups (at a respectful distance of course). Porpoises are resident during the summer months and they feature in a lot of our sailings. Sightings are predictable and are best on a low water sailing. The Farne Islands are a National Trust reserve and has both resident and migratory birds. The peak season is the breeding season from April to the beginning of June, though we have the usual suspects all year round. Cormorants are a daily sighting. Gannets come in from the Bass Rock to feed on the fish rich tides and in the evenings we can see manx shearwaters. Dolphins we do see close in but not on a regular, predictable basis (you need our offshore sailing for this). We will suddenly be surprised by a pod of 20 plus dolphins close in and that really makes the day. The tides are certainly impressive and we will transverse them using them for safe navigational passage. If you want to see Piper Gut or the Whirl Rocks at their best then choose a high water sailing and spring tides really do make it spectacular. And then of course we have the sunsets, the flat calm days and the rolling North Sea swells that we can ride with ease, glorious sun or dramatic storm clouds. Lost in time, the next you will know is that we are jetting across the Inner Sound – maybe blowing a few cob webs away and taking in a few manoeuvres to bring you back to Terra nova. If you want to see the wildlife of The Farne Islands then the very best way is to take a boat tour around the Island, as most of the wildlife can only be best viewed from the water.
