Puffin-along Boat Trips, Gairloch

18/06/2026

Today we celebrated our 100th trip by taking everyone booked on our 1pm one-hour adventure out for free.

It was a beautiful, still, rainy and grey lunchtime cruise with a great atmosphere.

And we saw two otters swimming not far from the boat which was pretty special ⭐️

A big thank you to everyone who has joined us on trips this season and who has supported us since January as we started the business and got set up. We appreciate your support so much, we really do!

Here we all are back at the harbour with the sun trying to peek through the clouds.

We’ll be puffin’ along through the season. Here’s to the next 100 trips ⚓️🌊🩵

18/06/2026

Shieldaig Bay, heading into Badachro Bay with the Torridon hills behind.

This view is a staple of our 1-hour, 2-hour, and evening trips.

We know many people come to the Highlands with places to see and miles to cover. But sometimes, the best thing you can do is slow down for a while.

Step off the rat race. Pause the NC500 pace.

Take a boat trip.

Breathe in the sea air, enjoy the scenery, and let us do the rest.

Fancy slowing down for an hour or two? You’ll find us at Gairloch Harbour. Book online or pop into our booking office halfway along the harbour front - were there most afternoons. Link in comments ⚓️

16/06/2026

What a man! So that is Lee off to Diabeg then Applecross today, coffee and a refuel in Gairloch and a send off! Please have a look at the expedition to raise funds for Alzheimer’s and Multiple Sclerosis at their website: https://ChanneltoCoast.co.uk

We wish his all the best in this endeavour! Channel to Coast - Lee & John’s Round Britain Jet Ski Challenge

15/06/2026

Lee Robinson is circumnavigating the UK in a stand up Jetski raising money and awareness for Alzheimer’s and Multiple Sclerosis, he is leaving Ullapool in the morning and stopping in Gairloch around 9am to refuel, please read his story and donate if you like on their website: https://ChanneltoCoast.co.uk

14/06/2026

Here are some special scenes from last week’s trips and life on the harbour:

🌈 the lowest rainbow we’ve ever seen
🐣 eider duck females with chicks
🪶 herons, seals, white-tailed eagles
⛵️ waving some friends off on their boat as they set sail on their summer adventures
⚓️ welcoming back the Stella Maris fishing boat in her new maroon colours.

Each week brings new family-friendly sea adventures and experiences on Loch Gairloch. We’re so grateful to be doing this and sharing it with you 😊

Here’s the new week and all the fresh adventures it brings 🌊🩵

11/06/2026

We had a lovely time yesterday on a private charter with Pam and her two Hovawart dogs, Elias and Minke.

Pam opted for a private charter, partly as a special treat for her and partly because her dogs are pretty big. We appreciated how considerate she was about this.

We love having dogs on our trips but the enjoyment of our human customers is always our top priority.

If your dog is particularly big - and we do love these gentle giants - let us know and we’ll talk with you to work out the right way to accommodate this.

Our standard rule is one dog per trip or two per family 😊🐶🐾🌊

10/06/2026

We are closed tomorrow and we recommend our friends at the Gairloch institution that is The Glass Bottomed Boat for a great alternative trip.

Then it’s getting really quite windy… too windy for the comfort of all our passengers and that’s important to us.

We’ll be back on Sunday where we’re hoping for ☀️☀️☀️

09/06/2026

Volume up to hear the Sea Eagle’s call! On Saturday, those of us at the harbour were treated to sights of two sea eagles flying over the harbour (see video where we captured one of them).

Gairloch Boat Club and Gairloch Coastal Rowing Club, who were having their annual open day, were perhaps especially happy about this, as was Hannah who was out on the skiff at the time and had the most amazing view (see picture).

The Sea Eagle (White Tailed Eagle) is GB’s largest bird of prey and was reintroduced to Scotland in 1975 after becoming extinct in the UK in 1918 (years of hunting by farmers and fishery owners contributed to this).

A 2020 estimate by the RSPB put it at 150 pairs of sea eagles across the UK, the majority in Scotland.

We love and respect these birds. When we see them on trips we remind ourselves what a huge privilege it is to be alongside these protected birds of prey who mate for life and have a wing span of up to 2.4 metres.

(Putting that into context, Hannah is around 1.6 metres - the sea eagle’s wing span is almost a metre taller than her!)

Thank you to Jenny and Steve who came on our trips in May and took this photo of the sea eagle in a tree (long lens shot- we always keep a good distance away from them)

09/06/2026

We love showing our customers The Badachro Inn as we cruise through beautiful Badachro bay on our boat trips. It's just come onto the market - unique opportunity for someone (change of lifestyle perhaps?)

Same owners for the last 29 years. Retirement sale. First class trading location in unspoilt Wester Ross. Just off NC500. Located overlooking a sheltered bay. W..

05/06/2026

🦭 We love seals, and we’ve been lucky enough to see them on every Puffin-along boat trip so far!

As we gently cruise through Shieldaig and Badachro Bays on our one-hour and two-hour adventures, and evening cruises, we often spot groups of Harbour Seals relaxing on the rocks or bobbing about in the water.

Harbour Seals are actually rarer than the Grey Seals we also see around Loch Gairloch, but whatever the species, they never fail to make us smile — and our guests too!

Here are a few seal facts Hannah has been sharing with guests this season:

🦭 Seals are warm-blooded mammals, just like us.

🦭 They’re semi-aquatic, which means they divide their time between land and sea. They come ashore to rest, warm up, moult and give birth.

🦭 Harbour Seals are sometimes called Common Seals, even though they’re less common than Grey Seals (confusing much?!)

🦭 If you’re lucky, you might see them strike their infamous “banana pose”, lifting their heads and tails out of the water to help keep warm. Keep an eye out for one in these photos!

One of the things we also love about watching seals is seeing how curious they can be. Every so often, a head pops up around the boat as if they’re checking out who’s come to visit.

On all our trips, we take care to respect seals in their natural home. After all, we’re visitors in their world, and we do our best to be good guests.

And if you’ve spent time around Gairloch, you may have heard stories of Sammy the Seal, who used to live around the harbour and became something of a local celebrity 💙