SeabirdsandSeals - The Original Noss Boat

05/09/2026

Thank you Shetland Times for the amazing press release ❤️.

Absolutely chuffed to bits, having won Service Excellence business of the year last year, to be finalists again this year in a different category - Purpose Led Business Of The Year, is truly amazing ❤️

“As a small, locally owned family business, we want what we do to have a positive impact here in Shetland.”

04/09/2026

🐟✨ A SHIMMERING SHOAL OF SILLOCKS! ✨🐟

Whilst inside Orkneyman’s Cave last week, on a beautifully warm and sunny Shetland day, we were treated to the incredible sight of thousands of young saithe—known locally as sillocks—shimmering beneath the surface of the crystal-clear turquoise water. 💙

Quite a sight, and a wonderful reminder of just how much life can be found below the water as well as above it! 🌊🐟🐦

04/09/2026

🦭 POSING FOR THE CAMERA! 📸

We had a lovely little encounter on our return to Lerwick Harbour during our most recent tours, when this beautiful female grey seal — known locally as a selkie — popped up alongside the boat and seemed more than happy to pose for our passengers! 💙

Grey seals are a familiar sight around Shetland’s coastline, but it’s moments like this, when one stops to have a good look back at us, that always raise a smile onboard.

A lovely way to round off another fantastic trip around Bressay and Noss. 🦭🌊

03/09/2026

💙 A very special evening onboard The Noss Boat… 🎂

Yesterday we were delighted to get back out on the water after a few days ashore due to the weather.

Unfortunately due to really high winds, we couldn’t operate our two earlier private charters for visiting cruise ship Viking Vela, but thankfully the wind eased enough for our late afternoon tour. We also added an early evening sailing, allowing some guests affected by today’s forecast cancellations to join us while conditions allowed.

After closely monitoring the weather and keeping everyone updated, it was wonderful to receive such fabulous end-of-tour feedback — including lovely comments about our pre-tour communication. 💙

And our evening sailing had an extra-special moment…
A little birdie — otherwise known as Kathleen’s husband! 😄 — told us that today is Kathleen’s 60th birthday. 🎉 They had originally been booked to join us today, so we decided to celebrate a little early and surprised her with chocolate cake onboard, while everyone joined in with Happy Birthday! 🎂

Thankfully Kathleen likes chocolate cake… phew! 😄🍫 They told us afterwards how much they appreciated the little extra touches, which was lovely to hear.

🎉 Celebrating something special when you join us? Please let us know when booking — we’ll always do our best to add those little extra touches and make your time onboard even more memorable.

Happy 60th Birthday, Kathleen, from all of The Noss Boat team! 💙🎂🥳

03/09/2026

🏆 WE’RE FINALISTS! 🎉💙

We are delighted to announce that SeabirdsandSeals - The Original Noss Boat is a finalist for Purpose-Led Business of the Year at the Women's Enterprise Scotland Awards 2026!

This comes just a few weeks after announcing that we are also double finalists at this year’s Highlands and Islands Thistle Awards for 'Best Visitor Attraction' and 'Inclusion'✨

As a small, locally owned family business in Shetland, this is a particularly meaningful category for us. Our purpose has always extended far beyond providing memorable wildlife boat tours around Bressay and Noss.

💙 Accessibility and inclusion are at the heart of what we do, continually working to remove barriers and make our experience available to as many people as possible.

🌊 Responsible wildlife tourism and caring for our environment are fundamental to how we share Shetland’s incredible wildlife, coastline and heritage.

🤝 Supporting our local community and economy is equally important, through community and charitable initiatives, collaborations with fellow Shetland businesses, and relationships with organisations, tour operators and groups across the UK and worldwide.

We want every trip onboard The Noss Boat to provide an exceptional experience while creating wider benefits for our islands and a greater appreciation of Shetland.

Having these values recognised nationally means an enormous amount. 💙

It is even more special following our Service Excellence win in 2025, when we proudly became the first Shetland business to win an award at the Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards. To be returning to Glasgow as finalists again this year is incredibly special. 🏆✨

A huge thank you to our wonderful team, local partners, community organisations, fellow Shetland businesses and everyone we collaborate with across the UK and worldwide — and to the many local people who have supported us and joined us onboard, alongside the many thousands of passengers we have welcomed from around the world. 💙

We’re looking forward to 29 October and wish all this year’s finalists the very best of luck! 🤞🥂

02/09/2026

A slightly different sight on our return to Lerwick this afternoon! ⛴️

As we headed back into Lerwick from our late afternoon tour, we caught the NorthLink ferry departing through the North Harbour entrance, rather than her usual route out through the south.

The North Entrance has to be used periodically by NorthLink’s skippers to keep their tickets current for taking vessels of this size through the entrance – so it’s always interesting to catch one of these less usual departures.

On this occasion though, they are having to use the North entrance due to dredging in the channel at the North Ness.

Perfect timing for everyone onboard The Noss Boat, with a rather dramatic Shetland sky providing the backdrop! 💙

We are now heading out on an early evening tour - we have some exciting news to announce tomorrow...watch this space!

NorthLink Ferries

01/09/2026

⛵️ A magnificent visitor to Lerwick this afternoon! 🇳🇴

The beautiful Norwegian tall ship Sørlandet, pictured at anchor in Breiwick Bay, making an impressive sight against the Shetland landscape.

Built in 1927, Sørlandet is a magnificent fully rigged ship with a long history of sail training and education, giving young people the opportunity to experience life and learning at sea.

It’s always wonderful to see such impressive visiting ships in Shetland waters — and Sørlandet certainly makes a striking addition to the view across Breiwick Bay today. 💙⚓️

30/08/2026

Golden light over Shetland. 🌅

A beautiful end to another August day, as the evening sun breaks through the clouds and casts its golden light across the water.

As summer slowly begins to give way to autumn, the changing light brings a different beauty to our islands — quieter evenings, softer skies and scenes like this that make you stop and take it all in.

Shetland really does know how to put on a show. 💙

30/08/2026

🌊🍽️ Celebrating a fantastic local collaboration!

As announced back in March - we’re delighted this season to be collaborating with ShetlandChef - Akshay Borges, giving everyone who joins us onboard The Noss Boat the opportunity to also enjoy an unforgettable fine-dining experience with Akshay during their time in Shetland – combining our spectacular wildlife and scenery with some of the very best local food and produce. 💙✨

It was lovely to recently welcome Akshay onboard for his own tour around Bressay and Noss. He thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and we’re looking forward to seeing some of the material he captured along the way! 🐦📸

Back in May, Akshay was named winner of Best Use of Highlands & Islands Provenance – Good Highland Food at the Highland Tourism Food and Drink Awards – a fantastic and very well-deserved achievement. 🏆👏

As a small local business ourselves, supporting and working alongside other Shetland businesses is something we’re passionate about. Collaborations like this allow us to showcase so much more of what our islands have to offer – incredible wildlife, spectacular scenery, fantastic local produce and some exceptionally talented people. 💙

Congratulations again to Akshay and the whole team – we’re very proud to be working alongside you. 🤝✨

30/08/2026