The Noss Boat - Original Business Branding By Founder
Shetland's only boat tour awarded VisitScotland 5-Star grading (2023)
NO.1 Noss Boat Tour - As ranked on TripAdvisor Seabirds-and-Seals:
The Original & NO.1 Noss Boat Tours
✱SHETLAND'S ONLY 5-STAR BOAT TOUR✱
Shetland's NO.1 Boat Tour/Wildlife Attraction - TripAdvisor
✱WISE ACCREDITED✱
Our popular 5-Star tours depart daily from April through to October. Join us aboard our extremely spacious and comfortable Catamaran Seabird for a fun filled tour around Noss National Nature Reserve and Bressay. Tours depart from Victoria Pier, Lerwick, ZE1 0EL.
# Award Winners at the 2024 FSB - Federation of Small Business Awards for 'Service Excellence' - we now go onto the UK finals in Blackpool.
# Awarded Green Tourism 'Gold' - Early 2024.
# Highlands and Islands Thistle Awards 2023 WINNERS - in not one but TWO Categories 'Best Visitor Attraction' & 'Inclusive Tourism'.
# We have been shortlisted under two categories at this years 'The Herald Scottish Family Business Awards' for 'Commitment To The Community' & Scottish Family Business Of The Year (Micro) - sponsored by Business Gateway. We look forward to attending the awards ceremony in Glasgow on 7th December.
# Multi Award-Winning Boat Tour Company
Awarded "Scotland's Best Wildlife & Photography Boat Tour Company 2023" at the UK Enterprise Awards & 'Wildlife Tour Operator Of The Year' at the 2023 Scotland Prestige Awards. Please check our online calendar by visiting our website www.seabirds-and-seals.com, where you will find our scheduled tour start times, prices and seats available. Bespoke Wildlife Photography Tours - available on request, just contact us to discuss your requirements. We are boat of choice for many wildlife tour groups, adventure & outdoor tourism groups - from the UK and abroad. Come and join us (Marie, Brian or Marvyn) for THE ultimate Shetland wildlife boat experience with our 5-Star Seabirds-and-Seals Original Noss Boat Tours, onboard our very comfortable & spacious catamaran 'Seabird'. Come and experience a real 'GANNET EYE VIEW'.
• 32 years from launch, Seabirds-and-Seals remains the original and longest-established Noss Boat tour business after Naturalist and former Skipper Dr Jonathan Wills founded the award-winning enterprise in 1992. Skipper Brian has been actively involved with Seabirds-and-Seals ever since it began and in 2017 we bought the business from Jonathan, maintaining the business ethos and reputation as the original - and Number One - Noss Boat tour business.
• A new series of TripAdvisor/Google Reviews, started when we began our very busy first season in 2018, all extremely positive and show just how popular our fabulous tours are, after all these years! We are delighted to be keeping up the many awards Seabirds-and-Seals has historically received. After just one full season we were awarded Visit Scotland's 4-Star accolade and TripAdvisor’s Certificate Of Excellence. Our tours consistently generate awesome reviews, leading to TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Award in 2020 and every year since. We are delighted to now have Visit Scotland's 5-Star accolade, an award we worked hard to achieve.
• We give you a full tour around Bressay & Noss. The views along the way are awe-inspiring. You will marvel at the stupendous cliffs, coves & caves. This amazing experience allows you to enjoy Shetland's plethora of seabirds and seals, providing you with spectacular views and giving you fantastic opportunities to see and photograph Shetland's wildlife against the stunning backdrop of the Noss cliffs. This really is one of Britain's very finest wildlife spectacles! You will get unbelievably close to the breath-taking sights and sounds of this extraordinary seabird metropolis - home to 25,000 Northern gannets, as well as thousands of other seabirds lining the towering (180m high) sandstone cliffs of Noss National Nature Reserve. Along the way, we will regale you with local history & folk tales and share our in-depth knowledge of Lerwick's beautiful harbour, the Bressay Lighthouse, the Orkneyman's Cave, the giant's leg and the striking geology of Bressay & Noss.
• When sea conditions allow, we sail you through the magnificent giant's leg. This is always a WOW! with our guests.
• We take fresh fish on our tours - to give you the opportunity to see the gannets diving right alongside our boat - a great highlight on all our tours.
• Our tours are very family friendly and tailored to suit all interests/ages. We have many on-board activities to keep our younger sailors entertained and each receive a FREE sealife activity pack to take home.
• Live commentary throughout the tour with our high quality PA system, each passenger receives their own individual headsets. This allows you to hear our dedicated guide Marie throughout the tour, she puts on a fabulous commentary with a great wealth of knowledge to share and always available to answer any questions you may have.
• We are born and bred in Shetland, we each have a lifetime's experience and knowledge of the sea, nature & local heritage around us. With two crew on every tour, sometimes three - we look after your every need to ensure you are having a fabulous experience on-board our very comfortable & spacious catamaran 'Seabird'. We deliver fun, personal, informative & interesting tours to suit all interests & ages
• You’ll encounter Grey Seals so close you can count their whiskers. They're always on the lookout for a free meal and like to follow all the local fishing boats as they pass through the Lerwick harbour and they usually follow our tours as we make our way through the harbour.
• If you are extremely lucky, you may spot dolphins, porpoises or whales, but this is not guaranteed on any of our tours, just a case of luck on the day. We have so much enthusiasm for cetaceans and with the sharp eyes of two/three crew - we are always on the lookout. If we are lucky enough to spot them and with Seabird's very large viewing platform, you could be on no better boat to view them. When viewing marine animals - we fully adhere to ‘Nature Scot Marine Code Of Conduct’.
• Our boat Seabird is a 13.5 metre twin engine catamaran - a very stable boat being twin-hulled. It has a very spacious viewing platform, as shown on our website homepage video. This allows you to enjoy fabulous 360 degree panoramic viewing in complete comfort, ideal for the best photographic opportunities. We are licensed to take up to 12 passengers. There is ample room on deck for all 12 passengers to sit, stand or move around freely without being confined to a seat or one space. You are always sheltered - Seabird has a fixed partial canopy covering in the outside seating area. We have an indoor heated cabin, which has further seating for all 12 passengers. There are viewing windows to give you further 360 degree panoramic viewing. There also is a table where you can chat or access our small but expertly curated library.
• We stop off in a tranquil little bay for FREE refreshments, which offers loads of wildlife opportunities and a time to socialize – all passengers find this a truly magnificent highlight on our tours. We cater for dietary requirements, just let us know at time of booking and do let us know if it’s a special occasion as we will push the boat out – pardon the punch!
• We have a fully accessible toilet ON DECK LEVEL – which is always a must and most reassuring when out at sea, and especially after those welcoming refreshments.
• We provide binoculars & seabird/cetacean identification charts for everyone during the tour, our charts are also available in Braille format.
• Our very comfortable & spacious Catamaran 'Seabird' is wheelchair accessible and the ideal boat of choice for anyone with mobility issues. Check out our published Accessibility Guide. Please contact us to discuss any special requirements.
• We look forward to welcoming you aboard 'Seabird'. Come & see why we offer by far the best boat, the best views, the best wildlife experience, the best guides & of course, the very best value for money as we OFFER SO MUCH on our tours. This is what makes the difference on our daily Seabirds-and-Seals Tours.
• As the No.1 wildlife boat tour to Noss, we are thrilled to have received accreditation to The WiSe Scheme - the UK's national training scheme for minimizing disturbance to marine wildlife.
• After a lot of hard work and changes, we achieved Green Tourism 'Silver' Award, early 2023 and early 2024 after further sustainability developments, awarded 'Gold'. Being Green Tourism Accredited shows that we are eco-friendly and committed to working responsibly, ethically and sustainably.
