Description
A special Scottish island cruise combining the beautiful Small Isles (Muck, Eigg, Rum and Canna) and a circumnavigation of the Isle of Mull which is at the heart of the Inner Hebrides. The outlying Small isles are justly famous for their sheltered anchorages, spectacular birdlife and ever-changing, island scenery.
After visiting the Small Isles we visit the famous islands of Lunga, Staffa and Iona.
Lunga, one of the Treshnish Isles, is famous for the breeding colonies of kittiwakes, manx shearwaters, guillemots, razorbills, storm-petrels and the colony of puffins which, in the breeding season, allow you to approach very close.
Staffa has one of the world’s most spectacular natural marvels in Fingal’s cave – one of the island’s many sea caves. The moving beauty of the island and the cave’s towering, six-sided basalt columns are famously captured by Mendelssohn’s Hebridean Overture.
Iona, birthplace of western Christianity was where, in AD563, Saint Columba founded an abbey when he traveled over from Ireland. Iona has been for centuries a place of Christian pilgrimage and here the early abbey monks created the wonderful Book of Kells. Saint Columba and 48 Scottish kings, including Macbeth, as well as some Irish and French kings, are buried on Iona. One can walk in peaceful solitude along the island paths away from the Abbey.
As we travel we can see incredible wildlife – soaring sea and golden eagles, basking sharks, minke and killer whales, porpoises, dolphins, seabirds and seals.