Cornwall’s marine wonders
AK Wildlife Cruises offers a range of boat trips to get you closer to Cornwall’s exceptional diversity and abundance of marine life. Departing from Falmouth, the popular four-hour Coastal & Offshore Exploration Cruise will give you a good chance of seeing – and photographing – species such as bottlenose dolphins, minke whales, basking sharks, grey seals and storm petrels. Adult tickets cost £75 and the maximum capacity is 20 people per trip.
Brand new for 2026, and aimed at seasoned naturalists, is an all-day whale-watching and pelagic seabird experience, with tickets costing around £140 per person.
akwildlifecruises.co.uk
Gannets and more
The Scottish Seabird Centre runs a variety of boat trips around the islands in the Firth of Forth, home to internationally important colonies of breeding seabirds such as puffins, kittiwakes, terns, guillemots, razorbills, shags and cormorants. Perhaps most famous of all is the Bass Rock northern gannet colony. If your dream is to experience the sight, sounds and smells of this natural spectacle, the Bass Rock Experience could be the trip for you. Led by expert guides and geared towards photographers, it gives you three hours to spend on the island. The trips depart from North Berwick harbour, cost £200 per person and run on selected dates from the end of April to early September.
seabird.org/boats
Skomer seabird spectacular
Located less than a mile off the Pembrokeshire coast, Skomer may be small but it’s a haven for huge numbers of seabirds. More than 40,000 puffins nest here, arriving in April and staying until late July. There are also nearly 350,000 breeding pairs of Manx shearwaters and thousands of fulmars, razorbills, kittiwakes and guillemots. Pembrokeshire Islands Boat Trips is the only operator that offers landing trips to the island. Their five-hour day trip includes travel there and back (a 15-minute boat ride each way), plus 4.5 hours to spend on the island. Tickets cost from £24 per person. Alternatively, there is hostel accommodation on the island, but it needs to be booked well in advance if you want to coincide your trip with the puffins.
pembrokeshire-islands.co.uk
Skye from the sea
The Isle of Skye Seafari Experience not only offers a fresh perspective of this stunning island; it also gives you a good chance of seeing amazing marine wildlife such as seals, dolphins, sea eagles, minke whales and basking sharks. The boat operator’s most popular trip, the Wildlife Safari Tour, takes you from the Bay of Portree and into the Sound of Raasay to explore the magnificent coastlines of Skye and Raasay. It promises ample photographic opportunities along the way. The trip lasts for one hour and 45 minutes, covers around 25 nautical miles and costs £48 (adult ticket).
skyeseafariexperience.co.uk
An Irish adventure
Stretching 30 miles into the Atlantic Ocean on the south-west coast of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, the Dingle Peninsula boasts wild and spectacular scenery and a stunning coastline. The Dingle Sea Safari Tour takes you as far as the Blasket Islands and offers views of the famous landscape of Slea Head, with rock formations and sea caves along the way. Wildlife highlights include dolphins, puffins and whales, as well as one of Ireland’s biggest seal colonies. Departing from Dingle Pier, the trip costs €80 (around £70), lasts 2.5-3 hours and is limited to a maximum of 12 people per tour.
dingleseasafari.com