Scilly’s Greatest Pleasure

The Isles of Scilly is England's enchanting archipelago - perfectly pint-sized but still boasting more than 140 islands. And we have all the boats and experienced boatmen to help you skip around it all. Let’s go island hopping! If this is your first visit, the boating system may seem a little daunting but you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Basically you have all the tripper boats of St. Mary’s largely run by the St. Mary’s Boatmen’s Association. Additionally, St. Agnes Boating, Tresco Boat Services, Endeavour Rib Service, Scilly Sea Safaris and Seaquest Glass Bottom Boat all operate their own boat services offering trips and excursions, as well as regular water taxi services from their bases to all the other islands. 

Between them they run literally hundreds of trips a week – full day and half day trips to a plethora of islands. There are trips to see the seals and seabirds, to Bishop Rock Lighthouse, to the uninhabited islands where you can get dropped sometimes – and picked up too of course! And evening excursions on the “supper boats” that allow you to sample the pubs and restaurants of all the islands.

All in all, Scilly’s boatmen make for a remarkable combination of island hopping capability, expertise and experience. You’ll feel safe and well informed – they always let you know about pick-up times and pick-up places – especially if the changing tides mean that you need to return from a different quay to the one you hopped off onto!

There are timetables chalked on boards at every turn, and many of the operators have their own Facebook pages and Twitter feeds letting you know the boat times. Tides mean that this isn’t like running a bus service, so always check. The good news is that all this flexibility means that the options are almost endless.