Skellig Tours

A second-generation Skelligs’ boat skipper, John O Shea has the local islands in his blood and he departs daily for the Skelligs from Derrynane Harbour, a smuggling port used by the O’Connell clan of the famous Daniel ‘The Liberator’ O’Connell.

The Skelligs Tour

The tour takes you past Deenish and Scariff Islands in the wildlife-abundant Kenmare Bay and the highlight of the trip is a 2.5 hours stopover on Skellig Michael – a 1,500-year-old monastic settlement that is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the return journey, you can take in close-up views of the Little Skellig, home to over 27,000 breeding pairs of gannets – making it the second-largest gannet colony in the world. If you are lucky, we may also be joined by curious dolphins on the return leg, while your skipper John O’Shea will often catch a few fish to cook and share on the voyage home.

Book a Trip and have the experience of a lifetime

Skellig landing tours – We are now taking bookings for landing tours for Skellig Michael.  You will have roughly two and a half hours to explore this dramatic island following in the footsteps of the ancient monks of Skellig Michael.

Skellig non-landing eco tours – if you don’t fancy ascending the 618 steps to the Skellig Michael monastery, you might prefer our Skellig islands non-landing tour taking in both Skellig Michael and the awe-inspiring gannet colony on Little Skellig. We encounter numerous other seabirds too such as shags, cormorants, razorbills, guillemots, puffins and storm petrels as well as fulmars and shearwaters.

Bull Rock trips – we are also offering scenic wildlife tours to the historic Bull Rock. Our trip takes you across the mouth of Kenmare Bay past to the Beara peninsula and Dursey Island, home of Ireland’s only cable car, and weather permitting through the dramatic natural tunnel carved into Bull Rock. This trip usually encounters dolphins and whales.

Dolphin watching trips – This roughly two-hour trip cruises past wild Atlantic headlands on the lookout for common dolphins, humpbacks, and Minke whales, and sometimes Risso’s dolphins and occasionally other large whales. On our travels, we encounter an array of seabirds such as the graceful shearwaters.