The largest and furthest North of the Inner Hebrides, Skye is a popular destination for hikers, historians and wildlife lovers alike. Famous for its stunning scenery and 12 munros (peaks above 3000 ft), the island offers fantastic walking, and the chance to spot otters, seals, whales, dolphins, red deer, sea eagles and more.
Sailing to and around Skye allows you to experience the wild beauty of the island, straying off the tourist trail and finding seclusion in hard to reach places.
Skye’s history is there for all to see, stretching back to ancient times. From the dinosaur footprints on the shore at Staffin, to Pictish round towers built over 2000 years ago, and the 12th century clan stronghold of Dunvegan Castle (the oldest inhabited castle in Scotland).
Sailing voyages will always include opportunities to explore ashore and discover this history for yourself. As a means of visiting Skye, traditional sailing has the added advantage of complete immersion in the landscape, often out of site of human influence. This landscape was the same that was gazed upon by everyone from the Picts and forcibly cleared peasants to the chiefs of Clans MacLeod and MacDonald. Waking up to the rugged coastline each morning, you feel a newfound respect and kinship with the people who’ve been surviving up here for thousands of years.
Sailing around Skye often also provides the opportunity to visit some of the Northern sea lochs, such as Lochs Nevis and Hourn with their dramatic landscapes, and stretches of the mainland coast that are otherwise near impossible to reach. The Knoydart peninsula, one of Scotland’s great wildernesses, has no access roads at all, and so is only accessible by boat. If you’re lucky a sailing voyage may include a stop off at the Old Forge in Inverie, the most remote pub in Britain.
