THE ORIGINAL NO.1 NOSS BOAT TOURS - SUPERB EARLY MORNING PHOTOGRAPHY TOUR WITH SEABIRDS-AND-SEALS

Seabirds-and-Seals - The Original & NO.1 Noss Boat Tours - Shetland's Supreme Wildlife & Photography Boat Tour Company.

5 STAR TOUR ATTRACTION ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐

Join us aboard our very spacious & comfortable catamaran 'Seabird' for a 'Memorable Noss Wildlife Boat Tour' to experience a real 'Gannet's Eye View'. Experience spectacular wildlife & scenery on our daily 5-Star multi-award winning Noss Boat Tours around Noss National Nature Reserve & Bressay. All showcased by Shetland's only 5-Star boat tour, which reflects an exceptional standard and the highest grading you can achieve.

Expert Local Knowledge & Ultimate Wildlife Encounters - Form Ever Lasting Memories.

NO.1 BOAT TOUR/WILDLIFE EXPERIENCE As Ranked On TripAdvisor

BEST VISITOR ATTRACTION Highlands & Islands Thistle Awards 2023 - Double Win

INCLUSIVE TOURISM Highlands & Islands Thistle Awards 2023 - Double Win

SERVICE EXCELLENCE - SCOTLAND FSB - Federation Of Small Business Awards 2024

BOAT TOUR OF THE YEAR - SCOTLAND THA - Travel & Hospitality Awards 2024

GREEN TOURISM 'GOLD' Green Tourism Accreditation 2024

BEST WILDLIFE & PHOTOGRAPHY BOAT TOUR COMPANY - SCOTLAND UK Enterprise Awards 2023-24/2021-22/2022-23

WILDLIFE TOUR OPERATOR OF THE YEAR - SCOTLAND Scotland Prestige Awards 2023-24

COMMITMENT TO THE COMMUNITY - FINALISTS The Herald Scottish Family Business Awards 2023

Scottish Family Business Of The Year (Micro) - FINALISTS The Herald Scottish Family Business Awards 2023

• Twice weekly on selected days, and following the same route as our daily tours to give you good value, our 'dawn patrol' gives photographers a chance of spectacular early morning light on 20,000 birds in the Noss gannetry. We provide hot drinks and biscuits into the tour, caffeine always a welcome treat early morning. After all that sea air you will return to land with a healthy appetite and happy memories to speak about over breakfast.  

• We operate our early morning photography tour, usually on Tuesday's and Saturday's with a tour start time of 6:00am, but days/timings can be subject to change due to weather or operational reasons. All our tours depart from Victoria Pier in Lerwick, ZE1 0EL.

• Please check our online booking calendar here for up-to-date boarding times and availability. Just navigate through the week on our booking calendar until you find our Early Morning Photography tour listed. We ask you please to arrive at the advertised tour start times on our booking calendar, slightly before to maximize your time at sea, we depart promptly after doing our introductions and all important safety briefing.

• Join Marie, Brian or Marvyn - your highly experienced crew/skipper on our Superb 5-Star Noss Boat Tour experience. We are all Shetland born and bred with a lifetime experience/knowledge of boats,the sea, nature & the local heritage around us. Passengers tell us our fun, personal and engaging style appeals to all ages and varying interests. We guarantee you many happy memories of your time with us.

• On every tour, we always have Marie our dedicated guide/crew member along with skipper Brian OR Marvyn. This is in the interest of safety, passenger comfort and welfare, as well as to provide you with a richer experience and to make sure you have an unforgettable tour with us. Fun and engaging 'Live' commentary to suit all interests/ages and each passenger receives their own headsets to give that personal touch, the sets are sanitized between tours. You're in very safe hands with our highly experienced skippers, who have spent their lives around boats and have a wealth of knowledge about our local waters, which can only be gained through a lifetime’s experience and makes them very safe and most dependable tour skippers. With their qualifications, experience and masterful boatmanship - they are in perfect place at the helm. 

• Our tours are very family friendly and tailored to suit all interests/ages. We have on-board activities to keep our younger sailors entertained and each receive a Free Eco-Friendly sealife activity pack. 

• Thirty two (32) years on, Seabirds-and-Seals remains the original and longest-established Noss Boat Tour Business after Naturalist and former Skipper Dr Jonathan Wills – founded the award-winning enterprise in 1992. Skipper Brian has been actively involved with the business ever since it began and in 2017, along with his wife Marie, they bought the business from Jonathan, maintaining the business ethos and reputation as the Original – and Number One – Noss Boat tour business.

• As with any business takeover – a new series of TripAdvisor and Google Reviews started in our first season (2018) – all were extremely positive and show how popular our tours are. Our tours consistently generate great reviews, leading to TripAdvisor’s Certificate Of Excellence and Travellers’ Choice Awards every year since taken over the business. We we were delighted to be awarded Green Tourism 'Gold' - this is the highest grading achievable. Being Green Tourism Accredited shows that we are eco-friendly and committed to working responsibly, ethically and sustainably. We are also very delighted with all our many other accolades listed further above and very proud to be keeping up the many awards Seabirds-and-Seals Noss Boat Tours has historically received. 

• We give you a full tour around Bressay & Noss. The views along the way are awe-inspiring. You will marvel at the stupendous cliffs, coves & caves. This amazing experience allows you to enjoy Shetland's plethora of seabirds and seals. This really is one of Britain's very finest wildlife spectacles! You will get unbelievably close to the breath-taking sights and sounds of this extraordinary seabird metropolis - home to 25,000 Northern gannets, as well as thousands of other seabirds lining the towering (180m high) sandstone cliffs of Noss National Nature Reserve. Along the way, we will regale you with local history & folk tales and share our in-depth knowledge of Lerwick's beautiful harbour, the Bressay Lighthouse, the Orkneyman's Cave, the magnificent Giant’s Leg archway and the striking geology of Bressay & Noss. This tour provides you with spectacular views and gives you fantastic opportunities to see and photograph a variety of wildlife and stunning scenery.

• When sea conditions allow, we sail you through the magnificent Giant's Leg archway. This is always a WOW! with our guests. We also take you into the beautiful Orkneyman's cave with great acoustics. 

• We take fish on our tours to allow you to get spectacular shots of the incredible gannets encircling and diving, right alongside our boat, one of many highlights on our tour.

• After your trip around the cliffs of Noss, we anchor in a tranquil little bay, which offers plenty of wildlife & photography opportunities. We provide fresh filter coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice and a selection of biscuits (including gluten-free). If you or anyone else in your party has any other dietary requirements, just let us know when making your booking with us. Please do tell us if you or anyone in your party is celebrating a special occasion – we will push the boat out for you (pardon the pun). This stop is always a great highlight and an opportunity for all aboard to have a chat whilst enjoying a refreshment and soaking up the beautiful surroundings. If your phone battery runs low after all the photo taking, we can assist as we have USB charging points throughout the cabin.

• Not guaranteed but if we’re really lucky… we may even see porpoises or the occasional whale, otter or dolphin. With the sharp eyes of two dedicated crew on every tour, we are always on the lookout to share as much as we can and we do this with great devotion/enthusiasm as reflected in our TripAdvisor reviews. Whilst out on the water – all eyes peeled and fingers crossed. If we are lucky enough to spot them, you could be on no better boat than Seabird for viewing & photography – due to her huge viewing platform to enable you to walk about freely and capture the best shots. As a business with 32 years of experience, we continue to lead the way for responsible boat-based ecotourism. At all times we follow the Nature Scot Scottish Marine Wildlife watching code and we are also WiSe accredited operators, proudly adhering to strict protocols to minimise disturbance to marine wildlife. 

• Seabird is a 13.5m catamaran with twin 370hp engines – a very stable craft because it has twin hulls. There is an extremely spacious viewing platform all on one level as shown on our homepage video and photos. This allows you to enjoy fabulous 360° panoramic viewing without having to watch where you step and ideal for the best photographic opportunities. Partial canopy covering above outside seating area, leaving rest of our spacious platform free for viewing. We are licensed to take 12 passengers with lifejackets made available upon embarkation for all ages. There’s ample room on deck for all 12 passengers to sit, stand or move around freely, without being restricted or confined to your seats or one space – you are free as a bird. If you prefer you can shelter inside our heated cabin, which has seating for all, you’ll still have a great view. You can enjoy a chat around the table and browse our small but fascinating on-board library. Various USB charging points should you need to recharge your battery.

• Seabird is wheelchair accessible onto the boat and an ideal boat for anyone with accessibility or mobility needs, please check out our published accessibility guide for further information. If wheelchair users wish to access the toilet or cabin, they must be able to transfer as the doors are not wide enough.  If you require access to a wheelchair or any other mobility aids whilst in Shetland or wish to arrange before you get here, please do get in touch as we work in collaboration with a local organisation, that can assist and happy to communicate with them on your behalf to arrange collection/return or we can put you in direct contact with them.

 • We have a toilet ON DECK LEVEL fully equipped with hand-sanitizer etc. Always reassuring to know there is a toilet whilst out at sea and especially after those welcoming refreshments.

• We provide binoculars & seabird/cetacean identification charts for everyone during the tour. Both charts available in Braille Format also. On-board we have eco-friendly merchandise clothing for sale and also available on our online shop. 

• Join us and find out for yourselves why we are the boat of choice for all major film crews, tour groups, photographers, families & why we are Ranked as THE NO.1 Noss Boat on TripAdvisor

Our tours are extremely popular by both locals and visitors, seats are filling fast for 2024 - booking in advance is highly recommended. We always advise not leave booking spaces until your last day in Shetland, as we do sometimes have to cancel due to the weather and we don’t want you missing out on our 5-star excursion. 

You can book online via our website using our online booking system: https://www.seabirds-and-seals.com/book-online OR email: info@seabirds-and-seals.com OR phone (+44)7595540224 or through the Lerwick Tourist Office(+44)1595 693434.

We provide a very high standard of customer care which has been recognized through customer feedback, reviews and our many accolades, our most recent being 'Service Excellence - Scotland' at the Federation Of Small Business Awards.

We look forward to welcoming you aboard 'Seabird'. Come & see why we offer the best boat, the best views, the best wildlife experience, the best guides & of course, the very best value for money - as we OFFER SO MUCH on our tours. This is what makes the difference on our daily Seabirds-and-Seals Noss Boat Tours and praised my many as 'A Real Holiday Highlight'.

You will find parking available at Victoria Pier Car Park right next to the slipway. We depart from just opposite the Lerwick Tourist Office. However there can be days that the pier is blocked due to Cruiseship visits, so best plan your parking ahead of our tour start time. There is FREE parking at the Town Hall area of Lerwick but does involve steps to reach our departure location at Victoria Pier.

Any questions, please just call Marie or Brian on the number above or drop us a line.

• Click here to read our recent TripAdvisor reviews