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Seabirds-and-Seals - The Original Noss Boat Tours

HELP GIVE NATURE A HOME

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This year on behalf of RSPB Shetland, we were delighted to host the RSPB Pin Badges box onboard The Noss Boat ‘Seabird’.  The badges have proved most popular and during the 2022 season alone, we managed to raise a staggering £1208.00.  

Shetland is an incredible and unique place for wildlife.  The donations raised through these pin badge donations, will help towards keeping it that way, as every penny raised helps the RSPB carry out the work it undertakes towards protecting Shetland’s Nature and Habitats.

We look forward to hosting for them again in 2023!

 

 

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Seabirds-and-Seals - The Original Noss Boat Tours

Seabirds-and-Seals Receives Certificate For Donating Respitality Breaks

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SEABIRDS-AND-SEALS DONATE BREAKS TO CARERS THROUGH RESPITALITY SCHEME

Shetland Carers recently presented a certificate to Marie & Brian Leask of Seabirds-and-Seals in recognition of  support of unpaid carers in Shetland through their Respitality Scheme. Shetland Carers, a project delivered under Voluntary Action Shetland, co-ordinate the scheme locally with support from Shared Care Scotland, who now support carer centres in 22 local authority areas to run Respitality Schemes.

Marie and Brian Leask of Seabirds-and-Seals said “We are delighted to support Shetland Carers and be part of the Respitality Scheme. All participants are so deserving of a welcome break and what better way than a trip out on the water to connect with nature and such beautiful surroundings. The Respitality Scheme is a very worthy cause.”

Respitality (respite + hospitality) is a way the hospitality and leisure sector can help their local communities by recognising and appreciating the contribution of unpaid carers, by donating short breaks to carers. This enables a carer, plus a companion, to have a break away from their caring responsibilities to recharge their batteries and have a little time for themselves.

A family of four, including an adult carer and two young carers, recently enjoyed a boat trip, courtesy of Seabirds-and-Seals, gifted through the Respitality Scheme. The carer said “We just had a lovely time aboard Seabirds-and-Seals, we would like to thank you so much for this break! What a brilliant trip around Noss, and we even saw a Minke whale! Just fabulous! Thank you so much!”

 

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Trophy Cabinet Awards Keep Coming – UK Enterprise Awards 2022 – Winners Of ‘Best Wildlife & Photography Boat Tour Company – Scotland’

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🌟 We are delighted to share that after being nominated, we have won – “Best Wildlife & Photography Boat Tour Company – Scotland” at the UK Enterprise Awards 2022 🌟.
 
We informed everyone in a Facebook post on 28th August that we received notification that we had been nominated for yet another award, but wanted to wait until winners published and before receiving our official logo before sharing our wonderful news and absolutely delighted to receive another accolade to add to our trophy cabinet 🏆.
 
We are absolutely delighted with our many 5-Star TripAdvisor reviews – the world’s largest viewing platform, ranking us as NO.1 in the Isles and leading the way as a top photography and wildlife boat tour operator.
 
We would like to thank those who nominated us, to all our customers, supporters, followers, friends and family – your support means a lot to us.
 
This has been an incredibly busy season for SeabirdsandSeals – Original & Best Noss Boat Tours – our busiest to date and our tour season has now come to an end, but we are busy making exciting plans for our 2023 season with many bookings coming in already.
 
We look forward to welcoming many more passengers on The No.1 Noss Boat as consistently ranked on Tripadvisor and have been for a good while now. 
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Record-Breaker Year For Basking Sharks In Shetland Waters

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This year is shaping up to be a record-breaker for BASKING SHARKS in Shetland waters. We’ve nearly seen as many this year as we have in the business’s last 30 years of operating around Bressay and Noss.
 
Back in September we encountered several individuals which gave us amazing views and naturally as a WiSE accredited operator we watched them under a strict code of conduct to avoid unnecessary disturbance, letting the animals come to us rather than us to them.
 
 
Basking Sharks are the second-largest fish in the World, with the incredible Whale Shark taking the top accolade of being the biggest.
 
It truly was a magical day with two full tours and fabulous guests, we were very lucky to be treated to the basking sharks on both tours, plus a minke whale on the final tour of the day but unfortunately did not surface long enough for photography!
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Seabirds-and-Seals - The Original Noss Boat Tours

Marie Completes Destination Development & Leadership Programme

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Only getting around to sharing this wonderful news now.  Back in July Marie successfully completed destination development and leadership programme through Edinburgh Napier University. She received the news back in July with an Email congratulating her and awarding her ‘University Certificate Of Credit’.  The course involved many hours of hard work with online courses and working as a group with other Tourism businesses throughout Scotland. 

Great to see that the hard work has paid off and a course Marie thoroughly enjoyed doing and achieving.  

 
Text below about the programme shared from Edinburgh Napier University.
 
The online programme is open to talented individuals who already have a strong track record in leadership within their own organisation and/or within their destination. Applicants must also have ambition, commitment and passion for developing themselves, their business and their destination, which must be demonstrated in the personal statement submitted with their application .
 
 

 

 

 
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Seabirds-and-Seals - The Original Noss Boat Tours

Scotland Prestige Awards 2022-23 Winners – ‘Boat Tour Operator Of The Year Scotland’

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We’ve won – “Boat Tour Operator Of The Year – Scotland”!!!
What an absolutely amazing start to the month of August – we had beautiful weather yesterday and kind seas to allow us to get three full tours with fabulous feedback from all onboard The Noss Boat ‘Seabird’. No tours today due to the weather so we thought we would share our wonderful news with you all.
 
We received notification few months ago – 26th April to be exact from ‘Scotland Prestige Awards’ to inform us that we had been nominated for yet another award and delighted to now be able to share our wonderful news now that we are finally in receipt of our award certificate – titling us “Boat Tour Operator Of The Year – Scotland”. We would like to say a huge thank you to those who nominated us and to all who follow us on social media, all who supports us and to our many wonderful passengers.
 
Ever since the early days of Seabirds-and-Seals (1992) we have been committed to operating our tours in a responsible manner. Our business is wildlife tourism and run by passionate nature-lovers for those with an appreciation of the natural world. We advocate working with local communities and leaving a positive impact on the destinations we visit and this has always been a fundamental part of our business.
 
We are delighted to be keeping up the many awards that SeabirdsandSeals – Original & Best Noss Boat Tours has historically received, a business which our Skipper Brian has been actively involved with from the very beginning.
This has been an exciting year, we celebrated ’30 Years Of Seabirds-and-Seals’ back in May and an extremely busy one now that Tourism is finally back on track, after a particularly challenging couple of years.
 
We are very delighted to receive another award for the trophy cabinet. Over and out from ‘The No.1 Noss Boat’ as ranked on TripAdvisor!
 
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Seabirds-and-Seals - The Original Noss Boat Tours

TripAdvisor Travellers Choice Award 2022 – NO.1 Noss Boat

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We are absolutely delighted to receive the ‘TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice’ Award 2022 – another to add to the trophy cabinet. Our TripAdvisor awards have been consistent since taking over the business.

Winners are determined based on the quality and quantity of traveler reviews and ratings posted on Tripadvisor over a 12-month period, as well as an additional editorial process. Travelers’ Choice recognizes businesses that earn consistently great reviews. Travelers’ Choice award-winners are among the top 10% of listings on Tripadvisor.

Our customer feedback/experience is most important to us and we would like to thank each and everyone of you – Thank You!

We very much enjoy showcasing all Lerwick’s beautiful harbour, Bressay and Noss has to offer with great passion as reflected in our consistent 5-Star Reviews.  

 

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Seabirds-and-Seals - The Original Noss Boat Tours

Whale Of A Time Had By All – Onboard The Noss Boat ‘Seabird’ – 22.07.2022

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Happy Saturday and wonder what we shall see out at sea today, you just never know as every trip is unique – always something different to see out there. Yesterday was a very lucky day indeed for our first of 3 private charters with passengers from visiting cruiseship ‘Silver Whisper’. They were lucky to see sightings of the orcas (27’s pod) who put on a grand display, will we be as lucky today….you just never know!
 
The orca photos and all photos displayed taken by Marie who is Seabirds-and-Seals Co-Owner and Tour Guide.
 
We were also very lucky to see many puffins flying by the boat, sitting on the water or resting on the lower ledges around Bressay & Noss. We had guillemot jumplings making an appearance on the bare rock ledges out at Noss. As ever the gannets put on an amazing display – diving right alongside our boat and following us up to our refreshments stop at Noss Sound, where we watched further gannet diving in the sound and spotted many other bird species as we enjoyed a hot drink.
 
On our second charter we had a very keen young wildlife photographer who is going to email us his photos in the coming days…we can’t wait to see and share them.
 
Whilst Brian was telling stories inside the Orkneyman’s Cave – we admired the shag chicks. We also spotted a keen kayaker who was going to attempt going through the tunnel but he decided against it in the end as very dark and no torch.
 
Have a fabulous weekend whatever you have planned…over and out from The Noss Boat ‘Seabird’.
 
 
 

Orca 27's Pod - Photo 1

Image 1 of 6

 
 
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The Noss Boat ‘Seabird’ – Welcomes Simon King Onboard – 22.06.2022

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Seabirds-and-Seals is an award-winning business and goes from strength to strength, leading the way as a top Wildlife Boat Tour Attraction.  We are delighted to be working in collaboration with local businesses as well as some fabulous names in the photography/film sector from all over the globe.  We are a ‘Natural’ born and bred Shetland couple….our experience and knowledge of boats, the sea, nature, and local heritage around us is extensive.  Our passengers tell us that our fun, personal and engaging style appeals to all ages and varying interests – always a crew member available on deck delivering a professional service and answering any questions.  What better boat to showcase this all on than ‘The Noss Boat – Seabird’, which hosts a huge viewing platform all on one level – allowing everyone to enjoy fabulous 360° panoramic viewing.  This is an ideal boat for everyone to move around comfortably to get the best action shots – free as a bird.  Plus the comfort of the inside heated cabin, should anyone need to shelter from the elements.

Simon King is a world renowned Naturalist and wildlife film maker – we loved watching his ‘Shetland Diaries’ series and other productions.  He has worked on countless productions as presenter, producer, director and cameraman.  Productions include Big Cat Diary, Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, Countryfile, Blue Planet, Planet Earth and much more.  

Simon has been coming to Shetland for years now and his films have put Shetland on the bucket lists of ecotourists all over the world – it is so great to have him back on the Island and working in collaboration with Seabirds-and-Seals for the 2022 season to offer bespoke tours to his many fabulous guests.  We look forward to working with him for many years to come.  

Quoted by Simon King following a bespoke tour with partner Kim and guests on Monday 20th June:
“Thank you so much for two super runs to Noss over the past couple of weeks. All guests were thrilled by the trips and very impressed by you and Brian’s geniality, knowledge and humour”. 

To learn more about Simon’s early life, his many awards and much visit: https://www.simonkingwildlife.com/about-simon-2/