Portree Harbour – Sea Eagle Cruise and Fish and Chips
A few hours, from Somerled Square, Portree and back.
The route
Two hours on the water from Portree's harbour is one of the easiest ways to see Skye's wildlife.
Stardust's boats head out into the Sound of Raasay looking for white-tailed eagles, seals and, with luck, dolphins, with the Cuillin and the Old Man of Storr on the skyline. Back on the quay, fish and chips from the harbour chip shop are the obvious lunch. Dogs are welcome on board.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Stardust, Portree harbour
Book Stardust's Skye and Raasay Sea Eagle & Wildlife Cruise online for a morning sailing, so lunch follows it: each boat takes 12, it's £42.33 for adults and £39.16 for children, and Stardust refunds or credits a trip it cancels for weather, or one you cancel 24 hours ahead.
The day
Portree
A morning out on the Sound of Raasay, binoculars ready, then lunch with your feet on the harbour wall and the boats bobbing below.
About three and a half hours
Stardust, Portree harbour
It's a 5-minute walk from Somerled Square down Quay Brae to the harbour. Check in at the Harbour Fish & Chip Shop on Quay Street at least 15 minutes before your sailing. The Skye and Raasay Sea Eagle & Wildlife Cruise lasts about two hours, aboard a small catamaran or a monohull with seats inside and out. The skipper heads north to the Red Caves of Raasay or south to the seals of Holoman Bay, as the wildlife and the weather decide. Stardust says it is rare not to see a sea eagle, at any time of year. It's £42.33 for adults and £39.16 for children, binoculars are on board, and dogs are welcome.
About 2 min on foot
The Harbour Fish & Chip Shop
Lunch
Back on the quay, lunch is the Harbour Fish & Chip Shop at 1 Quay Street, the same shop where you checked in, about 70 metres from the pontoon. It does fish and chips to take away, so eat them on the harbour wall above the boats. It's said to open every day from noon to 8pm; in winter, look in or ring before counting on it. If it's wet, take them back to the car or your room.
If it rains
The boats have seats under cover, so a shower is no reason to stay ashore; wind is, and Stardust asks you to ring on the morning to check the trip is sailing.
Antlers Bar & Grill, pub grub, Portree Hotel.
Birch, skye's own coffee roasters.