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Our Boat

Marine Discovery

Our boat - Shearwater II the wildlife watching sailing catamaran

a small boat in a large body of water

The best option for wildlife watching…

We use a 10 metre sailing catamaran designed and built by Francis Joyon (so she sails fast) to run our trips. Having used a variety of boats over the years, we think it is by far the best platform for wildlife watching and our passengers agree! It offers space, stability and has a very low environmental impact .

 

The catamaran…
– reduces our use of fossil fuels and reduces our carbon footprint. RIBs like our old boat burn between 25 and 40 litres fuel for every hour of their operation. On the catamaran we will only motor when we have to, for example when coming in and out of the harbour, or when the wind dies. When we are motoring we will be using about 4 litres of fuel every hour. We always felt like frauds taking people wildlife watching on a diesel hungry RIB!

– reduces our acoustic signature – this means reducing the amount of noise we introduce in to the marine environment. Almost everything down there is sensitive to noise pollution so the less noise we can make the less impact we will have.

– increases passenger comfort as it has a large amount of deck area which allows people to move around during trips.

– provides a better viewing platform as the deck is higher abover the water and has more area so everyone can see everything.

– is quiet so passengers can hear the guides at all times.

– has an undercover area and a toilet which both increase passenger comfort.

Ready to Book a Wildlife Tour?