One of our subscribers sent us a question last week about an island in the Bristol Channel that they had once visited called Lundy. The question was whether it was a potential cruise destination, owing to it’s stunning wildlife and positioning on the classical ‘Round-Britain’ route, so NoFlyCruises jumped in to investigate.
Lundy Island is indeed well placed for no fly cruising, located c12 miles off the coast of North Devon and pretty much on route between South Wales and Cornwall/Channel Islands. The largest island in the Bristol Channel, Lundy is inhabited, but no cars are permitted and thanks to archaeological investigations and discoveries over the years, the quintessentially craggy Island is shrouded in myth and legend, and sometimes fog, too.
Lundy Island is small, with few residents, a small village, inn, church and a 13th century Castle named Marisco. Lundy Island is also renowned for its wildlife, in particular for its seasonal Puffin colonies – it’s often referred to as ‘Puffin Island’.
However, Lundy is far too small for traditional cruise ships, even as a tender destination. It can be confusing, as there have been reports of cruise ship visits to Lundy on larger ships, but these have actually berthed off the coast of Ilfracombe, rather than Lundy itself, where you need to embark a small local boat to reach the Island.
One cruise ship has visited Lundy, though. In 2018, Lundy Island is listed on the itinerary of one of NoFlyCruises favourite cruise lines, Hebridean Island Cruises and their ship Hebridean Princess (See our blog on ‘The smallest no fly cruise ship’) actually tendered passengers ashore just off the Island for an evening rambling and exploration of this little gem. There was also an overnight anchorage in Brides Bay.
This cruise was an unusual itinerary for Hebridean, coming from Portland rather than Scotland and visiting some of our favourite ports, including Fowey, Dartmouth and The Isles of Scilly before heading back to the ships home-port of Oban.
We would certainly invite planners out there to consider something similar in the future and look more closely at Lundy Island as a destination.
Got a No Fly Cruise question or spotted something interesting? Please get in touch.
>> Visit the website of Hebridean Island Cruises
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