Island Boat Trip Season Opens
Skomer, Ramsey, Caldey and Grassholm all reopen to boats around Easter. Each one is a different trip and they book up differently.
- When
- from around Easter, running to late October
- Kind
- Wildlife & nature
- Where
- St Davids
- Cost
- Fares vary by operator and trip length. Landing trips cost more than round-island cruises.
Nothing runs to the islands in winter. From around Easter the operators start again and the county's best days out become possible for about six months.
Skomer from Martin's Haven is the puffin trip and the hardest to get on. Ramsey, off St Davids, is the RSPB one — sailings from St Justinian's cross Ramsey Sound, which has one of the fiercest tidal races in Britain, and the island itself is high, quiet and full of choughs and seals. Caldey from Tenby harbour is the easy one: a short hop to a working Cistercian monastery with a beach, a chocolate shop and no need to book weeks ahead. Grassholm is a round-island trip only, out to a gannet colony that turns the whole rock white.
Two things worth knowing. Caldey boats do not sail on Sundays, and the island closes over the winter. Everything else is at the mercy of swell — a bright, still day on land can still mean no landing if there is an old swell running.
The wider season. Jet boat and rib operators also run wildlife cruises out of Solva, St Davids and Tenby, and those go out in conditions the landing boats will not. If you mainly want to see the coast, seals and porpoises rather than to stand on an island, a round-island cruise is the more reliable booking. There is more on the options in the boat trips guide and on the boat trips page.
Every year
The boats to Skomer, Ramsey, Caldey and Grassholm run seasonally. Most operators start around Easter and stop in the second half of October.
Getting in
Book online rather than turning up. Everything is weather-dependent and cancellations are common early and late in the season.
Before you plan around this
Dates change every year — check with the organiser before you travel
We don't sell tickets and take no commission on any of these — links go straight to whoever runs it.
Staying nearby
St Davids is the obvious base.
Also in April
Puffin Season on Skomer
Tens of thousands of puffins breed on Skomer from April to late July, close enough to the path that you have to step around them.
April to late July, best late May to early July · Wildlife & nature
Bluebell Season at Colby and Minwear
Two or three weeks in late April and May when the old woodland floors go blue. Colby and Minwear are the reliable ones.
late April into mid-May, two to three weeks · Wildlife & nature
Pembroke Castle Events Season
Living history and re-enactment weekends through the warmer months at the birthplace of Henry VII.
Easter to autumn, with events concentrated in school holidays · Community