Helensburgh Shoreline and The Sugar Boat
On this fascinating boat trip, you will enter a whole new world as you motor along from Rhu Marina to Helensburgh Pier, viewing the sights and the buildings in town from a completely different perspective – you may not even recognise the new swimming pool! Then the boat will circle round the Sugar Boat wreck, and you will see it up close as you hear all about the history of this iconic feature. There’s a chance to see local wildlife, such as seabirds, seals, porpoises and if we are very lucky, dolphins.
We have a very comfortable, spacious & stable boat with a choice of indoor or outdoor seating for all passengers, a toilet, and complementary tea, coffee & local Helensburgh tablet.
Watch our drone Sugar Boat Tour
1 hour
up to 12 people
£180
The Clyde Estuary
This trip is two hours of pure escapism. Leave your everyday life behind as you step onto the boat and just live in the now. Realise you don’t need to go anywhere specific or do anything other than enjoy the moment. Concentrate on your senses. Can you smell the sea? Can you feel the air/sun/rain/spray on your skin? What can you hear? Can you sense the motion of the waves as they pass under the boat? What can you see? Seals? Ferries? Seabirds (can you identify them? We can help). Porpoises? Channel Buoys? Minehunters? Submarines? Leisure yachts? Dolphins? Isolated danger mark? The Waverley paddlesteamer? Tankers? Motorboats? Each trip is different. Put yourself in the hands of our experienced skipper. Sit quietly in the fresh sea air, sipping your complimentary cup of tea or coffee, enjoying the local Helensburgh tablet, savour the moment, and just BREATHE.
2 hours
up to 12 people
£330
Cloch Lighthouse & The Gantocks
This boat trip will take you from Rhu Marina across to the south shore of the Clyde Estuary and then to the Cloch Lighthouse opposite Dunoon. As the water is very deep here we can take you in close to the Lighthouse, providing wonderful photo opportunities, and the chance to see this building, now a private home, from the sea. Then we will motor across towards Dunoon, to the Gantock rocks, where seals and seabirds can usually be spotted, and we will fill you in on the history of both the Cloch and the Gantocks. Here you will be able to look northwards, right up Loch Long, and southwards right down the Clyde Estuary, and savour the magnificent scenery on all sides.
3 hrs hours
12 people
£400
Holy Loch Marina with time ashore
This trip takes you westwards past Kilcreggan and across Loch Long to the sheltered waters of the beautiful Holy Loch, which was used as a British submarine base during World War 2. From 1961-92 it was a US Navy submarine base, and at that time there were Chevrolets and Cadillacs driving around Dunoon!
You will have about an hour ashore when you could walk to the war memorial at Lazaretto Point, visit the marina cafe, or just sit on the benches next to the marina office, absorb the beautiful scenery, and watch all the boat activity.
3 hours
up to 12 people
£330
The American Connection
This boat trip with a difference tracks the links between this area and America. We look at what was happening in World War 2, and visit Rosneath, which was a US Naval Base from 1942 to 1945, with 6000 US troops living in the surrounding woods and a US Naval Hospital just over the hill behind.
Then we voyage across to the Holy Loch – a US Navy submarine base from 1961-1992 during the Cold War, and learn about the huge floating dry dock in the centre of the loch, and the Cadillacs and Chevrolets in the nearby town.
We return via Greenock, which at its peak had 14 sugar refineries operating, with around 400 ships arriving annually from Brazil and the Caribbean. Then finally, before returning to Rhu we get up close and personal with the wreck of the Sugar Boat, an iconic local feature which even has a local restaurant named after it.
3 hours hours
up to 12 people
£400
Kip Marina, with time ashore
A lovely scenic boat trip, passing close by Gourock and the Cloch Lighthouse, then continuing south to the bustling marina at Kip, Scotland’s first marina, now with over 600 berths, and an attached marina village. You will have about an hour and a half ashore when you can visit Kip’s Chartroom Restaurant or the marina coffee shop, or just wander around, soak up the atmosphere, and watch all the activity.
4 hours
up to 12 people
£400
Arrochar, at the top of Loch Long
Departing Rhu, this one day boat trip takes you along the Kilcreggan shoreline before turning right into Loch Long. The journey then takes you all the way up Loch Long, passing Loch Goil, the ammunitions depot at Coulport, the fuel depot at Finnart, and Glen Mallan Pier, where aircraft carriers berth right next to the shore. Arriving in Arrochar, you will disembark onto their new pontoon from where you can walk into the village for lunch. After a couple of hours ashore, your boat will depart Arrochar for a gentle meander down Loch Long and back round to the Gare Loch whilst you relax, sipping a glass of prosecco.
1-12 people. Private Trip rate £950
- 09:30 – Depart Rhu
- 11:45 – Arrive Arrochar
- 11:40-14:00 – Time ashore
- 14:00 – Depart Arrochar
- 16:30/17:00 – Arrive at Rhu
All day trip hours
up to 12 people
£950
Loch Long Trip: Coulport, Finnart & Glen Mallan
This boat trip takes you through some stunning scenery as you loop around the Rosneath Peninsula, passing Kilcreggan, and then head north up Loch Long. Coulport RNAD Depot comes up shortly on our right-hand side – the storage & loading facility for Trident nuclear warheads, and one of the most sensitive, hidden, and well-guarded defence facilities in the UK. Just beyond that, opposite the entrance to Loch Goil, we come to Finnart Oil Terminal. Crude oil travels from here by pipeline across Scotland to Grangemouth. Heading further north, we reach Glen Mallan jetty, where the loch is deep enough to allow aircraft carriers to berth against the shore. The new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier docked here in July 2023. We will return by the same route, giving you the opportunity to appreciate more fully the impressive scenery surrounding you on all sides.
3 hours
up to 12 people
£400
Four Piers Boat Trip
In the era of the Clyde steamers in the 19th century, before the invention of the internal combustion engine, people used piers the way we use bus stops. Piers would spring up all over the Clyde & the Clyde sea lochs, often in competition with each other, and sometimes even two in the same village.
On this trip you will visit four of the remaining piers – Helensburgh, Craigendoran, Kilcreggan and Blairmore – and learn a bit more about this amazing period in our history, which started when Henry Bell of Helensburgh invented the Comet.
3 hours
up to 12 people
£400
Longer Private Hire Trips
If you choose to hire our boat, skipper and crew for a half day or a full day, there are a variety of destinations further afield to choose from. Below are some suggestions, but we are always happy to design a day trip to suit your specific requirements, timescale or destination.
River Clyde, Erskine Bridge & the Titan Crane
Cruise Loch Long for lunch in Arrochar
Glasgow’s Riverside Museum or Clydeside Distillery
Benmore Botanic Gardens, Dunoon