Ailsa Craig Trips - Girvan

Paul K.

Here's a guide to how this boat trip works:

Booking

Forget online bookings: this is an old fashioned phone and cash process!

Ring Mark, the boatman, a few days before your visit and provisionally reserve places. His boat seems to have a capacity of about 16. He answered straight away both times I called and also responded to an earlier email. You will then need to ring again the day before the cruise to check if it's still running and at what time. The two big factors are the wind and tides. The boat can only moor at Ailsa Craig on a high tide. Have some flexibility if possible as trips are often cancelled. The cost in July 2024 was £40pp payable in cash on your return to Girvan harbour.

The crossing

It took us 1 hr 20 mins. You sit around the edge of the boat on hard benches. Take a cushion if you can! The engine throbs noisily throughout. There are no toilets.

The island

We had 90 mins ashore. You can have a nose around the lighthouse and derelict buildings including a cottage dating back to the quarrying days. Around the west coast you can reach a disused foghorn. There is another foghorn to the east but the path to it soon comes to a halt at aconcrete mini-viaduct that once supported a light railway and is now unsafe to walk along. The other option is the steep walk up an exposed path to the ruined peel tower.

You won't have anything like enough time to reach the summit of the island, a hike which Walk Highlands describes as "extremely steep and pathless after the initial ascent".

Your return

The boat circuits the island revealing vast cliffs teaming with seabirds. After about 25 mins you head straight back to Girvan which was slighty shorter than our outgoing journey. Allow a half-day for the excursion.

Conclusion

In truth, there's not a great amount of see on Ailsa Craig but, for islophiles like me, a visit to such an eye-catching quirky pudding of an island still makes for quite an exciting and novel boat trip.

Mountain P.

We had a fantastic day visiting the island with Mark and his first mate. Epic opportunity to visit such beautiful scenery and see awesome wildlife everywhere. Be aware its a good 70 to 90 minutes there and back!!!

Carsten S.

...contacted Mark McCrindle 6 month in advance. He didn't answer for weeks. When I finally got a contact he told me he is going out everyday, weather permitting, and I should pay 50£ to get to the isle and the same to get back a few days later as I was permitted to stay on the isle. When there he stave me off for 5 days and then increased the fare to 600£! It took me almost a 1000£ for flight and car rental. 100£ for satellite phone and marine radio. Another 500£ for hotel just to have nothing. Thank you very much Mr. McCrindle

chris J.

Nice friendly staff all very hardworking
We had a motorbike meeting with my friend from around the northwest central point to meet up
The room was just freshly painted and the smell wasn’t good bed mattress possibly could do with updating
But what really turned our attention away from all that, was the food, it was excellent and really well presented
Definitely will Book again

Helen S.

We had a fantastic trip to Ailsa Craig.
It took about an hour to get there, we were given almost 2 hours on the island to explore and then the boat circled around the island before returning back. I am guessing that he adapts the trip according to the weather. Fortunately for us it was a beautiful day. The trip there and back was stunning. On the island we explored the remains of the old buildings left behind and climbed up to the small castle, mid way up the hill. Some more adventurous people made it to the summit but it is more of a scramble uphill than a walk. On the way back we saw a whale which was an amazing sight.
Anyone going on the trip should be aware that it is just a small basic boat that is used for fishing in the mornings. It does not have toilets or shelter. My recommendation would be to use the harbour toilet before boarding, take a cushion to sit on, take plenty of food and drink, sun cream or a warm coat depending on the weather, you are very exposed to the weather. One recommendation for the owner would be to provide more chat. It was interesting when we went around the island and they talked about the stone, the fog horn and the birds but more information on the way over to the island perhaps about a it’s history and who owns it now would be nice.
All in all a lovely day that we will always remember.

Stephen D.

A great day's fishing on a really good boat but best of all was the skipper and 1st mate spiderman Pete and Barry. They know the waters well and tell you when a shoal of fish is under the boat using a great fish finder, but what struck me most was how helpful they were. I'm disabled and when they saw me heading to the boat Pete ran up and grabbed my stuff and pushed me up the ramp on the floating Dock, then when we were done the tide was out so the ramp was much steeper and I don't think I could make it up that but Pete ran up the ramp pushing me and carrying my stuff and pushed me right to my car. Most of all what struck me was when we were out fishing I didn't have to ask anything because if they saw something awkward or even something that would be better for me they offered or just did it. Highly recommended to anyone, if your going sea fishing that's the boat you want to be on.

amgetnauld

Cracking day out. My daughter and i were given the chance to visit the island on a glorious sunny august friday. Nice safe boat journey, landing on the pier were struck by the peace and quiet and isolation of the place. Could just imagine the families and men who had to toil and graft to break the granite into chunks and move it along the rail tracks to the workshops. We then climbed up to the wee castle , views were breathtaking. Stopped short of going all the way to the top. Will do that on next trip. On arriving at the pier we boarded and sailed right round to the west side and viewed the cliff faces that gannets were nesting on.(saw seal pups on the shore), puffins too. Given ample photo oportunities. Saw at close range gannets diving into the sea to catch fish, spectacular! Ended the day in the harbour bar with soup and a sausage roll. Strongly recommend this trip to anybody young and old. We'll certainly be back.

Robert B.

Cancelled, twice, once for bad weather, then at first said the weather was bad on Friday morning (for a Sunday trip), I pointed out that there was a good forecast and asked if he could get back in touch in the afternoon after he had checked the forecast. Mark did not phone me, when I phoned him he claimed there was a problem with the alternator and he was waiting for a part which had not arrived and could not therefore do the trip. Strange that he never mentioned this in the morning! I don't think he ever had any intention of doing the trip, we were looking forwards to it for weeks.