Life on the ocean waves
NIGEL HEATH MEETS THE BOATMEN OF SCILLY ON AN ISLAND-HOPPING HOLIDAY BEYOND LAND’S END
HE romantically named Guiding Star, Sapphire and Sea King will be recognisable to those who have fallen in love with the Isles of Scilly. These are three of the sturdy fleet of craft that ferry thousands of holidaymakers between St Marys, St Martins, Tresco, Bryher and St Agnes, which comprise this enchanting archipelago just 28 miles beyond Land’s End.
Once visitors fly in or arrive by sea amid these semi sub-tropical islands surrounded by dazzling white sandbars, many fall under the spell of Scilly and return time and again.
The launches, operated by the St Marys Boatmen’s Association, Tresco Boat Services, St Agnes Boating and some private operators, link these small islands together and are an essential part of a special holiday. Every breakfast time boatmen tour the guest houses and hotels in Hugh Town, St Marys, telling visitors about the trips they’re running.
Crowds gather on the quay to board the launches for trips to the off islands or for seabird and seal watching around a myriad of rocks and tiny uninhabited islands.
My wife Jenny and I had sailed out from Penzance to St Marys on board the MV Scillonian III but we were bound for St Martins.
We boarded The Meridian so, as soon as the luggage transfer had been completed, we set off again. At the helm, with his spaniel Bella, was islander Paul Osborne, who began helping out on the launches in his school holidays. Paul, 49, spent a decade skippering in The British Virgin Islands – quite similar to the Scillies, he says – then came home and acquired The Meridian.
He announced that we’d be disembarking at Lower Town, St Martins. This was good news because our hotel, the friendly Karma St Martins, which resembles a row of cottages, is close to the jetty so we were soon enjoying an al fresco lunch overlooking a white sandy beach and crystal-clear waters.
Then followed four glorious days wandering around this lovely island, complete with deserted sandy bays and quiet footpaths awash with wildflowers while seals and seabirds rode the waves offshore.
Tresco, famous for its sub-tropical Abbey Gardens, was next on our island-hopping tour – and now islander James Stedeford picked us up in his launch, The Falcon.
Like many of his friends, he grew up helping out on the boats and gained his first crew ticket when he was 16. James worked in the family boating business until his parents retired and then launched out on his own five years ago.
We checked in to the cosy New Inn for two nights and a short walk later found us in the Abbey Gardens, a 17-acre sub-tropical paradise established in the 19th century and now home to thousands of exotic plants. Our afternoon was spent hunting for tiny, but elusive, cowry shells along a deserted sandy bay.
The following day we walked around the island, coming first to Cromwell’s Castle, built to guard the narrow sound between Tresco and Bryher, before skirting small bays and heather-covered headlands.
Then it was time to sail back to St Marys on board a morning jetboat with Tresco Boat Services’ Dave Hooper at the helm. He came out to Scilly, became involved in launch operations, wed a local girl and the couple now have three children.
We didn’t need directions to our final three-night hotel destination because the historic granite built Star Castle soon hove into view. Built in 1503, it’s set on a hillside within garrison walls and tranquil grounds, and has magnificent views over the town, the busy harbour and the off islands.
We walked around the flowergarlanded garrison to sheltered Porthcressa Beach, where we stopped for lunch before strolling around the impressive granite headland to picturesque Old Town with its small quiet beach and centuries-old church, the last resting place of former PM Harold Wilson.
St Marys with its busy little High Street, bustling, harbour, sheltered bays, nature reserve, pretty inland gardens and studios, where artists paint stunning island scenes, has much to see and do – but we were lured by the siren call of those enchanting off islands.
We sailed out to Bryher on board the Sea King, skippered for many years by Fraser Hicks. On a windy day, tiny Bryher, with its aptly named Hell Bay, takes the full force of the Atlantic breakers.
Luckily, the turquoise seas were calm when Ryan Sloane, 28, later came to pick us up on his magnificent launch, Seahorse, which he bought a year ago and of which he is justly proud.
“I came for a season when I was eighteen, started crewing on the boats where I later met my wife Lizzy and I’ve never left,” he explained.
All too soon, our holiday was over but there was time for a morning trip out to the uninhabited island of Annet to see puffins other seabirds and seals before catching the MV Scillonian back to Penzance.
Fittingly, our skipper on his launch, The Sapphire, was islander and Boatmen’s Association chairman Joe Pender who started crewing for his father over 30 years ago.
Joe, who skilfully manoeuvred his boat for some exciting views of puffins, seals and a nesting peregrine falcon, explained the association was founded over 50 years ago when competing skippers decided it would be better to work together.
It would be Scilly not to, really.