Oh no! Chalice is for sale..!!

Chalice has now been sailing in the Hebrides for over ten years, and we've had the privilege of owning her for the last five. When we first bought Chalice, we said that we'd try it for 'two or three years'. Here we are in year five - and it's going pretty well!

However, the cruising season is relatively short and the pace at which we work is pretty hectic and involves Chris being 'at sea' for almost six months of the year with little time off. Of course we could use other skippers*, but in a way this defeats the purpose of why we do this in the first place - it's all about being with people and working in an amazing environment.

We value all of our guests and we realise that many of you return for more of the 'Chalice Experience'. If we can't be there to deliver this personally, then we don't feel that it's quite the same. In addition, we want guests who sail on our last trip of the season to be met with the same amount of enthusiasm as the guests who sail on our first trip. We don't want to appear as a tired and grumpy crew.

So, rather than compromise the situation, we've come up with a solution that will hopefully work exceedingly well.

Next year Chris will be skippering the ELizabeth G which is owned by Rob Barlow. Elizabeth G also takes dive charters and these will all be run by Rob, while Chris runs the wildlife charters. By mixing the work, both skippers will be able to spend more time at home during the summer months and share the responsibility of running the boat.

If you've sailed on Chalice before and are worried about sailing on another vessel - don't be! Elizabeth G is a bit like 'Chalice on steroids' - slightly bigger in all respects and just as comfortable. We're convinced that you will have just as good a holiday - otherwise we wouldn't be doing it.

In other words it's "business as usual"!

*Note - For the first time this year we're really pleased to have had our friend John Maughan skipper two cruises for us. 'Big' John is an experienced and capable skipper who has been able to step in and let Chris have a couple of well-earned breaks and we hope that John will be able to work with us in the future.