The Monach Islands

"Thirty thousand seals on five tiny islands - this must be one of the greatest wildlife spectacles in the UK" (Gordon Buchanan, BBC 'Autumn Watch')

The Monach Islands, or simply 'the Monachs', lie to west of the Outer Hebrides separated from North Uist by several miles of shallow water. A group of five small islands, they lie wild and exposed to the full force of the Atlantic.

Chalice will only visit these islands on one of our St Kilda or Outer Isles cruises, and even then this is very definitely a 'weather permitting' location. The seals are not resident in the vast numbers cited in the above quotation all year round, but on a summers day it is not uncommon to see up to a hundred creatures lounging on reefs washed by the Atlantic swell.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.