Explore Nature.
Protect Nature.
Enthuse and Educate about nature – specialising in marine wildlife.
That’s essentially, our policy.
As a nature tour boat company, you’d imagine that we have a clear view about protecting the environment. You’re right. We do.
However, it’s difficult to pin a ‘green’ award or label on a boat company doesn’t quite fit the red-tape and tick boxes required to win the badge. We’ve investigated various schemes, but the standards by which companies are measured usually refer to fixed dwellings, annual power consumption and insulation values. They’re just not appropriate to a boat. We have looked at it in detail, but we felt that any effort would be ‘greenwashing’.
So instead of chasing awards, here’s what we do…
What we do
- Working for the cause
- We partner the Balanced Horizon Community – an environmental organisation dedicated to protecting and restoring natures balance in the Firth of Forth – where we sail.
- BlueWild manages their boats free of charge.
- Their work includes beach and coastal cleaning projects involving volunteers throughout Scotland.
- Managing the Lobster Hatchery to create sustainable supplies of lobster to local waters
- Creating a revolutionary ‘oyster nursery’ with the objective of re-introducing oysters into the Rover Forth – a lace where they were once common.
- Different engines
- We removed the diesel engines from our large boat and changed to the latest new ‘lean-burn’ outboard motors.
- New engine
- We have replaced the diesel engine in our small boat with an approved modern diesel engine that has less emissions. It is the most practical available on the market for our boat.
- Innovative anti-foul paint
- Our boats are painted with a new, innovative antifoul which was launched in 2025. We are amongst the first boats in the world testing this product.
- Efficient sailing
- Our engines have a pre-determined ‘lean-burn operating range, and we run our tours to sail within this range.
- We carefully monitor fuel consumption.
- We train skippers in efficient and smooth driving to maximise efficiency. We know where every litre of fuel goes.
- We switch off engines when in port – unless there is a very good reason to leave them running.
Background – what we’ve tried
We’ve looked at carbon offset models but don’t believe that this is an efficient use of our time. We’ve trialled electric outboards as auxiliary engines, but they proved woefully inadequate. They were neither powerful enough not practical, quite apart from being unfeasibly expensive. The batteries required for a 20 hp motor would have weighed the same as three adult passengers and would have taken up 3 seats on the deck of our boat. They would last 2 hours in practice from full charge. We need 320 hp and to run for 8 hours. The reality is that, sadly, this is a technology not yet ready for commercial use.