Kintra Boat Tours

Kintra Boat Tours Family-run wildlife boat tours from Ballycastle harbour. Cruise the Causeway Coast and circle Rathlin Island with a crew who knows every cave, cliff and colony.
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Puffins in season, seals, seabirds and lighthouses. Book online. 🐧 Kintra Boat Tours is a family-run wildlife tour company sailing from Ballycastle harbour on Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast. Our crew take you out to Rathlin Island and
along the North Antrim cliffs in search of puffins (April to mid-August), seals, seabird colonies, sea caves and all three Rathlin lighthouses, including the fam

ous upside-down
West Light. Wildlife is wild, so we never promise a sighting. Our skipper know the best spots and we always do our best to find it, and even on a quiet day the cliffs, caves and coastline
put on a show. Bring your binoculars. 🐧

Tours run in season, weather permitting.Layers and flat shoes recommended, toilets onboard, and there is a tour for everyone from toddlers to grandparents and your pet as well! Book online at kintraboattours.co.uk to be sure of a seat, or at the Ballycastle Visitor Centre.

Last Sunday's Carrick-a-Rede trip, dolphins included! 🐬⚓The clips in between are straight from the bow riding session, s...
06/09/2026

Last Sunday's Carrick-a-Rede trip, dolphins included! 🐬⚓

The clips in between are straight from the bow riding session, sound on!

1. Full house on the bow, everyone forward for the headland
2. Two at the rail for the stack
3. The view from the wheel, cliffs in every window
4. Home again, Ballycastle harbour
5. Company at the cliffs, three fins under the chalk
6. Crystal clear, the whole dolphin beside the boat

We hope you enjoy these as much as we did on the day!
Wildlife being wildlife, every trip is its own lucky dip 🎲
Which one is your favourite?

Fancy your own day on the water?
Book here 👉 https://kintraboattours.co.uk/pages/daily-sailings?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=best-moments-of-the-week

Penny's Beak Quiz is back! ⚓On Tuesday we met the FULMAR, the "seagull" that isn't a gull at all. Four new questions thi...
04/09/2026

Penny's Beak Quiz is back! ⚓

On Tuesday we met the FULMAR, the "seagull" that isn't a gull at all. Four new questions this time, and Tuesday's facts wait at the end in case you missed the reel.
Score yourself in the comments! Penny will be marking strictly 🧐

A little deeper for the curious ones: A fulmar chick spends most of its childhood home alone. Mum and dad keep it warm for about two weeks, then both head out to sea for food and the chick sits on its bare ledge for another eight weeks or so, on its own, until it can fly. That is why it learns to spit so young: for two months that oil is the only thing between it and every hungry gull on the cliff 🎯

The fulmars are drifting off the cliffs about now too. They never go far though: they spend the winter out on the sea and are back at their ledges by midwinter. Whether one glides past the boat on your trip is still up to her.
Wildlife being wildlife, every trip is its own lucky dip 🎲

Big thanks to our onboard photographer James 📷 Facts from the Wildlife Trusts, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the RSPB and Wikipedia 🤓

More beak facts and quizzes next Tuesday, in a different format!

All our sailings 👉 https://kintraboattours.co.uk/pages/daily-sailings?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=beak-quiz-fulmar-sep04

The August raffle has been drawn! 🎟️Two tickets came out of the hat: 476 wins a Kintra beanie, and 803 wins a rubber puf...
04/09/2026

The August raffle has been drawn! 🎟️

Two tickets came out of the hat: 476 wins a Kintra beanie, and 803 wins a rubber puffin! 🐧

Have a look through your pockets and your camera roll! It might be you! Send us a picture of your winning ticket in a DM or an email and we will post your prize out to you, wherever you are in the world.
September is the final month of our season, and the hat is filling up again. Every ticket on every sailing is in the draw!

Come meet us out in Ballycastle!
Book your September sailing here 👉 https://kintraboattours.co.uk/pages/daily-sailings?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=august-raffle-winners-sep04

01/09/2026

Beak Facts Episode 7: Meet the fulmar! 🌊

The "seagull" that isn't a gull at all!
She's a tubenose, one of the most interesting birds on the cliffs! Look for the tube on her bill: she drinks seawater and sneezes the salt straight back out of it.
And if you get too close to her nest? She spits a foul orange oil that wrecks a predator's feathers. Charming!!!

Turn the sound on and let Penny talk you through it! 🐧
Facts from the Wildlife Trusts and Encyclopedia.com 🤓
That's the last Beak Facts in this format this season! Penny's back next Tuesday with something new!

Come and meet her out on the water 👉 https://kintraboattours.co.uk/pages/daily-sailings?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=reel&utm_campaign=beak-facts-ep7-fulmar

Today we waved goodbye to one of our own. Steph! ⚓If you've been wondering why you never saw her on this page all season...
31/08/2026

Today we waved goodbye to one of our own. Steph! ⚓

If you've been wondering why you never saw her on this page all season, that's because she preferred it that way, and we respected it. But a proper goodbye matters just as much as a hello! So we sneaked the camera out during her last week, and she was too busy working to stop us.

Steph has been a brilliant part of our wee team. The briefings, the ropes, the stories on deck, and hands down the sharpest marine wildlife facts on this coast. If a fun fact on this page ever made you go "no way", chances are it started with Steph!

Thank you for all your hard work, all the stories, and every guest you sent home smiling. The whole Kintra team wishes you all the best for what comes next! 🧡

And her leaving rings the bell for the last sprint. September is the final month of our season, and we sail less often now than in high summer. So if you have been meaning to join us, now is the time!

Book here 👉 https://kintraboattours.co.uk/pages/daily-sailings?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=goodbye-steph

One more thing... there is a surprise coming this week! 👀 And the raffle will be drawn at the end of this week, while the crew takes a well deserved breather.

The best of this week aboard Selkie! ⚓ 1. Two at full speed, bottlenose dolphins on the Carrick-a-Rede run 2. Our ...
30/08/2026

The best of this week aboard Selkie! ⚓

1. Two at full speed, bottlenose dolphins on the Carrick-a-Rede run
2. Our sunfish of the season
3. Three in a row, gannets over Rathlin Sound
4. Head underwater, a juvenile kittiwake coming in to land
5. Charles at the wheel, ready for the afternoon sailing
6. Kinbane in the wake, heading home past the chalk cliffs
7. Yellow on blue, a neighbour off the Ballycastle slipway
8. Up for a breath, close enough to see the blowhole
9. Sailing past the stripes, the little lighthouse on the point

Wildlife being wildlife, every trip is its own lucky dip 🎲
Which one is your favourite?
Fancy your own week of moments?
Book here 👉 https://kintraboattours.co.uk/pages/daily-sailings?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=best-moments-of-the-week

29/08/2026

Same day as today's reel. Just from a different perspective! 😁

Thank you for sharing this amazing video with us!

29/08/2026

What swims under Selkie's railing? 🐬⚓

A whole pod riding the bow this Thursday! What an incredible day out on the water 🌊
Lean over the side on the right day and this is what you get. Close enough to count, in water so clear you can follow them the whole way down.
Our crew filmed this one over the rail. No zoom, no drone, just leaning over and looking!

These are wild dolphins and they choose their own days! We can never promise a sighting.
Some days it is an empty blue sea and that is part of the deal.
Wildlife being wildlife, every trip is its own lucky dip 🎲

Our September sailings are on our website now! Fancy your luck? Then jump aboard!
All our sailings 👉 https://kintraboattours.co.uk/pages/daily-sailings?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=reel&utm_campaign=over-the-rail

28/08/2026

With the summer holidays coming to a close, here are the best encounters we had this season so far! 🏆

We ranked our top 5 non-bird encounters of the season. Number one was a once in a lifetime experience! Watch to the end. 🐋

Wildlife being wildlife, every trip is its own lucky dip 🎲
And we are far from done! There is still a full month of sailing ahead on Selkie, and the September schedule is online now. 🐬

Do you fancy your luck? 👉 https://kintraboattours.co.uk/pages/daily-sailings?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=reel&utm_campaign=top5-encounters

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BAYVIEW Road
Ballycastle
BT546BT

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