St Mary's Island England Hugh Town, Scilly Isles
United Kingdom
7
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Atlas Ocean Voyages (2 Cruises)
SeaDream Yacht Club (1 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
In St Mary's Roads, off Hugh Town. Passengers reach the quay by tender, about ten minutes across surprisingly clear water. There is no cruise berth: everything comes and goes by tender.
Yes, everything is walkable. The town stretches along a neck of land edged to the north by Town Beach and to the south by the pale cove of Porthcressa. Between them, Hugh Street lines up shops, galleries and tea rooms in plain granite houses.
The Garrison rampart walk in an hour, then Hugh Street and a beach, make a pleasant half day. The more active head for the prehistoric sites to the north or take an inter-island launch, each crossing lasting under half an hour.
The Garrison peninsula above the quay carries fortifications begun in 1593, when Elizabethan England feared a second Armada. Star Castle, an eight-pointed star fortress now a hotel, sits at the top; the rampart walk makes an hour's circuit past cannon, sentry boxes and wide views.
Yes. From the quay, inter-island launches fan out to Tresco and its subtropical gardens, St Martin's and its white sandbars, or the seal colonies of the Eastern Isles. Timetables follow the tides, a serious matter here: check your return time before setting off.
Yes, four millennia of occupation are written into its coast. To the north, the Bant's Carn burial chamber and the prehistoric settlement of Halangy Down are freely accessible at the end of a coastal path. The island has some fifteen kilometres of such trails.
Because of the Gulf Stream, which softens the climate of the archipelago, 45 kilometres off the tip of Cornwall. Palms and agapanthus thrive in the gardens, and the islands long shipped their narcissi to London in midwinter; a few flower fields keep the tradition alive.
At Porthcressa, south of town and the handiest from Hugh Town, or at the Pelistry coves to the east for a beach with nobody on it. The water keeps its Atlantic chill even in summer: swimming is possible, but brief.
Sterling and English. Hugh Street shops take cards, but keep some cash for the inter-island launches and the small shops on neighbouring islands.
May to September, for long days, gardens in bloom and safer inter-island crossings. One call rarely covers everything: better to pick one island, one beach or one path, and save the rest for another time.
