The Skellig Islands
Skellig Michael and Little Skellig
The two Skellig islands rise straight out of the Atlantic about 13 kilometres off the coast. You can see them from many points along the shore, and they always look closer than they are.
Skellig Michael is the larger of the two. It rises over 230 metres from the sea. Monks built a monastery near the top in the 6th century, around 160 metres above the waves. Their stone beehive huts and the steps they cut into the rock are still there. The island became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
Little Skellig is smaller but every bit as dramatic. Almost 30,000 pairs of gannets nest there, which makes it one of the largest gannet colonies in the world. From a distance the rock looks white because of all the birds. Little Skellig is closed to the public.
Wildlife
Seabirds and wildlife
The Skelligs are a great place for seabirds. Thousands of puffins nest on Skellig Michael from late spring into the summer. You may also see razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes, fulmars and Manx shearwaters, as well as gannets diving for fish.
Dolphins and seals are often seen in these waters. In some summers basking sharks and minke whales pass by too.
On screen
Star Wars on the Skelligs
In 2015 Skellig Michael was used as a filming location for Star Wars. It appeared in The Force Awakens and again in The Last Jedi. A lot of people now know the island as the place where Luke Skywalker went to hide.
On a trip
Fishing near the Skelligs
The deep water around the Skelligs is some of the best fishing ground on this coast. On calm days our full-day trips can head out this way in search of pollack, ling and other bigger fish.
We do not land on the islands. If you want to climb the steps to the monastery, you need to book a landing trip with one of the boats licensed to land on Skellig Michael. Landings depend on the weather and places sell out early in the summer.