William Munro of Caithness Seacoast has a front-row seat to daily life along the Caithness coastline. Together with his wife, Adelaine, William runs Seacoast tours, inviting visitors to see another side of Caithness with an exhilarating trip on their powerboat.

This dramatic stretch of coastline in east Caithness offers everything from sea-stacks and caves to close-up encounters with seabirds and marine wildlife. It’s also a great way to add something different to your North Coast 500 (NC500) itinerary, with a unique vantage point on some of the route’s most iconic landmarks, including Keiss Castle, the Whaligoe Steps, Ackergill Tower, and Castle Sinclair Girnigoe.

In this blog, William shares a few of his favourite highlights from the East Caithness coastline.

Bucket List favourites along the East Caithness Coast

I often say to people that I have to pinch myself when I realise that I get paid to do this. Every day I get to head out onto the water and share our incredible coastline.

We started Caithness Seacoast back in 2008 with just myself and Adelaine, one tour guide and one skipper, and things have really taken off, especially with the North Coast 500. What’s kept it going all these years isn’t just visitors from far afield. We’re also a favourite for locals, especially if they have family visiting from Australia, New Zealand, London – we’re often on their bucket list when they come north, and it’s easy to see why.

Our patch runs from the Pentland Firth down past Wick and as far south as Helmsdale on longer trips, though most daily tours take in the stretch between Keiss Castle and Whaligoe. From the sea, you see things you simply cannot see from the land. Enormous caves, hidden arches, sheer cliffs layered by time and ice. Just south of Wick we’ve got the biggest natural sea arch on the UK mainland. From the waterline, the scale of it hits you properly.

Then there are the castles – Buchollie, Keiss, Ackergill Tower, Sinclair and Girnigoe, Old Wick and further south, Forse. They rise straight out of the cliffs. Seeing them from the sea gives you a completely different perspective on how and why they were built.

But for most people, it’s the wildlife that stays with them.

Bird watching and cave dwelling

We’re on a Site of Special Scientific Interest along this east coast. The geology here is layered – the sea has reworked it over thousands of years, creating shelves in the rock. That shelving is exactly what seabirds need: a safe, stable ledge to nest on. And nature has timed the food source to arrive in large shoals of sand eels. That’s why they come here in such numbers.

In spring and early summer, the cliffs are full of guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars – literally hundreds of thousands of them. When you stand at the top of a cliff, you might see birds below, but at water level it’s a different story entirely. You see them packed into the rock faces and really get to take in the sheer scale, noise, movement – and smell! It’s a spectacular experience.

We take it steady around the nesting areas and slow our speed right down. We’ll carefully explore the caves, talking to passengers about the Ice Age and how the geology shapes the wildlife. The birds spend about three to three and a half months here – reconnaissance, pairing up, egg for a month, chick for a month, and then they’re gone. It’s a short, intense season.

Puffins are always a favourite. There’s a small colony five minutes’ sailing from Wick Harbour, at Scorries Island, as we call it locally. I’ve had visitors who’ve been to Orkney and never seen a puffin, then five minutes into our trip, there they are. On longer tours north to Duncansby Stacks and the Pentland Firth, you’ll see thousands during the season.

Dancing with dolphins

Out beyond the birds, we sometimes encounter whales and dolphins. Minke whales appear from time to time. Dolphins – usually bottlenose – are something else entirely. If they decide they want to race the boat, they will. They play in the bow wave, darting back and forth.

And then there are orcas.

The orcas have always been there. What’s changed is the number of eyes watching. With social media and WhatsApp groups, sightings travel fast. You’ll hear they’ve passed Duncansby Head heading south, and by the time they reach Wick there can be dozens of people watching from the cliffs.

We don’t advertise specific orca trips because you simply cannot guarantee them. If we do encounter them while we’re out, that’s special. When we spot them, we follow the Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code strictly. Approach angles, speed, distances, interaction time – it’s all set out clearly and we stick to it.

Sometimes the boat is stopped completely and the orcas approach us. They’re inquisitive, especially the youngsters. They’ll pass under the hull, right beside us. From a photograph it can look like we’re too close, but what people don’t see is that we’re stationary – the animals have come to us. Responsibility is paramount.

When orcas are about, it’s unpredictable. You might have three sightings in a day or you might have one all season. That’s wildlife. But when it happens, it’s unforgettable.

Something for everyone

The experience itself is part of the draw. This is an open boat so you’re right next to the water, feeling the wind and the sea spray. It can get lively out there, so safety always comes first on our tours. You might get a bit wet, but being out in the fresh air, at sea level beneath those cliffs, is something land-based viewing just can’t replicate. We also love to welcome local school kids, who enjoy getting out to see the puffins and learn about the coast. We work closely with Wick Heritage Centre, which is a treasure trove of local history, and of course our visitors enjoy discovering other attractions and cafes in the area.

What makes this coast particularly special is the variety you can experience in such a compact stretch. Castles, arches, sea stacks, caves, nesting seabirds in their millions, puffins five minutes from harbour, dolphins racing the bow, and the possibility of orcas moving along the shoreline. You can stand at the top of the cliffs and watch, or you can come down to sea level and see it properly.

For nature lovers, it doesn’t get much better.

Great to know before you go!

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