Our vessel is the ‘Gemini Explorer’, a 72-ft long converted lifeboat. She was built in 1974 as a cruising lifeboat, one that is at sea all the time. She entered service at the Clovelly Lifeboat Station on the North Devonshire coast and saved 44 lives before being retired in 1989 and converted into a small cruise ship.
After a refurbishment in 2020, Gemini is now based out of Oban and sails the islands and sea lochs of Scotland’s west coast and the Hebrides as part of the St. Hilda Sea Adventures fleet.
Gemini has a crew of 3 and can carry up to 8 passengers. Our crew is Dougie (captain), Ian (chef) and Esther (all around deck hand). Our travelling companions are Rosemary and Michael (retired couple from just south of London), Louise and Naeem (a couple from Surrey – Louise is a university instructor and Naeem a retired barrister now teaching law), Bridget (retired infectious disease nurse from Edinburgh), and Caroline (retired teacher and full-time bell ringer, from Sussex).
A short tour of the Gemini