Skellig Islands | Skellig Michael tours

Skellig Islands What are they? There are two enormous rocks in the Atlantic Ocean, 11.6 km west of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. One is known as Skellig Michael and the other known as the Small Skelligs. Let me discuss the Small Skelligs first.

Skellig Islands, the Birds

Skellig Islands are famous for its sea birds; more specifically the Small Skellig is the World’s second largest Gannet Colony with almost 27,000 pairs. It has a great variety of other seabirds, including 4,000 Puffins on the great Skelligs alone, European Storm Petrels, Manx Shearwaters, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Common Guillemots and Razorbills just to name a few. So here you see the Small Skelligs really is a twitchers paradise. So do not hesitate to book your Skellig Michael tour with us. Now let me highlight Skellig Michael.

Skelligs Michael, the World Heritage site

The Skelligs Michael World Heritage site declared by UNESCO since 1996 as a site of tremendous value and importance; The Island itself was a 6^th Century Christian Monastery Perched at 160 metres above sea levels.

Skellig Islands attract Thousands and thousands tourists every year, some are visiting there for religious reasons others for historical and then some to take in this amazing natural landscape.

Skellig Islands, pilgrimage

Skellig Islands has been a place for pilgrimage, as it was the Home of Monks of St Fionan, where these Monks used to live in the stone beehive shaped huts, and rectangular shaped on the inside, build to prevent rain drops penetrating inside. It is believed that these Monks used to spend days in the Church, and the rest of the time in studying and tending their gardens. Though these Monks vacated the island in 13^th century, the archaeological studies reveal that the rock was a home for 12 Monks. For more information click here:

The Skellig Islands Divers paradise

The Skellig Islands also offer many interesting recreational diving sites due to the clear water, an abundance of life, and underwater cliffs down to 60 meters.

Hence there is something for everyone on the Skellig Islands.