As in all walks of life qualifications and certification of ability are becoming more and more a requirement of operation and insurance and so to this end Seagull Trust Cruises has instituted a training and certification scheme for our boat skippers under the auspices of the Royal Yachting Association.  Under a recent E. U. Directive it is now a requirement that all of our skippers have to hold a qualification approved by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.  Some of our skippers are professional ship captains and seamen, many of them holding recognised Master Mariner Certificates of Competence.  However, the majority of our volunteers require formal training and this is provided by a qualified RYA Inland Waters Helmsmans Instructor.

Apart from the scenic and architectural sights along our routes there is plenty of wildlife to be seen. The Canal is home to a wide variety of wildlife from fish such as pike, to frogs, toads, dragonflies, pond skaters, ducks, moorhens and of course our swans which nest annually at the Swans Nest and over the years have successfully reared up to eight cygnets at a time. Birds nest in the reeds and grasses growing at the side of the canal and are to been seen flying off on the approach of the boat, however, the swans are used to us now and will come to the boat, with the cygnets, to be fed with biscuits and bread from the passengers.
 

Seagull Trust Cruises has Scottish Charity Number SC027163. It is incorporated in Scotland as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Company Number SC179736
Registered Office: 19 Dean Terrace, Edinburgh EH4 1NL