Sea Kayaking in Oban, Scotland
Sea Kayaking In and Around Oban
Sea kayaking and Oban are the perfect match. The whole being worth more than the sum of the parts. Wildlife, up close and personal, includes seals, porpoises, whales, otters and eagles. History, with its castles, slate villages, deserted islands. Scenery, as good as the West Coast of Scotland gets, island jewels dotted on a steel blue ocean.
Perfect wild camping on short, flat grass, a few feet from your campfire and on your own island. The kayaking itself is there in all its guises from sheltered lochs and passages to the World famous overfalls and tide races of the Falls of Lora and the Gulf of Corryvreckan.
It is a perfect place to start your sea kayaking career with plenty of excellent, highly qualified companies keen to give you a safe, enjoyable and fun introduction. It’s also a great place to return to time and again. Several businesses offer a complete sea kayak outfitting, rental, hire service for those experienced kayakers who fly in from all over the World. They can offer lots of advice and local knowledge to help make the visit a superb experience
Each year, an increasing number of sea kayakers visit the Oban area for days or weeks to explore the islands of Kerrera, Lismore, Seil, Easdale, Luing, Scarba, Shuna and the Garvellachs as well as numerous smaller ones. They are all different in geology and geography. Some islands have towering cliffs and enormous sea caves, others with vertical volcanic intrusions teetering above empty sandy beaches. Many sea kayakers stay for a day or two on their way to and from sea kayaking holidays around the big islands of the Inner Hebrides (Mull, Iona, Jura, Islay, Colonsay, Tiree and Coll) or the Outer Hebrides (Barra, the Uists, Lewis and Harris). Hence the Oban title of Gateway to the Isles. You can use a trolley to walk your sea kayak on to the ferry where it’s transported for the price of a bike.
Oban also has the full range of accommodation, a great selection of eateries and excellent sea kayaking shops and outdoor equipment shops, all dotted around the busy Harbour.
It really is arguably the Sea Kayaking Capital of Europe.
Click here for a list of sea kayaking activity providers in and around Oban »