Scenic Cruises is a small enterprise established on the Isle of Harris in 1996 to provide visitors to the island with an 'in-depth' experience of seeing Harris 'under the skin' through the eyes and intimate knowledge of a real, native Hearach (Harrisman). If small is beautiful, then this is gorgeous, as it is a really informal family outing, doing nothing very ambitious, but wandering along the shoreline in 'Lady Catherine', and taking in an amazing array of what there is to see.

Don't ask too much about what you might see, because if you knew, nothing would be a surprise, but think about local social history, natural history, marine wildlife in season etc., etc., and everything in amazing detail. At the end of it, apart from not wanting to come ashore, you will have seen and heard the reality of what makes Harris tick and what makes it such a very special place, not only to its own people but also to its summer visitors, who keep coming back again and again.

'Lady Catherine' is a 6.5 metre motor boat, definitely not the high-speed dash-about type, but purposeful, extremely stable, very friendly to non-sailors and well equipped for safety. Hamish, the owner and skipper, is a solid, native Hearach, who in common with a great number of his compatriots has quite sizeable chunks of the world under his belt, and in retirement finds great enjoyment in sharing with others what really lies at 'the centre of the universe'.

He counts as clients a surprising (yet perhaps not surprising) number of well-known personalities on his ordinary selection of cruises, and in the realm of the occasional 'non-standard' cruise, such people as Andy Strangeway (Islandman), whose great interest is overnighting on some of the most isolated islands he can find. He put Andy ashore on Stocinis island in the late summer of 2006, on a balmy, flat calm afternoon, when the 'Pirhana' midges were really hungry. Hamish went back the following morning unsure whether he would find Andy or the frame that used to be Andy, but there he was, not (too much) bothered by the miniscule multifanged monsters and eagerly waiting to get on to his next island.

Have a look at Hamish's website www.scenic-cruises.co.uk for more tantalising detail of why you should make Harris and your holiday choice and Scenic Cruises one of your first holiday activities.