New 'double decker' catamaran brings wow factor to Farne Islands boat trips

The catamaran has been bought by Seahouses-based Serenity and will mostly be used for trips around the Farne Islands.

“I think visitors will be blown away by it,” predicts Andrew Douglas of Serenity. “It’s definitely got the wow factor.

"The big advantage is that the top shelf provides a great place to sit out when the sun shines, while the bottom level gives space for passengers to stay out of the worst of the wind and rain."

The 15m long vessel has capacity for 120 passengers.

“It’s a purpose-built catamaran from the same boatyard as our other three boats,” revealed Andrew.

"We’ve changed all our boats to this style over the last 10 years because they are a lot more stable, they have toilets on board and they’re wheelchair accessible.

"This one is a little bit wider still for extra stability.”

He is expecting a busy summer season after the Covid restrictions of the past two years.

"The Farnes are as popular as ever,” he said. “We’ve had restricted sailings these past couple of years so I’m sure visitors will be keen to get back out there.”

It is also intended to use the new boat for trips to Holy Island.

It was a busy Easter period on the Northumberland coast and although it was followed by a lull, Andrew is sure numbers will return to the levels of past summers despite the opportunities for foreign holidays once more.

"That’s a key reason why we have kept our prices the same,” he revealed. “It wasn’t an easy decision to make with the rising costs of everything but we want to keep a Farnes trip at an affordable level.

"If you’re a family of four and the price goes up an extra £10 or £15 they might decide not to bother so we decided to bite the bullet on that one.”

He believes it is something other attractions and accommodation providers need to bear in mind.

He explained: “We’ve had a captive market for staycations but we have to be careful about the costs otherwise people will go back to their foreign holidays.”