Visited: May 2025, on a call of MS Amadea.
Cruise ships do not tie up at St Mary’s. They anchor off the island, and passengers come ashore in local boats — the ship’s own tenders are not used here. The crossing takes about fifteen minutes and lands you in the middle of Hugh Town, the island’s only town. With four to five hours ashore, one walking loop and a meal make a full day. Two islands do not.
Where does the ship anchor at St Mary’s?
There is no berth for a cruise ship on St Mary’s. The quay was first built in 1593 and last extended by 23 metres in 2015; it takes vessels drawing up to 3.9 metres, which is the Scillonian ferry and the island freighter, not a passenger ship. So ships lie at anchor. According to St Mary’s Harbour, the two anchorages used are St Mary’s Roads, the water between St Mary’s and Samson, and Crow Sound on the eastern side of the island. A local pilot brings the ship in.
Coming ashore by tender
The harbour authority is explicit about this: passengers and crew are tendered ashore by local skippers, and the boats belong to the St Mary’s Boatmen’s Association. Ships’ own tenders stay on the davits. It is the same arrangement as at Saint Peter Port, and for the same reason — tides and local water that the visiting crew does not know.
Our ship anchored off St Mary’s and we were ashore in about a quarter of an hour. The boats run to the ship’s schedule, but the queue back builds through the afternoon, so the last hour ashore is worth less than it looks on the programme. Plan to be at the landing 45 to 60 minutes before the last tender. Out here the weather decides: a call can be shortened or dropped entirely, and that is not a formality.
Arriving on the Scillonian ferry instead
If you are not coming off a ship, the Scillonian III sails from Penzance from late March to early November. She leaves at about 09:15, takes roughly two and three quarter hours, and sails back from the island at about 16:30 — four and a half hours ashore, and a day-return ticket costs considerably less than an open return. Times shift with the tide, so check the current timetable before you plan around them. The Isles of Scilly Steamship Group has a replacement vessel on order, Scillonian IV, due to arrive in 2027.
Flying in with Skybus or the helicopter
Skybus flies to St Mary’s year-round from Land’s End — about fifteen minutes in the air — and seasonally from Newquay and Exeter. Penzance Helicopters fly year-round to St Mary’s and to Tresco. Flying buys you roughly eight hours on the islands against the ferry’s four and a half, which is the difference between one island and two. Flights and sailings are weather-dependent.
Hugh Town on foot: what is actually within reach
Hugh Town sits on a narrow isthmus joining the Garrison headland to the rest of the island, with a beach on either side: Town Beach on the harbour, Porthcressa facing south. You land at the quay and you are already in the town — the shops, cafés and galleries are on the two streets in front of you, and you can see both beaches from the middle of the isthmus. About 1,100 people live here, out of roughly 1,800 on the whole island.
What that means for a port day: nothing in Hugh Town needs planning, and everything beyond it needs a look at the clock.
| From the tender landing | Distance / time | Worth it on a port call? |
|---|---|---|
| Hugh Street, shops and cafés | at the quay | yes |
| Porthcressa Beach | across the isthmus, a few minutes | yes |
| Star Castle and the Garrison wall | uphill behind the town | yes, if you like a view |
| Buzza Tower, Peninnis Lighthouse, Old Town — the southern loop | 3.5 km, 50 minutes to 1½ hours | yes, this is the walk to do |
| The full coast path around the island | 16 km, 497 m of ascent | no, not on a port day |
| Tresco or St Martin’s | a separate boat, see below | only on a long call |
What fits into four hours ashore
One loop, one meal, and time in hand. From the quay, cross to Porthcressa and follow the shore east, then up past Buzza Tower — an old windmill that now holds a camera obscura — and out along the headland to Peninnis Lighthouse, built in 1911 and standing on some of the strangest weathered granite in England. From there the path runs on to Old Town, where the churchyard above the bay holds the grave of Harold Wilson, and a road brings you back into Hugh Town. Measured, the loop is about 3.5 kilometres and takes 50 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how often you stop.
That leaves an hour or more for lunch and the harbour before you queue for the boat. It is the right shape for the day. The mistake is to add a second thing.
Can you reach Tresco or St Martin’s from a cruise call?
Usually not, and it is worth being clear about why. The inter-island boats are run by the same St Mary’s Boatmen’s Association that tenders you ashore. Their published examples show departures from St Mary’s at around 10:00, 10:15, 11:15, 12:15 and 14:00, with returns from Tresco at 14:15, 15:45 and 16:45 — and the association says plainly that these illustrate the service rather than form a timetable, because tides, weather and numbers move them.
Stack that against a cruise call: tender ashore, find the right boat, cross, have perhaps two hours on the other island, cross back, then queue for the ship’s tender. It works only if your ship is in from early morning until late afternoon and you are willing to spend the whole day in transit. On a half-day call it does not work at all, and Tresco Abbey Garden deserves better than a forced march. St Agnes and Bryher are the same calculation.
Walking the whole coast path
The full circuit of St Mary’s starts and ends at Hugh Town Quay, runs about 16 kilometres along low cliffs, heathland and coves, and climbs 497 metres in total. It is easy to follow and never far from a road, but it is a half-day at a steady pace and not something to attempt against a tender deadline. If you ever get a night on the island, this is what to do with the morning.
Where the pictures are
The harbour at low tide is the subject here. Boats sit down on the sand, chains and moorings lie exposed, and the light comes off the wet flats rather than the sky — which is why the photographs on this page are mostly looking down and mostly at the water’s edge. The other one is the churchyard above the sea at St Mary’s Church, a short walk out of town, best late in the day.
Is St Mary’s part of Cornwall?
Not administratively. The Isles of Scilly are historically and ceremonially tied to Cornwall, but they are governed by their own Council of the Isles of Scilly and lie about 45 kilometres beyond Land’s End. St Mary’s is in England, reached via Cornwall and shaped by Cornish culture — yet it is not part of the county. In practice your journey starts in Penzance or at a Cornish airfield, and everything after that feels like its own small country.
Practical tips
Shoes. The coast path is well marked but uneven, with granite underfoot on the Peninnis section. Trainers are enough; sandals are not.
Time of year. May to September is the reliable window, and the subtropical planting is at its best in early summer. The ferry season runs late March to early November; cruise calls cluster in the same months.
Money and opening hours. Hugh Town is small. Cafés and galleries keep island hours, and on a Sunday outside high season a lot of it is shut.
If you have a night here. Star Castle, built in 1593 on the Garrison above the town, is now a hotel. Otherwise bed and breakfasts and cottages, all of which book out early in summer.
Questions people ask about St Mary’s
What is the capital of the Isles of Scilly? Hugh Town, on St Mary’s. It is the only place on the islands with the size and infrastructure of a town, and it holds the quay, the council and most of the shops.
Can cruise ships dock at St Mary’s? No. Ships anchor in St Mary’s Roads or Crow Sound and passengers are tendered ashore in local boats.
How long does the tender ride take? About fifteen minutes from the anchorage to the quay, plus the queue at either end.
How big is St Mary’s? Just over six square miles, with around 1,800 residents — roughly 1,100 of them in Hugh Town. It is the largest of the Isles of Scilly and the only one most visitors set foot on.
Is St Mary’s in England? Yes. It lies about 45 kilometres off the Cornish coast and is part of England, though not of the county of Cornwall.
Where is Old Town? On the south coast, about twenty minutes’ walk from Hugh Town and part of the Peninnis loop. It has a bay, a beach and the churchyard above it.
Can you visit St Martin’s from St Mary’s? Yes, by inter-island boat — but on a cruise call the timings rarely allow it. See the section above.
Related: All cruise ports on your own · Saint Peter Port on your own · Jurassic Coast from Portsmouth · Rye from Dover · All England stories