The Molly Bawn Tours originated back in the 1960's when Alphonsus O'Driscoll, from
Tors Cove, began transporting Scientists back and forth to Great Island, one of
North America's largest Atlantic Puffin colonies; which is also part of the Witless
Bay Ecological Reserve.
"My Father, Alphonsus O'Driscoll, would take the Wildlife people out there to study the birds" says Marie Reddick, Alphonsus' daughter. "Then other people, tourists, would come around and they would want to see the birds, so my Father would send them to see my husband John and he would take them out. Then, after my Father died in 1984, John was taking the Wildlife people out on a regular basis, along with plenty of tourists."
John Reddick started taking tourists out to see the birds
whenever his Father-in-law couldn't. Then when Mr. O'Driscoll died in 1984, John
began taking the scientists and tourists out regularly. John did this for almost 30
years, using his trap skiff as a tour boat.
Then in 1991, John's youngest son, Tommy, who was an offshore fisherman, decided to make his Father's part time job into a full time-seasonal job. "It was more than just a business to me, it was something my father and my grandfather had enjoyed so much and I wanted to keep that alive" says Tommy.
John has since passed away and Tommy continues to operate Molly Bawn Whale and Puffin Tours. With Great Island only minutes away from the dock each trip for Tommy is a familiar path and a sentimental journey that keeps both his father and grandfather's connection to the seabird sanctuary alive.