Most of the tiny population are clustered around Port Mor on the south side with a few inhabitants living around the farm at Gallanach on the north side. The ferry is unable to enter the port so goods and passangers are transferred to the island's flit boat which makes its way past the rocks and, if the tide is up, alongside the jetty. If the tide is low, however, the final landfall has to be made by rowing boat. Once ashore you find yourself in a land of unimaginable tranquillity. A single car and a handful of tractors are all the vehicles on the island, and with only one short stretch of road they don't get a lot of use.
People mostly walk from place to place and the pace of life is adjusted accordingly.
Farming, crofting and fishing form the backbone of the economy, supplemented by visitors in the summer months who, once they discover the island, tend to return year after year to renew old friendships and soak up some of the peace and quiet. Eigg is the most populated of the Small Isles but you could hardly call it crowded. The 70 or so people who make their home here live in three main clusters, connected by winding tracks, with the rest of the island being wild hill land. Only 8km long by 6km wide, the island is dominated by the distinctive Sgurr of Eigg which seems to tower much higher than its 393m. The remains of an ancient fort can be found near the summit and a more impregnable place is hard to imagine.