Author: dommyp

Monday 30th August 2021, Darrynane Bay to Crookhaven

Time was moving on! We had to be back in Portishead for early September in time for Vinnie to go back to college. Today we checked the longer term forecast, and saw that a big Atlantic low was expected to hit Southern Ireland next week, which could potentially trap us in the Green Isle. I can think of worst places to be stuck, but Vinnie would not have appreciated it. So we decided we needed to make some headway by getting round two major headlands, Dursey Head and Mizen Head and back in to familiar territory that we had already explored a couple of years ago. Unfortunately this meant that we would have to sail past the Kenmare River which we hadn’t visited before, and across Bantry Bay which we had already explored extensively, but which we had definitely fallen in love with.

So we pulled out of Darrynane bay that morning with a long sail ahead. It was a nice downwind sail down to Dursley Head with some great views of the Bull, Cow and Calf Rocks

Once we rounded Dursley Head all hell broke loose. The sea state picked up and we experienced a 20 knot headwind. That made for long difficult tacks around Mizen head and finally we managed to sail round the headland in the dusk and make it in to Crookhaven anchorage just before it got completely dark. We were both completely exhausted!

Tuesday 31st August, 2021, Crookhaven to Baltimore

The next few days looked horrible on the South coast of Ireland with East headwinds up to Force 6 but the forecast look good for crossing the Irish sea once the low blows through. We had an easy sail past Cape Clear and the Fastnet, then all hell broke loose again! Baltimore Harbour offered some welcome protection, and we anchored off with the wind still blowing about 20 knots, but the sea flat.

Wednesday 1st September, 2021, Baltimore

The wind continued to blow with some strength along the south coast, so we decided to stop the day at anchor in Baltimore. Infact we ended up staying 2 nights. Annoyingly, we could see the pub, but because it was about half a mile to the shore, and we could only rown the dinghy, we didn’t feel confident enough to row to shore in the strong wind. So the time was passed reading and playing cards!

Friday 3rd September 2021, Baltimore to Kinsale

The wind had finally settled down, so we left Baltimore at 8 30 that morning and enjoyed NE winds for the first 3 hours which got us as far as the imposing stags further up the coast. These ship killer rocks, appear to change shape as you pass them.

After passing the stags, the wind swung more to the East, so we did some long tacks to make more progress up the coast. The conditions were really nice with light seas. We made the last tack past the Old head of Kinsale and all the way in to the entrance to Kinsale.

We slowly made our way through a fleet of sailing boats racing, and made our way up the river through the town and dropped anchor in the river just south of the castle park marina. The plan was to head in to town for the evening, and get back for an early night as we planned to sail back across the Irish Sea to Milford Haven tomorrow. We headed in to town and ended up at Kitty O See’s for a lovely meal. You can’t go to any pub in Ireland without striking up a conversation! Same was the case here and we were soon chatting to the neighbouring tables, a couple on hols from the USA and a couple visiting Kinsale from Clifden in Connemara, whom it turned out lived 20 minutes drive from Leenane, where we had visited on the way down the West Coast. Several rounds of drinks later, we stager out of the pub at closing time! So much for the early night?!

Friday 27th August, 2021, Brandon Bay to Ventry Bay

The west coast of Ireland is certainly fickle and changeable! The previous day had been a cloudless blue sky and warm sunshine. Today we woke up to thick pea soup fog. We literally couldn’t see the nearest boat anchored 50 metres away. On days like this, nothing else to do than break out the cards and stare out the window in to the gloom, hoping it will lift. Ailsa beat me at Skipbo twice in a row! Unheard of. By 3 30 that afternoon we were getting bored of waiting for the fog to lift. It was a little better, so we pulled up the anchor, and headed out under engine pretty much relying on the instruments and radar. There was thick fog all the way around the headland, a real shame as we didn’t get to see any of the Blasket Islands that are supposed to be spectacular. They were just shapes in the fog.

Once we were in Dingle Bay, we watched the fishing fleet leaving Dingle to head out in to the Atlantic and as we arrived in Ventry Bay miraculously the fog finally lifted, so we anchored off the pier and a huge sand beach.

Saturday 28th August, 2021, Ventry Bay to Valencia Island

That morning we rowed the dinghy in to the pier where the kids were jumping in the sea (they do that alot along the west coast and seem to be impervious to the cold water!). Then we took a long walk down the beach and people watched.

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We finally arrived at the little village at lunchtime. What do you know the pub was shut?! Seemed to be a theme for us! Thankfully the local post office store provided the means to make some sarnies which we ate on bench in the glorious hot sunshine.

We traced our steps back to Azimuth. Back on board, the heat must have played tricks with my mind. I had the urge to get rid of the beard I had been cultivating since the beginning of the trip! It was too bushy even for the trimmers, so Ailsa did the honours on deck with a pair of scissors, and the beard was consigned to the Atlantic Ocean! And before you ask, there was no taming of the head hair!

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Feeling somewhat cooler (in the temperature sense), we pulled the anchor and sailed out of the bay in the late afternoon. We had a fantastic sail across Dingle bay over to Valencia Island, doing 7 knots on flat seas on a beam reach. We were accompanied by a large pod of dolphins for at least 30 minutes and enjoyed the scenery of the approach to Valencia.

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We got to Valencia, where there is a partially built marina (just the outer pontoon) and we hoped to moor up for free for the night. However, everyone else had the same idea, and there was no room for Azimuth. The next alternative was the town anchorage. Yet again, the Irish had completely filled that with mooring buoys (with none occupied) and there was no space to actually anchor out of the tide! So we headed back to Glanleam Bay near the entrance to the protected Harbour. This proved to be a great choice. A really beautiful sheltered anchorage, out of the tide off a sandy beach.

We took the dinghy to the beach and walked to Knightstown on the Island. The Island is very green and luscious and has a tropical feel to it. We had a meal at the Valencia Royal Hotel and wandered around the town.

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Sunday 29th August, 2021, Valencia Island to Darrynane Bay

Another fantastic day, so we decided to go and explore some more of Valencia Island. The previous evening we had seen a signpost to “The tetrapod dinosaur footprints”? So a quick search on the internet showed they were within walking distance of the anchorage. It turned out to be quite a hike up and over the mountain in the centre of the island and a walk all the way out to the Valentia coastguard station. Still it was a glorious day and the views were well worth the effort. The dinosaur prints were interesting too, discovered 20 years ago by a geology student who was wandering along the shoreline and noticed them. The picture below probably doesn’t do them justice!

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We sailed out from Valencia Island at two that afternoon with the promise of wind. Just a few miles out, and the wind died! Oh and the fog descended! Really annoying as the coast here is spectacular, and the we were looking forward to views of the Skelligs (of Star Wars fame). Instead we ghosted along in the fog, with occasional glimpses of other boats and as we pulled in Darrynane bay for the night, the fog lifted again.

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Darrynane Bay turned out to be a spectacular anchorage with a gorgeous sunset, crystal clear green water and flat calm seas. The view was a white sand beach and an old ruined abbey. A great place to rest up for the night.

Tuesday 24th August, 2021, Inishboffin to Inishmore

After the embarrassment of keeling over in Inishboffin harbour (read about it in the previous post!) we made a quick exit from the anchorage at 0600 that morning, with a long sail planned down to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands at the end of Galway Bay.

It was a glorious sunrise, with light winds from the South East that meant we were able to sail the entire way on a close hold and tacking down the coast. We were of course both completely exhausted, having been up most of the night, but the sun was shining, and the views were inviting.

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As we got close to Inishmore, we heard the rush of air as a whale surfaced about 100m from the boat, the second whale siting of the trip. And we were once again joined on the journey by a pod of dolphins, which was to become a daily occurrence on the rest of the trip

We anchored in a pretty bay off a white sand beach called Portmurvy on the North East side of the Island, 50NM from Inishboffin.

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Wednesday 25th August, 2021, Portmurvy to Shannon River

We woke to a reasonable size swell entering Portmurvy which meant meant we didnt want to chance rowing the dinghy in to shore on to the beach. Unfortunately that meant we couldn’t visit the iron age fort on Inishmore, so we weighed anchor and headed South again for Loop Head 36NM from the end of the Aran Islands.

We had fair winds for a couple of hours which got us away from the Aran Islands.

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Eventually the wind died and we had to motor for a bit until we got closer to Loop head where the wind picked up again and blew us around in to the Shannon Estuary. The cliffs around Loop Head were imposing with very interesting geology with layers twisted and contorted, and the cliffs peppered with caves.

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Once in the Shannon Estuary, we stuck our nose in to the first Anchorage option of Kilbaha Bay, but we didnt like the look of it as it felt very exposed and swelly. We were glad we carried on and rode the fast tide further up the estuary to the anchorage at Cariggaholt and anchored just off the end of the pier in the front of a tall castle tower. This was a much nicer and secure bay, especially as the wind started to pick up from the North East.

We took the dinghy to shore and visited the little village. Couldn’t get in the restaurant, so settled for a takeaway from “Max Bites” and then an illicit visit to the the castle for a closer look.

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Thursday 26th August, 2021, Carrigaholt to the Margharees and Brandon Bay

We left Carrigaholt Bay at 1130 when the tide turned to leave the Shannon Estuary and motored out of the Bay. The tide at the narrowing entrance gave us an SOG of 11 knots!

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With the strong tide and the light winds, there was scope to sail, and we downwind sailed all the way to the Kerry head at the end of the estuary until the wind died.

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On with the motor again and we transited the last 7 miles to the Margharee Islands and dropped the anchor next to Illauntannig. This tiny island hosts 6th century monastic remains with beehive huts made of stone, so we took the dinghy in to shore to go and visit.

Its an exposed spot, and when the wind picked up and the swell started to roll in, we decided it was not the best spot to anchor for the night. So we weighed anchor and headed a 6 miles further west down the coast to Brandon Bay protected by Sheveglass mountain and had a comfortable night.

Friday 20th August, 2021 Broadhaven Bay to Achill Sound

Another headland to go round … the west coast is littered with them and none of them are easy! Today was a drizzly rainy day with poor visibility. We sailed downwind to Eris Head after leaving Broadhaven Bay. As we rounded the head, the wind was now a close hold and Tacked down the coast. Further South, and the wind was kind, and swung us out past Achill head in the mist and the gloom. It rained hard most of the way. It was a shame the weather was so bad as the views along this coast are supposed to be some of the best coastline in Ireland! At one point the top of the mountain appeared from the cloud and I captured these…

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Once we rounded Achill Head, we were hoping for a downwind sail to take is towards Clew Bay, but the wind was too light with the rough sea state, so we motored for two hours. We rounded Achillbeg Island and stuck our nose in to Achill sound to investigate an anchorage. It was way to shallow and not obvious where to go, so we chickened out and anchored off the beach on the East side of Achillbeg. It was a nice easy night until 6am the next morning when we started to drag anchor towards the beach and the rocks!

Saturday 21st August, Achillbeg to Killary Lough

We departed at 0900 and sailed due South to Killary Lough across the mouth of Clew Bay, past Claire Island and along the Connemara coastline. It was a fabulous sail with a beam reach up to 9 knots and then downwind in to the mouth of the Lough. The entrance is framed by mountains, and the heading is marked by some concrete pillars through the narrows

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We motored through the narrows and down the long narrow loch avoiding the mussel farms all along the edge and anchored right at the end off the town of Leenaun.

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Once we were anchored up, we rowed to shore (yep the outboard engine was still knackered!) and went to a bizzare shop inside the local pub, and had a great lunch at the blackberry cafe where we sampled the mussels from the Lough, and fish and chips … delicious. We rowed back to the boat and chilled out for the rest of the day enjoying the amazing scenery of the place. We were the only boat in the whole anchorage!

Sunday 22nd August, 2021, Leenaun to Inishbofin

We left the next morning and there was zero wind, so we motored back out of the Lough through the narrows and across the bay to Inishboffin through all the rocks and small isles. Inishboffin is recognised as being one of the finest all weather anchorages on the west coast and has a big maritime history. The entrance is very tricky with reefs and rocks, but the installation of a leading light makes it easier to navigate. Once inside, you are immediately greeted by the ruins of a Cromwellian fort on your starboard side, and the blue water and sandy bottom of the totally enclosed anchorage. Its a beautiful place. However, the anchorage is tricky, cause the Irish seem to love to fill all their most popular anchorages up with fixed moorings, so it took us some time to find a spot that we could fit in. Its really shallow too!

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We took the dinghy to shore and went and explored the fort which is still pretty intact even though it in places it overhangs the rocks and you look straight down in to the sea.

Then we went for a walk to explore the east side of the island past white sandy beaches and family holiday homes. It felt very much like the Scilly Isles, and was very popular with the locals arriving by ferry.

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We ended up at the Doonbar hotel for tea but had to sit outside in the chill. A few pints of the blackstuff provided some alcoholic insulation

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Tuesday 24th August, Inishboffin, disaster strikes!

The forecast was for no wind, and the sun was shining, so we decided to stay another day and walk more of the island. This time we headed west to take in the views of more sandy beaches, rocky coastline and peat bog paths.

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We went to the pub for lunch and chilled out for the rest of the day on the boat. We decided on an early night cause we planned on an early start for the next leg South. We were both woken at 23 30 when we were tipped out of bed as the boat fell over! That was very disconcerting…. the anchorage was flat calm and there was no wind??? What the hell was happening? It turns out we had run aground. We had been in this anchorage for two days at this point, and the boat had been drifting around in an arc of about 270 degrees. Now it looked like the boat had drifted in to the final 90 degrees of the arc closest to the beach, and in conjunction with the low tide had come to rest on a sandbank at the back. She was still floating at the front.

Well there is not a lot you can do in this situation …. Azimuth weighs 31 tonnes. You can’t just get out and push her off! Checking the tide we still had another 80 cms to drop, so all we could do was check the bilge to make sure we weren’t taking on any water and then sit out the whole process for the next 4 hours! By 0100 in the morning, the boat was right over on her side… with the toe rail under water and fish swimming over the deck! The pub across the water was in full swing with music and laughter …. however maybe lucky for us the fog came in, so in the darkness no one could witness our embarrassing situation! Over the next three hours, Azimuth started to slowly right herself. Thankfully, there was still no waves or wind, and finally we lifted off at 4 in the morning. I pulled in some of the anchor chain and climbed in to bed. I think we survived!

Monday 16th August 2021, Rossillon Bay, Aran Island

We had a rough night at anchor. At high tide, the swell came over the reefs that protect this bay and the wind picked up from the North West. It was time to have a day off and relax with lots of reading, playing the Pearce Family favourite “Skipbo” and watching films.

Tuesday 17th August, 2021, Rossillon Bay to Teelin

The wind still remained strong from the North West and it was another rough night at anchor, but it still felt better than working for a living! The weather was being tricky, but it looked like the wind was set to drop later in the afternoon, and might allow us to sneak round the corner in to Donegal Bay, which would mean sailing around another of the big Atlantic headlands Malinmore head.

We left the anchorage out through the narrow channel and were met by big seas! 2 to 2.5m waves and a big swell from the North West which we had to take on the beam to head further South. Poor Azimuth was being thrown around a bit, and poor Ailsa didn’t fair well either! The wind was blowing about 25 knots from the W/NW so with two reefs in the main we tried to sail with the Staysail, but struggled to get any decent speed to cut through the swell and the wind angle was poor, which meant it would be difficult to get round Malinmore head. So, we furled out the genoa with two reefs, and Azimuth heeled over and started to dance through the waves, slicing at 8 knots. As we approached the headland, the seas grew , so I manoeuvred us further offshore.

Finally I could turn further south to round the island of Rathlin O’ Birne. We surfed down the swell on a beam reach and hit 12.7 knots! A new record for us in Azimuth. Eventually we could turn downwind in to Donegal Bay, and we had a great ride surfing down the waves, until eventually the headland sheltered us from the wind, and we found we didn’t have sufficient wind to stop the genoa from flogging in the swell. Time to motor the last few miles in to Teelin

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It was an overcast and misty day, but even though the conditions were tough, the coastline here was majestic. Some of the biggest cliffs in Ireland, with cascading waterfalls. We were accompanied by dolphins too. Teelin harbour finally appeared ahead, and once inside, it provided great protection with no swell. We both slept for 10 hours!

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Wednesday 18th August, 2021, Teelin Harbour to Killala Bay

The wind prediction for today was light winds up to Force 4. So we set off with trepidation to cross Donegal Bay! When we got out of Teeling Harbour, the swell picked up from the North West again. The sea state was not as bad as the day before, however, the wind was much stronger than predicted! So with 1 reef in the main and genoa we whisked across at 8 knots with 45-60 degree apparent. Ailsa was worried about feeling sick again, but she was absolutely fine. It turned out to be a really nice sail and we entered Kilalla Bay which is wide open to the North. However, we found a really comfortable anchorage behind St Patricks Rocks off Ross point outside of the Kilalla bar. We would have liked to cross the bar but we could only do that at high tide, and that would have restricted the times for departure again.

Thursday 19th August 2021, Kilalla Bay to Broadhaven

We left Kilalla Bay at about lunchtime, after a chat with some friendly local fisherman. The winds were forecast to be very light and the sun was shining. So motor sailing was the order of the day and we worked our way along the South coast of Donegal Bay, enjoying the scenery and the amazing geology.

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Downpatrick Head was a real highlight along the coast with its flat limestone and shale strata and distinctive 50m high sea stack.

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Further down the coast as we entered Broadhaven Bay the views of the coast and the Stags that guard the entrance were also breathtaking

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The anchorage in Broadhaven Bay was on sand in crystal clear water. We had a really comfortable night.