Wednesday 11th August, 2021 Coleraine Marina
We woke up to rain! The storm was starting to build, so it was good to be in a marina on the river Bann well away from the worst of it. We ordered the Irish West coast Pilot book from a local shop in Northern Island, so that we could get it delivered before we left the Marina. When the rain stopped we took a walk in to the town and went to the local Chinese restaurant called the Water Margin on the river.
Mojito 
The calm before the storm
Thursday 12th August, 2021, A visit to the Giants Causeway
We took a taxi to the causeway visitors centre and fought the wind swept coastline to go and visit the Giants causeway. It was pretty busy with people, but well worth the effort. We couldn’t help comparing it to Staffa further North. The Giants causeway is actually an extension of the same bit of Geology.
Columnar Basalt 
Wind swept!
The coastline along here is very spectacular. We decided to walk back to the little village of Bushmills to get some lunch. The path follows the Victorian steam train trainline which was not running due to covid. Bushmills was a popular place although most of the establisments were closed, and we couldn’t get in anywhere, so we had fish and chips and sat in the local park. Then we caught the bus back to Coleraine after a great day out exploring.
Friday 13th August, 2021, Coleraine Marina
We took the time whilst we waited to plan the trip down the West Coast of Ireland. The pilot book had turned up with the charts. Then we went and stocked up with essentials. We were not sure how remote the west coast would be and when we would have chance to get to shops. We kept checking the weather, and it looked like the storm would blow itself out by the next day.
Saturday 14th August, 2021, Coleraine to Ragerty Island, Mulroy Bay
We had been holed up for 4 days now so were itching to get going. The storm had finally blown itself out, so we left the marina and motored back up the River Bann to the sea. We needed to get the tide right to round the formidable Malin Head on the North coast of Ireland. We arrived at the sea and sailed very slowly with some tide still against us past the entrance to Loch Foyle and the river to Derry. We had now officially entered Ireland, and the start of our West Coast adventure. At this point the wind started to pick up a little and we tacked up towards Malin Head until it died again a couple of hours later. Now we had the tide though and with motor on again we were averaging 8.5 to 9 knots SOG.
As we rounded Malin Head the waves were HUGE! It was very uncomfortable, and we saw another fishing boat being thrown around like a cork. At least Azimuth is a big boat and she is very seaworthy. After the head, the waves subsided a little and we motored all the way in to Mulroy bay and anchored on the west shore out of the swell just behind Ragerty Island in sand. We arrived just after 9pm just as it was getting dark, we were both exhausted after a long day sailing.
Sunday 15th August, 2021, Mulroy Bay to Aran Island
After a peaceful night at anchor, we were up early and sailing by 8:30 for a fantastic sailing conditions averaging 7 to 9 knots with the sea state much improved from the previous day. The wind was perfect for a beam reach Force 4/5 from the North West.
The coastline was very dramatic, sailing past features like Horn Point, the Bloody Foreland and Gola Island until we reached and sailed around Aran Island, and anchored in Rossillon Bay off the beach in sand.
