Whiskey and Wildlife

[Kyle]We got up for the row to meet Maryanne’s parents the next day. Once we left Footprint, Maryanne remembered that she hadn’t brought her shoes. She was expecting to get wet landing the dinghy so was wearing sea boots and was intending to change later. I found that I could not row against the wind and the ebb current in order to get back. We ended up tying up to a wall well downstream, making a mental note that we absolutely had to get back before the next flood ended or we’d have 6 more hours to wait. Maryanne had to wear her sea boots all day, which kept causing me much hilarity as I would forget and then see her in an otherwise normal outfit and those big, blue sea boots!

Our first stop of the day was the Jameson Distillery in Midleton, where we took the full tour followed by the sample at the end. I had never had Irish Whiskey before. It’s quite different from Scottish Whisky. It is much smoother but with none of that lovely smoky flavour. It would be pretty hard to mistake one for the other and I can see the virtues of each. The tour was just a little heavy on the marketing, though, practically saying that John Jameson was the greatest man that ever lived who made the most important contribution to the human endeavour in the history of all time, complete with cheesy, Wide World of Sports music.


Who cares a bout footwear after a drop or three of whiskey?

Jameson Whiskey Distillery Tour
Following the distillery (Maryanne’s Dad skipped his sample) we went to the FOTA Wildlife Park. FOTA is an open air zoo that, except for a few dangerous predators, manages by keeping compatible species together out in the open with minimal enclosures. Many of which were separated from the public by nothing more than the same space separating the public from each other. Lack of fences and the ability to get in close made it easy to get some good photos. At the end of the day the park keeps its cheetahs in shape by feeding them from a high speed line they have to chase down, which was a big crowd pleaser.


Monkeys at Fota Wildlife Park - there are plenty of them!


Just some of the other animals at Fota
We got back to Youghal and managed to get dinner finished just before slack water. It turned out that the deserted spot we picked to tie up the Pudgy was where all the town kids go swimming in the afternoon. They were pretty good about leaving it alone but we did have about 2” of water in the bottom from being too close to all the cannonballs. They were good sports, though and helped push us off for the long upwind (but not up current) row back to the bouncy Footprint.

Daysail to Youghal

Lighthouses on route from Crosshaven to Youghal - Ballycotton Island and Youghal lights
[Kyle]It was time for us to get moving again, so we left the helpful guys at Salve with some of their favourite beer as a thanks and headed up the coast to Youghal (pronounced ’yawl’). The weather forecast was supposed to be out of the west at about 16 knots. We saw that and all the way up to 30. The same thing happened the day before. It seems that Irish forecasts have to be doubled. On the way out of Crosshaven, we saw the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) rushing out to save a kid in a dinghy who had blown a spinnaker to shreds and then capsized in the main harbour. They were still out in it in dinghies. Most of the rest of the fleet sailed home under full sail like it was just a regular day in the harbour. After all, it was only blowing Irish 15! On the way out, we spotted the poor kid’s rudder and reported the obstruction to the Coast Guard, who later recovered it.

Once in the open sea, our Irish 15 gave us a very fast trip. We spent a significant amount of time in the 8 – 10 knot range and even saw 13.3 – a new record for us. Just before we put in yet another reef to counter the ever increasing wind, we were visited by a couple of huge dolphins! This pair really seemed to enjoy our speed and kept crossing our bows at right angles before veering away for another pass. Our hulls are 10 feet apart and these dolphins were at least a couple of feet longer than that. They got bored and left when we turned into the wind and virtually stopped in order to reef the mainsail and left us to ourselves for the rest of the trip to Youghal.

When we reached the harbour at Youghal, we found it to be pretty but poorly protected. We made sure the anchor was well set and then spent the night bouncing around as if we were out at sea anyway.

Sailing with the Parents

Parents go sailing... Smiles despite the rain
[Kyle]We were up early the next morning for a sailing tour of Cork Harbour in the newly Bristol Footprint. As it had been for the entire week, the weather was pleasant one minute, cold, rainy and windy the next. We started by going out into a pretty rough open sea for a look at a couple of lighthouses. Maryanne’s parents took that much better than expected. After that, we did a downwind sail all the way into Cork, passing the pretty little town of Cobh (pronounced ‘cove’), with its enormous cathedral, finally getting to see some of the familiar sights from the water. We even got to see a lone seal way up there. On the way back to Crosshaven, we took a side trip and headed through the lovely canyon of the East Passage around Cobh before Maryanne’s Dad steered us home.


Sights on route - Cobh and the BlackRock Castle on the River Lee

Sightseeing - Cork Proper!

[Kyle]The next day, we decided to have a proper look at Cork. Since we all now knew the place like the back of our hands, we were much more successful at finding what we wanted. We started with a tour of the Cork City Gaol, a vivid account of what a nineteenth century jail must’ve been like. From there, we went to the Cork Heritage Centre to look at their beautiful gardens and exhibits about the city’s history. We went back into the heart of town to the English Market, where practically every food item you could think of was for sale by somebody.

Cork Old Gaol

Cork "English Market"
Afterward, we headed to the dog track for dinner and greyhound racing. This was my first trip to a dog track ever and I had a great time. The food was very good, the races were entertaining and we won a ton of money. Well, a little money. Like people that go to Las Vegas, we completely disregard how much we originally bet when counting our meagre winnings. I guess, if you figure that in, we lost a little money. Then there was the meal, which was very good but was also one million dollars, so it turned out to be a pretty expensive night out but it was a lot of fun.

Dinner at the dogs!
When we got home, we found that the local Raymarine supplier had delivered a new autopilot motor and left it on the boat, cool!

Sightseeing with the Parents

Maryanne's Parents, Peter and Sandra
[Kyle] The next day, the four of us (Me, Maryanne, and her parents) got an early start for a drive into Cork to see the sights. Since Maryanne's parents had rented a car, we got a little sidetracked in the morning trying to get a few things that Maryanne and I would have had a hard time getting on the bus. Not much in the way of sights, but it was so nice to clear off almost everything on our list.

After that, we headed into Cork, which, we found out, is the only way you can go in Cork (i.e hard to get out again). Cork town centre has a genuine Hotel California road system. The roads take you where they want you to go, not where you want to go. We would see some promising thing and decide to stop only to be herded completely out of the area, then re-herded back in half an hour later with virtually no idea what happened in between. I was in the front passenger seat with a map on my lap but it was practically useless. Every time I would say to go left at the next road, we would get there to find no left turn was allowed, or it was a one way street the wrong way or it was closed for some other reason. Okay then, we’ll just go straight and turn at the next left. Nope. Can’t do it! Everybody has to go right. Damn! That’s where we just came from! In this way, we spent a diverting afternoon learning the Cork road system by going completely the opposite direction from the way we wished on every single road in Cork.

St Finbarre's Cathedral, Cork
Eventually, through much determination, we did actually manage to find and, the second time around, successfully stop at St Finbarre’s Cathedral. Wow! The place is absolutely enormous and every single corner of it is decorated with the most beautiful art of the most painstaking detail. It was absolutely stunning.

Afterwards, we finally figured out how to get out of Cork and returned to Footprint for a late dinner.

Our next day in Crosshaven was a work day. Maryanne’s parents came over for breakfast and were kind enough to help us get the boat back into shape. After a few days of stalling, Ronnie finally got the rail done. Even though he had the weld done right away on the first day, it turned out that he didn’t want to give it back to us until he polished it. It looks like a completely new rail. The weld is completely invisible. The work is beautiful. Same with our helm seat track, same with everything else we gave him. Maryanne’s Dad helped me get the rail back on and retune the rig afterwards. Maryanne and her Mom did most of the inside list. Afterwards, we all went to the Royal Cork and Munster Yacht Club for dinner. The RC&MYC is the oldest Yacht Club in the world and they are very gracious to visiting yachties, even those who are not actually staying in the club’s marina, such as us. No blue blazer required. We got a lovely meal for about half of what it costs everywhere else in the area all aglow in the knowledge that Footprint was almost back in good order.

Our next day, since we had a car, we all agreed to do some driving to some of the places we had been before that Maryanne’s parents hadn’t seen while taking the inland route that Maryanne and I haven’t seen. What a beautiful part of the country this is. Everything is so picturesque. Winding roads bound by hedges and stone walls meander up and down green hills, occasionally plunging through a tunnel of green in thick woods.

Drombeg Standing Stones, similar structures are all over Ireland
Our first stop was the standing stones at Drombeg, a prehistoric stone circle and cooking site. From there we went into Skibbereen and toured the Famine Museum. Skibbereen was the epicentre of the horrible potato famine in the mid 19th century. Next was lunch at our old hangout, Bushe’s Bar in Baltimore, followed by a walk around the beacon at the head of Baltimore Harbour, this time in better weather. After that, we headed back, but not without having a quick look at Lough Hyne, Ireland’s first marine sanctuary and Charles’s Fort in Kinsale. We finished the night with fish and chips from the place in Crosshaven that’s always packed, always a good sign.

Scenes From the County Cork Countryside

Starting the (external) Chores

[Kyle]Once we got situated in a slip at Salve Marine in Crosshaven, we went in with our list to see what they could help us with. The owner, a Dutch man with a hint of an Irish accent mingling with his Dutch, told us his name but we never got it. It was something Dutch starting in W that sounded as if it had no consonants. For the sake of discussion, we’ll call him William, which he most certainly isn’t. Maryanne: Actually Kyle never got it, the guy's name is Wietse.

His only employee was a South African man of few words whose name really was Ronnie. The place looked completely ramshackle, but the two could not have been more patient or helpful. We asked where we could get propane filled (our first in Europe). William said to just leave it outside and he would take care of it. American fittings were no problem. The place he took it had adapters for pretty much every kind of fitting. As for the broken rail, he came and looked at it and said if we got it off, Ronnie could do it on the premises. It was pretty much the same with the rest of the list.

Tired from our early start to get the tide, Maryanne and I snuck in an hour nap before tackling all of the work we had to do. Once we got done, we were surprised to see our two propane bottles had already been filled! We got the rail off and Ronnie had it done in less than an hour – sort of. He said he wasn’t done and went home for the night.

Later that evening, Maryanne’s parents arrived from England to congratulate us on our passage and came over for dinner and a catch-up before the evening was over.

Moving on to Crosshaven (Cork area)

Misty coastline of Southern Ireland, County Cork
[Kyle]We got up before sunrise to catch the morning tide out of Kinsale in a thick, windless fog. Not since leaving Maine have Maryanne and I left a harbour without being able to see anything at all along the way. The fog thinned out further from the coast and for just a minute, I thought there was enough wind to sail, but 30 minutes after putting everything out the slatting started to drive me crazy and the sails were furled again for the rest of the journey.



Boats moored at every bend in Owenboy River
We arrived in Cork Harbour and took a quick tour up the Owenboy River. It was packed with moorings for its entire navigable portion. We then stopped at Salve Marina in Crosshaven, where we intended to get through the rest of the repair list from our Atlantic crossing.

Salve has a huge, well equipped machine shop on the premises and the guys were great. We got our propane filled pretty much immediately, even though we had crazy U.S. fittings. We pulled the rail off the stern and they had the thing done within an hour or so (we’ll reinstall it tomorrow). This left us with enough time to go into the village for a quick look around. Everybody there was so nice and helpful.

Kyle feeds the swan that visits us as we arrive at Salve Marine
Now we feel rich again. We have full fuel, full water, full propane, and things are getting fixed. The only down side is that laundromats are almost unheard of in Ireland, so we have to have it done for us. It looks like it’ll be about the price of a decent meal in Kinsale.

Kinsale

Castle Desmond in the center of Kinsale
[Kyle]We woke up in the morning in Kinsale to windy conditions and dreary, Seattle-style rain. This pretty much killed our motivation to get out and see one of County Cork’s most popular tourist areas bright and early. Eventually, after a nice hot breakfast, we made the cold row into town. The guidebooks all gush about this place as if it were Sausalito or Venice. Frankly, I didn’t see it. Perhaps the gloom was bringing me down but Kinsale just seemed like many other tourist destinations. There was a continuous snarl of traffic and all of the businesses seemed determined to cash in on the tourists by charging double for everything. We went to a local supermarket to get some walking around food and then headed for our first stop at the International Museum of Wine at Desmond Castle. Desmond Castle was used as a residence, Customs house and a jail during its 500 year history but now is home of the museum. The museum was primarily dedicated to the story of the “Wine Geese” – Irish people who emigrated in large numbers to become instrumental in the wine industry worldwide.


Fort Charles
From there, we walked for about an hour along the River Bandon to get to Charles’s Fort. The fort was built beginning in 1678 and was used by the British military until the Irish Civil War in 1922, when it was burned down and fell into ruin. It was briefly occupied by a colony of hippies in the late 1960s. The Office of Public Works has since restored a few of the buildings and put in some nice exhibits about life there and the history of the fort. Like Fort Berkeley in Bermuda, it was almost never used for any real warfare and stands mostly as a monument to the British paranoia at the time about being invaded.

Kinsale - Scilly Walk
We had a lovely walk back along a pretty paved path back into town that tunneled through the foliage at the river’s edge through the village of Scilly and then back into Kinsale.

Kinsale Town View - lots of places to eat - the Gourmet capital of Ireland
Once back in town, we started looking for a nice pub to have a light meal and a pint. Kinsale has a large selection of gourmet restaurants, but perusing the menus posted outside, it quickly became clear that, particularly with the exchange rate, a pretty ordinary meal would have cost us around $100. Even a couple of sandwiches in a pub would run us almost $50. Not gonna do it. We really didn’t want to go to the trouble of cooking and cleaning up at home, though, so we had this depressing, drizzly slog all over town looking at menus and hoping to find something reasonable. Eventually, we just gave up and ended up at a gourmet pizza place, where we were able to split one and have a drink each for $40. It was nothing special. Well, at least we were fed, which did take some of the sting off the cold, drizzly row back to Footprint.

Castletownshend to Kinsale

[Kyle]After Castletownshend, we upped anchor around noon (for the tide) for the 27NM trip to our next destination: Courtmacsherry. The wind had calmed down quite a bit since the day before and was now mostly just below 10 knots from the SE. This put us close hauled to the wind for the whole way, but since the seas were flat, it wasn’t bad at all. The wind was just a little bit too close to our destination for us to go directly and we did have to tack back and forth a bit, spending a couple of hours on one tack and then as we gradually got too near shore, we’d spend half an hour on the other one until we were out far enough to repeat.

I had been really looking forward to Courtmacsherry. Our sailing guide has directions for navigating the tricky harbour entrance and said a couple of sentences about it being a nice village – pretty much the same it says about most places. Our other travel guides don’t mention it at all, which I took to be a good sign. I like discovering things off the beaten path.

The main difficulty with Courtmacsherry Harbour is that almost all of it dries out completely at low tide, leaving very little of the harbour where boats could remain afloat for the entire tidal cycle. Since Footprint is not a tippy boat, we should be able to take the ground better than most others, but being unfamiliar with the harbour, we didn’t want to risk being set down upon an errant rock, so we were keen to remain afloat ourselves. We arrived right at high tide near sunset, which gave us lots of maneuvering room to find a suitable spot. As in lots of places, nearly every bit of usable space was packed with moorings. After much searching around and a few failed attempts (as it started to rain), we did just manage to squeeze in between a couple of moorings far from the town quay. We would not be going ashore. Once the tide started going out, huge mats of smelly seaweed came zinging by the boat in a fast current, piling up on everything exposed. The prevailing wind also brought in the smell from a nearby stockyard. Lovely! I suppose we’ll be sleeping with the hatches closed, then.

CourtMacSherry
The next morning, at slack tide (no seaweed), in the sunshine, I began to feel a little guilty about thinking all of the unflattering things that I had the previous night about the place. There were kids launching their sailing dinghies, people fishing and even one guy taking his pony for a walk along the beach. Still, we needed to get moving as the tide waits for no one. Pulling up the anchor also pulled up hundreds of pounds of seaweed that had to be stabbed at with the boat hook and then clawed at with bare hands in order to let the chain come aboard freely, leaving the deck covered in ‘lettuce’. So I guess I’m back to not liking the place again.
We had a repeat of the previous day’s sailing conditions for the 20 mile trip to Kinsale.

Old Head of Kinsale Lighthouse with its distinctive black and white stripes
We were able to get up very close to the beautiful lighthouse at The Old Head of Kinsale (before tacking and getting out of there) on the way and were surprised to see two guys out fishing in a small inflatable right off the rocky point.

Dinghy fishing Waaaay out to sea!!, and more traditional fishing and farming in Irish waters
We had one more surprise waiting for us, though. After we furled the sails and were heading into the harbour at Kinsale, we came upon a virtual raft of seagulls. Scanning the area, I noticed a large fin in the water. I took Footprint out of gear and we coasted up to see two huge (10’-12’) sharks among the birds. They seemed pretty unconcerned with us and we were able to get right up next to one of them. It turned out to be a Basking Shark. These big fish swim around with their huge mouths open and just scoop up whatever is in their path. The water here was full of jellyfish and several schools of smaller fish (explaining the seagulls). We spent a long time trying to get a good picture but eventually gave up as the light was from a bad angle and the reflection/distortion from the water was bad.


Basking Shark on Entrance to Kinsale - For a much better shark picture - see this one from Wikipedia
Once we got up the river to Kinsale, we found the same problem with the moorings. Eventually, we found a nice, pretty spot just up the river from the town but it took us five tries on the anchor before we could get it stick adequately in the hard clay. Maryanne, at the bow for the first, second, third and fifth tries just took it in stride and kept hauling and setting, hauling and setting without complaint as she always does. She says she prefers that I find the spot and keep from hitting things while she’s up there working. I suspect it also has something to do with all of the sympathy she gets when we meet other people. On most other boats, the person at the bow actually has the easy job because all they have to do is operate the button for the electric windlass.

Nevermind, change of plan

[Kyle]We’d originally intended to “leave Ireland” to go to Sherkin Island for a look around, but by the time we raised the anchor and made the short trip across the harbour, the wind was in the upper 20’s and the anchorage on an exposed lee shore. The anchorage was also very small, and very deep, full of mooring balls and with a high tidal range (3.5m). Try as we might, we could not find anywhere that was shallow enough to anchor (and close enough for the row to land) that we’d consider comfortably distant from the gnashing rocks at low tide. I tried to find a spot behind a little finger of a breakwater amidst some moorings, but again, was unable to assure enough swinging room. Maryanne finally said what we were both thinking – “let’s just skip here and move on to our next planned stop”.

So off we motored directly into the wind, out of Baltimore Harbour, and into the short steep chop of the Celtic Sea for the 12 nm bash to Castletownshend. The ride was horrible, we hadn’t been prepared for sailing as we’d expected s a short 1nm hop across the bay, and in any event I doubt we’d have made much progress under sail. So we motored directly into the wind and seas, where we were only able to make about 2-3kt with spray flying everywhere. The weather had also turned decidedly dreary, and although it never did, it looked and felt as though it were going to start raining any minute, all day long.


Castletownshend - what a beautiful village
When we finally got inside Castletownshend Harbour, away from the swell, we were rewarded with picturesque views of a beautiful, quaint stone village tumbling down into the harbour.

The town consists of basically one road down a very steep hill, ending in a castle (now used as a hotel/b&b and with a clear KEEP OUT signs for non-guests) and then the harbour with a small fishing fleet and green hills on either side.

After getting settled in (anchor secure, anchor ball up) we went ashore for a look around. The guidebooks pretty much say there is a castle and then you’re done. Probably about right, EXCEPT that the castle itself is surrounded by signs making it quite clear non-residents are not welcome. There is a beautiful Church of Ireland (Anglican) church perched on a hill behind the castle and lots of picturesque stone houses.

[Maryanne]We arrived ashore at Castletownshend at the rowing club, an ancient looking boat shed, clearly well cared for, and well used, but at the time closed up. Leaving here, we climbed the narrow road and eventually made it to the main road of town. There is no through road, Castletown is a dead end, not on the way to anywhere. We fully explored the street and found pubs closed down, restaurants not open, and were unsure if this was a sign of an abandoned village, or just too early in the season to be viable businesses. The highlight of the town for me was the shop. Marked outside with a lit sign that simply says “Shop”. It provides the bottled butane for the village, has a petrol pump in the street, and supplies newspapers and basic provisions in a cramped hodgepodge of a room – just perfect village stuff.

Castletownshend's Shop
[Kyle]The one open pub/restaurant in town is called Mary Ann’s, where we naturally decided to stop for a bite to eat and a pint. To our surprise as we entered the pub in this otherwise sleepy hamlet, we found standing room only and a waiting list to eat (on a Thursday evening!). Our walk around town had been very quiet so we could only assume that this one pub is renowned, and the whole town (and surrounding residents) used it. Places like this always amaze me. The town otherwise looks like it is clinging on for dear life, and yet we find these occasional businesses that no matter what have all the business they could want. The rumor about Mary Ann’s was its great food, and seafood in particular. We waited patiently our turn for a tiny table and eventually were rewarded with a delicious meal. Maryanne had Thai Fish cakes with a chili jam/sauce and I had a salmon with pesto mash and several sides of vegetables that appeared with that (chips, potatoes-au-gratin, carrots, cauliflower and beans). We’d intended to only stop by for an appetizer (budget cuts), and therefore ended up spending more than we’d intended, it was well worth the cost. One of the things I found most amusing was on the wall: A plaque awarding them the James Joyce award for an authentic Irish pub. It seems to me that in an ancient village like Castletownshend, just about as far from the tourist source of Dublin Airport as you can get, and not even on the beaten path, that a pub, in Ireland, at least 169 years old, would naturally be an “authentic Irish pub”, and no plaque would be necessary. Technically, it seems to me that anyplace in Ireland where someone with a name such as Fergus, who hands out a beer from their garage window, would be an authentic Irish pub, but I digress.

Mary Ann's pub/restaurant in Castletownshend
Feeling all satisfied from a delicious meal and a lovely walk around a beautiful village, we returned to the dingy for the row back to Footprint. As I reached down to pull in the painter (line that connects the dinghy to shore), our camera slipped out of my pocket, bounced on the gunwale of the dinghy, and landed on a mat of seaweed floating beside the dingy. I screamed at Maryanne to grab it but she was not quite fast enough (nor keen enough to get wet) and we had to watch as it slowly sunk into the harbour depths. I felt just terrible. Maryanne, however was very understanding and although upset at losing the camera, she was not upset with me. “Accidents happen”, she says. After I dropped her off at Footprint, I returned to the scene with a fish net to try an recover the camera (maybe we could salvage the memory chip?). No such luck. Even when I returned the next morning, all I pulled up was nets full of seaweed. That made for an extra expensive dinner out. Oh well, at least we have a spare camera.

[Maryanne]It had taken me a full year of whinging to get that little camera (eventually I justified it as a birthday present to me, from Kyle), with a great zoom and a small pocket size. We had a 10gig chip in there too… Grrr how frustrating to lose something that we use and value so much, and worse still to see it lost in such slow motion. I daren’t be mad with Kyle, as I’m just as likely to do something equally silly tomorrow and have certainly done so in the past. We’ll just have to suck it up and purchase a new camera. In the meantime we are at least not without a camera, but the one we have is a big bulky tourist/”look at me” type camera, not the kind you slip in your pocket “just in case”, but the kind you take out to a photo shoot. We’ve also discovered our back up GPS that also acts as our road route finder is broken, and we need to send that away for repairs, we seem to have a growing to do list that hits the bank account – grrrr indeed.

[Kyle]The following morning, just before we left, I retraced my steps with the camera while Maryanne scrubbed the bottom of the dinghy and gathered a few supplies from her current favorite shop. At least the light was better 2nd time around.

Maryanne cleans the Dinghy bottom

Footprint Ship Shape (almost)

[Kyle] We spent most of today finally finishing up our various jobs, at least the critical ones. I installed the starboard centerboard line at the expense of most of the skin on my hands and forearms. I eventually learned that it was much easier and quicker to use our butane hot knife to cut away the old line than it was to try and get a regular knife down in there and saw away while the fiberglass edges eat through my arms. I did get the second one done in about half the time. That's experience, I guess.

After that, we tore apart the port hull so that we could get to the 'bouyancy' tank on that side. It wasn't too bad - about 3" water inside. The real benefit of all this is that the process of pulling everything out and putting it back in gave us a chance to give Footprint a much needed spring cleaning. We still have a few non-critical jobs to do, most notably the stern rail, but now the boat is recovered from the rough passage and ready to move on. The inside is all nice and tidy, perhaps not ready to represent PCI at a boat show, but not looking too bad for a 10,000 mile boat. This is a huge relief for me as I hate having a mess hanging over my head. I can't even leave dishes overnight.

That all done and feeling chuffed with ourselves, we headed to the center of Baltimore Yachting, Bushe's Bar, for refreshing showers, a light lunch and a steady wifi (so I can do this). We also loaded up at the local market on some of the stuff we've been getting short on, such as eggs and fresh bread.

Since we're finished with everything we can get done here, we're looking forward to a nice evening of loafing and looking out at beautiful Baltimore Harbour. Tomorrow, we're looking forward to anchoring at Sherkin Island, just a couple of miles away, still within Baltimore Harbour. It looks really pretty there and it's just a little out of dinghy reach. One of the guys we met keeps saying you have to leave Ireland to go to Sherkin Island.

[Maryanne]Kyle has had to do most of the work over the last 2 days, since I managed to take a seat in the dingy, only to find the seat was not where I expected - I slammed my back onto the edge of the seat and landed hard on the floor... That left me with a really bruised and stiff back and could hardly move, let alone lift and clean for 2 days... Whatever it takes I generally find a way to get out of too much hard work :-)

Together we are currently reading a book by Shane Acton about the boat "Shrimpy" an 18' boat that sailed around the world in the 70's, and I'm reading a book "No Place for a Woman" by Marie-Christine Ridgway. Both of these are making our adventures look like nothing more than a trip to the local park for a picnic.... Just as we are basking in the completion of our own little adventure these books are putting us in our place - heck, we ONLY crossed the Atlantic.