The warm sunny weather seems like a distant memory now with the air chilly, damp and misty.  Glengarriff was a very sheltered location up in Bantry Bay.  The green rolling hills from the south coast replaced by rock and foliage showcasing deep greens and purples.

A couple of hundred meters in the dingy through the seals on the rocks from where Red Roo was on a mooring buoy took us to Garinish Island (Ilnacullin).

Garinish is world renowned for its gardens which are laid out in beautiful walks and it has some stunning specimen plants which are rare in this climate.

The Gardens are the result of the creative partnership of Annan Bryce and Harold Peto, architect and garden designer  planted over 100 years ago. The island was bequeathed to the Irish people in 1953, and was subsequently entrusted to the care of the Commissioners of Public Works. The Island also boasts a Martello tower on its southern shores which has been restored.

On the way back out of Glengarriff we spotted this gem of a house on the exposed hills of the ocean – how magnificent would it be to live here!  There ocean view would be fantastic, but I think the view looking to them is better (imagine what it would be like on a clear day!)

Fastnet Rock or simply Fastnet (meaning “lonely rock” in Irish) is a small islet in the Atlantic Ocean and the most southerly point of Ireland.  It lies 6.5 kilometres (4.9 mi) southwest of Cape Clear Island and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) from County Cork on the Irish mainland.  Due to its location, Fastnet is known as “Ireland’s Teardrop”, because it was the last part of Ireland that 19th century Irish emigrants saw as they sailed to America.

Fastnet Rock is a small clay-slate islet with quartz veins. It rises to about 30 metres (98 ft) above low water mark and is separated from the much smaller southern Little Fastnet by a 10 metres (33 ft) wide channel. The current lighthouse is the second to be built on the rock and is the highest in Ireland.

Fastnet Rock is also famous for its role as the midpoint (turn around point) of one of the world’s classic offshore yachting races, the appropriately named “Fastnet Race” a 1,126 kilometres (700 mi) round trip from Cowes on the Isle of Wright (South Coast England) round the rock and back to Plymouth.  A severe storm during the 1979 race resulted in the deaths of eighteen people (fifteen competing yachtsmen and three rescuers) as well as the loss of lives five boats sank, and at least 75 boats flipped upside down.

Construction of the first lighthouse began in 1853, and it first produced a light on 1 January 1854. The tower proved to be too weak, since gales shook it to the point that crockery was sometimes thrown off tables, and a 60 imperial gallon (273 L) cask of water lashed to the gallery 133 feet (41 m) above high water was washed away.

In 1891 the Commissioners of Irish Lights resolved that the light was not sufficiently powerful, particularly for the first landfall for many ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The replacement was constructed of stone, (cast iron now being considered unsatisfactory as the whole of the nearby Calf tower above its strengthening casing had been carried away during a gale on 27 November 1881, although without loss of life). On the same day, the sea had broken the glass of the Fastnet Rock lantern.

Construction of the new (& current) lighthouse started in 1897 with the levelling of the site, and the first of 2,047 Cornish granite dovetailed blocks was laid in June 1899. As well as these blocks, weighing 4,300 tons in total and with a volume of 58,093 cubic feet (1,645.0 cubic metres), a further 4,100 cubic feet (120 cubic metres) of granite was used to fill the inside of the tower up to the level of the entrance floor 58 feet (18 m) above high-water mark. A small steamship, the Ierne, was specially constructed for carrying the blocks out to the island, and Kavanagh personally set every stone, which weighed between 1¾ and 3 tons. The new lighthouse entered service on 27 June 1904 having cost nearly £90,000.

The masonry tower is 146 feet (45 m) high, but the focal point of the light is 159 feet (48 m) above high-water mark. The base of the lighthouse is 52 feet (16 m) in diameter with the first course of stone 6 inches (150 mm) below high-water mark, and the first ten of the 89 courses built into the rock. The first floor of the original tower remains, on the highest part of the rock, having been left when it was demolished and converted into an oil store.

The fog signal was changed to one report every three minutes in 1934 and from 1965 accompanied by a brilliant flash when operated during darkness. The original vaporised paraffin light was replaced with an electric one on 10 May 1969. At the end of March 1989 the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation. It is monitored and controlled using a UHF telemetry link.

It produces a 0.14 second long white flash every five seconds, with a nominal range of 27 nautical miles (50 kilometres) and power of 2,500 kilocandelas. Since April 1978 in addition to being operated during darkness, the light is also used during poor visibility when the fog signal is sounding. In 1974 the explosive fog signal was replaced with an electric fog horn producing four blasts every minute at 300 hertz with a nominal range of 3.9 nautical miles (7.2 kilometres).

In 1985, the lighthouse was struck by a rouge wave measuring about 157 feet (48 m) in height – glad we were not out on the water that day!!!

More basking sharks spotted on the passage to Glandore, always special.  The mackerel are getting bigger too!  Great sailing along the Irish Coast with the sun still shining.  Glandore harbour looked particularly inviting with the large estate houses and rolling green lawns down to the water.

More basking sharks spotted on the passage to Glandore, always special.  The mackerel are getting bigger too!  Great sailing along the Irish Coast with the sun still shining.  Glandore harbour looked particularly inviting with the large estate houses and rolling green lawns down to the water.

Chatted to a local once we were anchored who came past in his dingy after being out to see the basking sharks.  It was great to meet Shaun and after a great chat (he had visited Australia the year before) I offered him a couple of mackerel from the days catch only to learn he ran the local fish smoke house, therefore his own unlimited supply! He invited us up the next day for a tour and look which was fantastic and we also came away with a very generous gift of Union Hall Smoked Goods – delicious!!!

Later in the afternoon we found ourselves a great table at the pub overlooking the river and watched the local small boats race (including our new mate Shaun) and then watched yachts similar size to us cross the finish line in front us after having raced from Kinsale.  We made friends with some from the race and ended up at the local yacht club for a BBQ dinner with everyone.

A sweet little colourful seaside village with a couple of old castles on each side of the river.  Town feels like a very holiday orientated place with lots of B&B and cottages and gift shops galore and everything pretty expensive (from ice-creams to the marina fees) but all very nice especially with the sun shining.

Two days in shorts and tshirts on the water and we have both got a nice tan already, we stood out at the local beach as all the locals were sparkling white skinned, the beach was full of people all enjoying the weather, many swimming, I went in up to my waist and then chickened out .. far too fresh!  Had a giggle at an old fella asleep on the beach in his shorts and socks – shoes off beside him on the towel!!

Were passed by the Irish Navy out on the sea who looked like they were heading into Cork.

Leaving Kinsale we sailed past the Old Head of Kinsale Links golf course.  Pictures don’t do it justice but a golf club right on the cliffs around the light house.  I have since googled it and it looks very flash, very expensive and a great place to bash a little white ball around, the views would be spectacular – wind may affect your game pretty severely tho on the wrong day.  Not sure why but the pictures on their web site are much better than mine taken from Red Roo.

Sunshine oh glorious sunshine.

Hardly any wind so very, very slow in the boat but oh so beautiful.

And to top off an awesome day on the water there were also basking sharks in the water (spotted 6 of them in the area) and got close to 2 of them and they were happy for us to near them.  They were about 7 meters long with two very distinct dorsal fins and a big wide open white mouth scooping up the plankton in the water.  Magical.  Just magical.

After such a great day on the water we decided to pick up a buoy in Ardmore Bay (amoungst the basking sharks) and take the dingy to shore for fish and chips on the beach for dinner (in the remaining sun) only to learn the fish and chip shop had no chips – devastating!!!

The entrance of the River Barrow (where we were up at Waterford).  We rafted the fishing boats on the pier to set ourselves up to leave tomorrow and head west across the bottom coast of Ireland.    Phil has learnt that this part of Ireland they prefer to drink their Guinness from a glass bottle rather than from a tap (keg/barrel) so of course it had to be tested, how could he possibly make an informed decision without trying both!!

Got to say we were both a little disappointed with Waterford.  It was a long way up the river to the city (over 3 hours motoring from the sea) and the city was dissapointing and the facilities for yachts were terrible in fact the worst we have encountered to date (now May 2017).   Phil walked the towns historic Viking sites whilst I did the Waterford Crystal tour.  We set ourselves up with phone and internet and got out of there, another long 3 hours motoring back out to the ocean.

I must mention that on the way to Waterford from Kilmore Quay just at the entrance to the river from the sea we did enjoy watching the Search and Rescue Helicopter doing some training drills, winching men in and out of the water.  Hopefully it is as close as we ever get to these awesome people.

Republic of Ireland ☺ Country number 5!  A great crossing with good wind in the sails and doing an average of 5-6 knots for the 12 hour passage.  All settled in and secure in Kilmore Quay by 5pm it was of course time for a local brew so off to the closest pub for a Guinness, we are both fans of this fulfilling brew and I must say these couple tasted particularly great.

The first gent we met at the pub was “Paddy” (I tell no lies) and he was 163 not out, short and only had one front tooth and the conversation that followed had to be passed though the lady behind the bar to us as his thick accent meant we couldn’t understand a word he said!  Classic!

We also met Tony & Jenny from Freja in the pub a British couple also exploring Ireland (having arriving at the same time and sharing the pontoon with them).  A great evening of bangers and mash and Guinness followed (and was the start of many more to come in Ireland and back in the UK).

Phil also did some shore fishing (this is where he walks along the pier and quays chatting to all the crews on the fishing boats and comes back with a free feed of today’s catch – my opinion is they give him the fish so he will go away and leave them to their work, but whatever – it works).  Enjoyed a good feed of crab claws with the Freja’s.  Looking forward to seeing more of this land called Ireland.

Custom requirements were completed with the local police “Garda” from Rosslare who were very welcoming, they came on board for a cuppa with us and a chat whilst stamping me into their country.  I was given the maximum stay of 90 days and a clear message if I want to stay longer then all I need to do is just see the local Garda where-ever I am and they will happily give me another stamp for another 90 days.