Aleria's Adventures

 Wishing all my friends and family around the world a healthy and happy new year. Don't look back! And now, a cute kitty picture...

Galway Hookers in the Claddagh Basin 2021 Photo by Chaosheng Zhang We wish you all the best - health, joy and wealth - in 2022. May the world settle down so we can all get back underway again. And here's the story behind the making of Fairytale of New York , Ireland's favourite Christmas song. 

  Coastal waters covered in 10 US Coast Pilot books Did you know that all the United States Coast Pilot® books are available for download free of charge, as are the updated  Navigation Rules ?  The best part is that every time you download them they will have been updated from the previous editions. No heavy books to carry around, no paper to get wet. Just download to your PC or tablet and go.  The   US Coast Pilot  consists of a series of nautical books that cover information important to navigators of coastal and intracoastal waters of the US and the Great Lakes. Issued in ten volumes, they contain supplemental information that is difficult to portray on a nautical chart. Together with your nautical charts, they form a fundamental library of navigation information that will enhance your cruising experience in US waters. But beware, incomplete and inaccurate reproductions of US Coast Pilot are being sold on the commercial market.  And since Coast Pilot updates are no longer included i

The Spanish trawler Nuevo Laredo riding out the storm near Ardnatrush Beg, Glengarriff, County Cork (RTE) Yesterday, we experienced a weather bomb. A fast developing system that hit hard and stayed around for a while. Our sailing club recorded wind gusts of more than 77 knots (143 kph or 89 mph) which is hurricane force. Lucky for us, the storm veered a bit more south than forecast, so we had a light easterly quadrant in the morning and northwesterly in the afternoon and overnight. Once again as with Lorenzo, the eye passed directly over us in Clew Bay. Storm Barra's eye passing  over Clew Bay We went to Westport in the morning and got our booster vaccinations then did our food shopping all in light E wind and showers. Then we braced for the worst as we were in the Red Storm Warning zone for the evening. We are protected from the NW by the hill behind our house and it appears there was no damage. We hope Aleria is okay in Kilrush, where strong wind gusts were recorded.  By mid-af