Aleria's Adventures

It was a lovely morning and we were soon underway, thinking we might stop in to Inishmurray if the forecast for a calm day proved true. At this point, it was not. Once again we were soaring up the North Mayo coast in a SE. Then we realized it was almost 70 miles to Killybegs. That's a long day. We'd have to go straight there. We passed inside the Stags on a perfect course heading for Teelin doing more than 9 knots with the current; we couldn't make Killybegs on our current heading as the wind had backed to ESE and we were hard on the wind, trimming sails to the shifts as if in a dinghy. The chop was surprisingly uncomfortable out there. It was going to be a long trip bashing into the waves  on a beat all day.

We had a fine weather window that coincided with the astronomically high spring tide. If we left with the tide on Tuesday afternoon, we could sail to the Inishkeas or Black Sod Bay the next morning, spend the night there, then continue on to Killybegs Thursday and haul out on Friday. Unusually, there was a high centred over Scandinavia just above us that was extending all the way down to us. We were to have light southeasterlies and clear skies after strong easterly winds on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a succession of lows plunged across below to Spain and a slow-moving hurricane Matthew was plaguing the US East Coast.

Connected below deck during a gale On our voyage to Spain this summer, one of the things I was really looking forward to was disconnecting from the digital world for a period of time. There are two places where one can still disconnect: under the sea and in the middle of it. We'd be out of range of mobile signal, and therefore internet access, for days at a time since we sold our SAT phone. When crossing the Bay of Biscay, we could be unplugged for 4 days.

Hurricane Matthew is barreling toward Florida having taken more than 100 lives in Haiti and grown back to a category 4 behemoth. Florida and coastal Georgia and the Carolinas are being evacuated. The Bahamas are being pummeled and the eye was due to pass over Nassau. Don't know if it did.

Visitor moorings in Clifden By Daria and Alex Blackwell Pontoon at Clifden Boat Club makes access easy This summer, we spent a month sailing Ireland’s beautiful southwest coast. We encountered many foreign vessels, more than we’ve ever seen before, mostly from Britain and France. The first questions a cruiser asks when arriving in a new destination are: Are there visitor moorings and are they secure and easy to pick up? Is the anchorage sufficiently protected from wind and seas and does it offer good holding?  What type of bottom composition does it have? Where is the access to shore? Is it a pontoon, a pier, or a beach? How can I dispose of garbage and recycling? Are there showers and toilets ashore? How far are the closest restaurants and pubs? Can I get water and fuel? Is there a shop for reprovisioning? Are there laundry facilities? What's the best thing to do here?

Glassy calm seas It was dead calm in the morning. Any hint of breeze was from the NE and, of course, we were heading NE from Bofin to Clew Bay. We motored the 26 miles over glassy seas past the Twelve Bens of Connemara and Middle Ground, past Inishturk, Caher and Clare Islands and into Clew Bay.

It's a while since we stopped in Inishbofin.  We'd like to have stayed a while but we decided we'd push to get home before the forecast gale on Saturday. It was now more of a delivery than a cruise. So despite the northerly wind, we made for Inishbofin only 1which would make the last day quite reasonable. The wind was supposed to be 10-15 knots, no more, but instead, it was 15-20kts and we bashed our way to Bofin under power. It was lovely to enter a nice quiet settled harbour.

The pontoon at CBC We left early in beautiful sunshine again, raised our sails In Killeaney Bay, and jibed along the Galway Bay coast in about 15-18 knots SE, gusting higher. When we jibed again to head northward to clear Slyne Head, the wind settled down and moderated to a nice steady 15 knots. We flew up the coast, Aleria in her element on a beam reach. We were doing better than 8 knots. Glorious. Sunny. Hot. And it wasn't even the Costa del Cork any more.

We sailed out of beautiful Smerwick, I should say we shot out like a cork out of a bottle, then the wind fizzled so we started the engine. And that would be the pattern for the entire day. On again, off again, this time with the engine. It was glorious weather otherwise but the consistent 15, gusting 30, that was promised was not to be.

Sailboat just ahead heading for Blasket Sound We had a leisurely start and left Ventry motoring in light air. Soon the wind picked up a bit out of the SE and we hoisted sails. We sailed out through Blasket Sound following another sailboat out. Finding the cut through Blasket Sound The sail inside Great Blasket Island was beautiful. The anchorage there looked a bit more secure than the one we had just visited but exposed nevertheless. There was a sailboat and a power boat anchored there, presumably overnight. There were people roaming around the deserted village, presumably brought there by the tour boat in the anchorage. There is now a visitor's centre and cafe on the island during tourist season. It appears a few of the cottages have been restored.

Inishvickilane and Inishnabro in the Blasket Islands We were heading for our friends' favourite anchorage in Ireland in the Blasket Islands. Wedged between Inishvickilane and Inishnabro, the anchorage is tenable only in settled weather. The wind had abated but there was still a considerable swell. We poked our nose in and decided we'd have to be tucked right under the high cliffs to be comfortable at all and if the wind blew up, that's a place we'd not like to be at night.

Knightstown from the pontoons So what do you do when a gale is forecast? You assemble your bicycles for a land trip. The morning was relatively nice and there was no gale in evidence, although the forecast was clearly not great. So we got underway soon after breakfast along the coast road to check out Portmagee.

Another beautiful day of sailing - leaving the Costa del Cork! The Bull, the Cow, the Calf, and the Heifer off Dursey Head Yet another gale was forecast to pass through the following day so we left the Costa del Cork behind and made way to Valentia in the Kingdom of Kerry. We left Bere Island at 09:30 in fairly strong winds. We raised our sails at Castletownbere and sailed out of Bantry Bay. There was a schooner anchored just inside the Bay in the first cove we passed by the night that our self-steering failed.

Sod roofed shed  We left at 9 am with a nice light breeze out of the NW. It was to clock W then SW as the day progressed, F5 for us but higher to the north. Then, midday, a new small craft warning was issued, now with a F6 on all waters.

We took our time and had French toast before pulling up anchor. It was glass calm at first, but soon we had about 10 knots out of the NW. The barometer climbed to 1028 as a high settled over us and below an anticyclone tracking to the north. In Mayo, the weather was abysmal but not here on the Costa del Cork.

The last time we were in Glandore, a fishing vessel slammed into Aleria amidships. It was not a good visit. Fast forward six years, and we thought we should go back to dispel our fears. We didn't want to tempt fate, but we did think that Glandore was a pretty nice place to visit otherwise.

I got up early to do laundry. Yep, on a Sunday morning in Kinsale. They upgraded their facilities at the KYC including laundry. When I got there, there were clothes piled everywhere and I thought I'd never get in. But the nice young man in the bar came down and unloaded everything. I bought coins for the washer and dryer (€4 wash and $3 dry - €7 per load compared with €16 for one load washed dried and folded in Dingle) and got myself in before anyone else! Yes! That's cruising experience at work. Doing laundry in exotic places.

Is that a sun trying to shine through? We got up early to get to Kinsale before the wind started to pick up into the high 20s gusting well into the 30s by 1400h per WindGuru forecast.  Met Eireann was forecasting a gale overnight and into the next day for our area and strong gale, possibly storm, north of us.

Lot's Wife, Baltimore entrance Kids having fun in Baltimore Harbour The morning after the gale was silent, flat flat calm, and sunny. Yea! Let's dry out and head over to Baltimore. We sailed in past kids having fun below Lot's Wife, the distinctive tower on the approach to Baltimore. We nosed in and realized there wasn't enough depth for us inside -- only 8 feet abd we draw 8.5. Where we'd have to anchor we'd be exposed. So we had a choice: Sherkin Island or on to Castletownsend. We chose the latter as we hadn't been there before. We motored, then motor sailed the short distance to Castle Haven and anchored in the outer harbour. It was a bit exposed but would do us well for the forecast for the night which was benign. No sooner had we anchored that small sailboats started appearing and sailing out. More and more emerged and we learned that soon we'd be in the middle of a regatta. Oh well. They'd all have to take us into account. We got

We'd have to be somewhere sheltered from the south and west by Monday when the next gale was due. We had choices: a) sail through to Kinsale or Cork or b) work our way out via Schull, Baltimore and/or Glandore.  We decided to stop in Schull as neither one of us remembered much about it. As it turned out, neither one of thought we'd ever been there before once we saw it!