Aleria's Adventures

The Skellig rocks The Skelligs (Na Scealga) are two rocks off the west coast of Ireland. One of the rocks is inaccessible. The other has a landing site that is untenable in some states of weather and sea. The allure of these rocks is twofold: 1) They are home to an exceptional number of seabirds, especially gannets and puffins and 2) they have exceptionally well-preserved early Christian remains.  Skellig Michael has a rather impressive monastic settlement, including beehive huts where the monks lived, a beehive church, a large beehive communal kitchen, a high carved cross and a burial area. Most astonishingly, the monastery is at the top of the rock. To get to it, you must climb 618 steps with precipices on either side. The steps are uneven in height and width, so it is not straightforward.  Alex and I have been trying to visit Skellig Michael since we moved to Ireland and we have sailed around it on our own boat. But there are only a limited number of boats licensed to land on the i

Cloud bank while we were departing. Alex has finally created scheduling around his mum's care so that we can take two consecutive days off. We looked at the weather forecast and the tides, and they conspired to enable our escape to Clare Island. Just one night. Out in the afternoon on the outgoing high tide. Back in the afternoon on the incoming high tide. We were to have mixed cloud and sun and benign conditions for a whole week.  Wednesday morning I packed and provisioned. Wednesday afternoon, we took off. We had a consistent 15 knots of breeze from the WSW, enabling tacking out to the Clare. We raised the main and mizzen, then Alex unfurled the yankee and sure enough, the sheets were run incorrectly. One of those things you forget from year to year. This time it had been two years since we hanked on and hoisted sails. Same thing with the staysail. So he furled the sail and re-ran all four sheets. Then he unfurled the yankee and it was fine. Then he raised the hanked on staysail.