Ireland, Days 5 and 6

We had a leisurely, free breakfast of cereal and toast (it was actually nice to skip the large, heavy breakfasts we'd been having every day) and perusing the web on our iPads at the Ballinskellig Hostel. Our host, Frida, was missing and hadn't verified our boat trip for the day. I went ahead and called Joe and we had a beautiful morning and a green light for our trip to Skellig Michael! We finally located Frida to pay for our room and bid her adieu, she had been a wonderful hostess.

The mere minutes of the Ring of Kerry that we did actually get to see with beautiful blue sky and puffy clouds was breathtaking. Now I understand the attraction of buses of tourists to this road. It was a good thing the weather was so bad, we would have taken twice as long to get to our destination, having to stop at every pull out on the road!

We ran into our second cow jam in the short drive into Portmagee. Somehow I hadn't pictured the ocean and shoreline to be part of the Ireland scenery but, being an island, well, of course!

Off into the distance we spotted a small ruin, McCarthy Castle. We stopped for a quick grab with our cameras and had to get back on the road - we had an appointment to see a man with a boat! Sarah now knew we were going on a boat but to see what was still a mystery. She wanted it to remain a mystery just in case it got canceled.

We found our spots on the deck of the small boat along with 7 others and, after a short wait for someone, we were off to the island 8 miles out into the Atlantic. Along the way we were being passed by low-flying gannets and off in the distance dolphins were spotted. It was about a 45 minute ride and everyone tolerated the pitching and rolling well. We had a special needs girl on the boat who was videoing a conversation she was having with her 2 green, stuffed companions. She and her parents were visiting from Utah.

The weather could not have been more perfect for what we were about to do. I had already determined that I wasn't gonna attempt to climb the 600+ steps to the ancient monastery at the top of one of the peaks. Instead I was hoping that the puffins that breed there would be visible and I would spend my time collecting shots of the worried-looking or clownish, colorfully-beaked birds. That still meant some climbing and on some of the type of steps I'd seen that I was hoping to avoid... on the side of a hill with a sheer drop on one side.  Here's a shot of my first puffin sighting. He was making noises from under this rock and when I looked to see what was making it I saw this fellow!

I think our timing regarding the puffins was probably just about perfect, the chicks had hatched 2 weeks prior and the parent puffins were busy flying up and down constantly so I ended up with about 100 shots! After dumping the ones where the bird had flown away just as I was clicking the shutter or my focus didn't lock on him while he was flying away, I still have about 50 pretty nice captures! So I sat for about the 2 hours and Rick and Sarah did the hike to the top. I could easily have sat for 2 more hours.

On our way back to the mainland we got close to the other Skellig island, Little Skellig. From a distance it's covered with white and I was assuming it was the same white flowers that were covering the larger island - instead it was the actual birds! (and their droppings, of course) It's the 2nd largest gannet colony in Europe. There were also the penguin-looking awks but no puffins since there was no soil which they need to burrow into to make their nests. A mother seal and her baby were lounging just above the water's edge on a rocky shelf.

Back in town we spotted a soup and bread lunch for €4 at The Bridge Bar. It sure hit the spot! While the skies were beautiful it did manage to sprinkle on us most of our time on the ocean, heavier on the boat ride back. It was called vegetable soup but was more of a puree-type soup that was just what we needed and served with the ever-present brown bread that's served with every meal.

Sarah visited a gift shop or 2, then we were off for our next destination, Ballycarberry Castle. Sarah had found out about this one from a blog. It was one of the better ruins we got to visit, except for the little biting flies. There was a dude giving a tour to a couple women and I overheard some explanations, one being "the murder hole" that was common, there was one in the Blarney Castle but I neglected to read what it meant. It was above the entrance to the castle and if enemies tried to enter the occupants would pour boiling oil or anything that would cause bodily harm on the intruders via this hole. Ouch!

We hit the road for Dingle and the rain got harder and harder. Bummer once again! There were things we wanted to see and do on that peninsula, but not in that weather! So we made it to town and wandered a bit. Sarah was wanting to visit the famous Murphy's Pub so we found it and ate our dinner there. I once read that the town of Dingle had one pub for every 36 town inhabitants! It was a very colorful village and very worth the drive, but in better weather! She had also found a Murphy's ice cream shop and had a cone - one scoop of Dingle Sea Salt and one scoop of Brown Bread.

On the way out we, once again, had driving rain and fog on the hills. So much for viewing the Rings of Kerry and Dingle!

I called ahead to let our next hosts, Garret and Patricia of the Castle View House B&B on Carrig Island in Ballylongford, know that we would be there around 10PM. When we arrived they were enjoying themselves with dinner guests and while were unwinding in our room the party downstairs was amusing to listen to - the laughs were loud and non-stop!

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Sometime shortly after breakfast Garret took off and when he returned he informed us that he'd opened the castle for us! Not something you hear every day! Apparently he's the keeper of the Carrigafoyle Castle, just across the way from their B&B (hence the name). We wandered the castle but it wasn't as impressive as some, it had been somewhat restored which meant they used fresh mortar which was white and the dirt floor inside was completely clear of any debris.

But the day had started as beautifully as the previous day so it was a pleasure to drive and see the sights. We were aiming for the town of Limerick and the nearby ruins of Dromore Castle. We found them without too much difficulty but were unable to approach it. We simply shot it from the gate that kept us away.

Along the way towards the Cliffs of Moher, our main sight of the day, we drove through the beautiful village of Quin. A small ancient church and bridge made us stop and get out.

When we reached Ennistimon it was lunch time and it, again, was one of the more interesting towns so we stopped to check out some shops and find an inexpensive lunch. We ended up in a tea house run by some recent immigrants from Eastern Europe, their accents were Russianish. Our seating was like a living room sitting area with couches and a coffee table and there was a mom group with 4 tiny babies visiting each other. It was another good meal, sandwiches this time, and when Rick went to pay they accidentally shorted him €10 in change so they gave him a "blooming tea" as an apology gift. I'm kind of excited to use it!

Rick spotted this fellow while we were checking out the town and I just kept shooting - not something you see around here anywhere!

This was approaching the end of the "beautiful" part of the day and by the time we reached the World Heritage Sight, the Cliffs of Moher, it was raining, although not too hard. We paid and parked and took some shots of the cliffs and O'Brien's Castle, then headed out this trail to who-knows-where. My shoes were not doing too well in the rain, they were acting like sponges, so a bit down that trail I finally said I couldn't see the point of going on so went back to the car. I was happy with my decision because it just lead to some other cliffs still a ways off and the rain was only getting harder.

We continued on in the rain toward Doolin, got some shots of the Doonagore Castle when we arrived since I could see we wouldn't have a pretty sunset to shoot it in as I'd hoped. We got settled in our tiny room in the Aille River Hostel (€54 for 3), complete with bunk bed in the "quiet" room (an addition to the 300-year-old cottage, on the other side of the thick rock wall that encompassed the main house). This was more of what I'd pictured a stay in a hostel to be like: noisy, bustling with adolescents, people speaking various languages while they cooked and served their meals at the tables and benches. The faucets in the bathroom were all push-button type, including the shower! Vary smart! There was a wood stove (probably burning peat logs) that the soggy teenage boys were sitting near, drying their wet shoes. One of them decided to come hit me up with a barrage of questions about my iPad while I was doing some mapping for the next day. And a college-aged girl came to see if we could give her a ride into our next day's destination, Galway. I loaded up the washer with our dirty clothes and we headed out to dinner on foot.

We chose Fitzpatrick's Bar for dinner which turned out to be my favorite dinner spot on the trip (albeit the most expensive, but that's our fault). There was a fellow playing some nice music and we were in the next room so it wasn't loud enough that we couldn't converse during our meal. It was pleasant, not rowdy, music. The food was served on an assortment of utensils - my chicken Kiev was served on a cutting board, Rick's meal was on a stone shingle and Sarah had crab legs on a regular plate. Service was great, ambiance, temperature - everything was perfect. I had a local brew, a "Dooliner" and bought the glass as a gift for one of my offspring.

Whew! This was truly a whirlwind trip but we had our navigation and driving skills honed and were able to enjoy ourselves much more at last. Coming up - our next 2 days on the Emerald Isle!