Passing Slyne Head

After a short and disturbed night we got up rather slowly. The crew of Silver Bow had talked about getting away about 9am, but they got back to their boat after we did. We thought we should make an effort and were on deck then, but only two people were on deck and moving when we cast off at 10:30.

Julian and I were not at our best either. As we left Inishboffin there a was a gentle breeze, just enough to sail, and we were met by a pod of common dolphins who had a great time bow riding on Worm rather than Robinetta! In the crystal clear water we watched them swimming around the boats half a meter below the surface. We passed inside Friar Island but then the wind died and we motored the rest of the way past Slyne Head.

Once past the twin lighthouses we got a knot of tide against us. For a while we had a light wind on the beam and we motor sailed, but by 17:00 it had died again and we got the main down. Julian turned mobile data roaming on, and went searching for information about Galway Hookers since we were now in Galway Bay. He found a Galway Hooker Association site which said there was raching this weekend. We thought we should try watching this, so Julian went looking for an anchorage a bit closer to where the racing would be than our original choice. The Sailing Directions describe a pleasant anchorage of Finish Island a good few miles on from where we had planned to stop at Gorteen Bay, but not much further away in time.

We deviated from the shortest route to go through Macdara Sound, and got a good view of the church, dating from the 6^th century. One of the oldest in Ireland.

The route into the anchorage from the west is windy and rock strewn but once there we found ourselves in a wide shallow sandy bay with crystal clear water, We dropped the anchor in 4 metres below the keel, with 2m left to fall before low water. I put Robinetta to bed while Julian cooked dinner, then sat peacefully in the cockpit with a glass of wine, writing this blog.

I could hear the surf on the nearby beach and rocks, but the swell could not have been much more than 10cm. In the calm weather it was a lovely spot.