Smerwick Harbour to Dingle via the Blaskets

There was a little water in Worm this morning so it must have rained but we had a really calm and undisturbed night at anchor off the beach west of Carrigveen.

The wind forecast was a little stronger for today than it had been but still only a F3 or F4 at most. The Met Eirean sea area forecast was variable light winds. Friday looks calmer but with rain. We debated having a day ashore and walking around the cluster of antiquities nearby but the main one is the Galarus Oratory which we had clear memories of from our car tour in 1987 so we decided to go round to Dingle today.

I wanted to visit as many of the Blasket Islands as possible - they all look wonderful in the Sailing Directions so I planned a route between Great Blasket and Inishtooskert out to Tearaght and then between Inishnabro and Inishvickillane, back along the south side of Great Blasket and into Dingle Bay. If we could get to Tearaght at low water we should have the tide with us all the time.

Departing around 9:30 seemed to work and off we went.

Three Sisters headlands

Another yacht left the Dun an Oir anchorage as we passed and they headed into Blasket Sound. Outside Smerwick Bay there was more wind than I expected and with a close reach we could sail. We kept the motor on to keep the speed up and we had a little tide assist. The weather was fine but not ideal for photography but we got some shots of the Three Sisters and Sybil Point.

Inishtooskert

We passed Inishtooskert with its spectacular rock formations at the eastern end and skirted the rocks off Great Blasket and into the gap. We could see Great Blasket without going nearer so I adjusted the course to be more directly towards Tearaght. There are tide rips marked on the charts here but we hoped that with the tide with us they would not be a problem.

Tearaght

North East tip of Inishnabro

In fact, the swell was much worse than we have been used to and the wind was very variable. It wasn't much fun at all and on the helm Alison was getting tired and worried. I took over the helm and was quite enjoying it but it was hard work. We decided that with the conditions so variable and the amount of swell we should not try to make Tearaght. That would shorten the trip so we were in less of a rush. I throttled back and we furled the jib and reefed the main. It became a lot more comfortable. In the lulls we put the motor back on, more to keep the boat steady than for speed.

We got a good view of Tearaght but we didn't get round to the side of it to see the hole through the middle. From the south-east it looks rather like Skelling Michael.

Inishnabro with Tearaght beyond

We made it as far as the eastern tip of Inishnabro, which has stunning blades of limestone facing the sea. We turned sharply away before we got too close to the off-lying rocks and thought better of trying to round it into the anchorage. The sailing directions say that the stream always runs west to east between Inishnabro and Inishvickallane, regardless of the state of the tide.

Cloudscape over the Dingle peninsula

We headed back along Great Blasket with a fair amount of swell but we now had no time constraints so I could dispense with the engine and sailing got more enjoyable. Alison went down and rummaged through the cupboard and made a fine lunch of tinned mackerel on wholemeal soda bread.

The cloud based lifted a little and we got some nice cloudscapes as we reached into Dingle Bay.

Eask Tower

Eask Tower was built on Carhoo Hill in 1847 as a famine relief project. It guides ships into the mouth of the blind harbour of Dingle. The beacon told sailors when to let their sails down, enabling them to lose speed and to round the harbour mouth safely.

The swell was breaking fiercely on Crow Rock.

Crow Rock

Dingle Harbour really
is invisible from outside but as we turned into it we saw more and more tourist boats, all out looking for Fungie the dolphin, resident outside the harbour for over 30 years. Some of them seemed more interested in us. One rib kept moving in front of me.

Kayaks off Reenbeg Point

Further in people were out in Kayaks.

We threaded the curving channel into the inner harbour, waving back at trippers on the boats. As we got into the harbour we were called towards a hammer head and our lines were taken. It was Peter O'Regan, the marina super-intendant, who had got my email and was ready to welcome us. He found us a quiet spot on the inside where we can leave Robinetta for a month and we moved around into it.