Up the river Ilen

Leaving Schull Harbour

We came off our mooring buoy at 0910 and headed out of Schull Harbour in bright sunshine with no wind. The sea's surface was totally unruffled at first, but with a steady slight swell that rocked Robinetta from side to side as we cleared Long Island. We had the stay sail up, but did not bother with the main.

Cows on Calf Island

Julian had made a detailed passage plan using the tablet's charts and he piloted me through a beautiful maze of rocks and islands, including East Calf Island, which has beautiful beaches on the eastern end which happen to be full of.... cows.
We then headed towards Quarantine Island, where there is a narrow channel into Baltimore Harbour. That was not where we were going first though, since we were exploring the Riven Ilen towards Skibareen.

Ruined church on the River Ilen

The river was lovely. The wind got up enough to fill the staysail, and the tide also helped Robinetta along as it flooded up towards Old Court. Robinetta would have to stop there as the river gets too shallow for her, but Skibareen is only 2 miles further on, and we could do that under oar in Worm.
By the time we reached Old Court it was 1230, and I wanted lunch rather than a 2 mile row, so after a look at the boat yards we anchored in the river, and ate on board.
There are 2 boat yards at Old Court, and one was launching a yacht while we ate. It set off downriver just as Julian finished pulling up the anchor, and we followed Aoife as she set off down the twisty channel, but soon lost sight of them.
It began to cloud over, and the wind was on the nose so felt much colder in this direction. We put jackets on, then oily trousers as it began to rain. Luckily there were only a few spots, but it was cool enough that the extra layer was welcome so they stayed on as we headed down river.

Dinghies in Baltimore Harbour

There were several fleets of dinghies racing in Baltimore Harbour when we reached it, and we avoided them, and a big American yacht that looked as though it had just come across the Atlantic. The American yacht anchored, but we went to the pier, and decided to raft up against another yacht on the small pontoon that calls itself Baltimore Marina.
When I was doing the final approach I noticed that this yacht was Aoife, moored up to finish fitting out for her sailing season. We offered her crew a drink, and had an entertaining half hour listening to stories of their sailing adventures before we got on our spring and shore lines.
By evening the overcast had turned to cold drizzle, in an extreme contrast to the lovely warm sunny morning at Schull.