It was a relief to leave Dunmore East with the fishermen at 0600 this morning and head off down the coast. Yesterday’s wind and swell has died away so although we hoisted our sails we have relied on the engine all day.
Undoubtedly today’s highlight has been SHARKS! We were surrounded by a large pod of dolphins at around 0900 this morning and shortly after they were bored of us we could see some black shapes ahead of us. I initially thought that they were the small black flags sometimes used by fishermen to mark their nets and pots but as we got closer we could see they were fins. After some googling we are fairly confident that we had passed through several groups of Basking Sharks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many sharks in such close proximity and they were huge!
Interesting google fact – did you know that a group of sharks is called a ‘Shiver’?
We also sighted a shipwrecked ‘ghost ship’ on a beach just north of Cork – there’s an interesting back story – more here: www.echolive.ie/4082
On arrival in Cork Harbour we were immediately struck by the sheer size of the harbour and, with the higher ground around the harbour dominated by Napoleonic fortifications it was reminiscent of Plymouth Sound.
The almanac showed that the majority of yacht berths were in and around Crosshaven but we were keen to find a spot as close possible to Cork city, Cobh and the airport where we could safely leave Little Scarlet for a week or so while we headed home for a few days. A small privately owned marina at Monkstown looked perfect so we headed up through the harbour, past Crosshaven, Cobh water front and found Monkstown marina on the west side of the channel that heads up to Cork city.
The marina owner, James, could not have been more helpful, finding us a berth and switching on the water heater in the local sailing club to allow us to have much-needed showers!
So - with Little Scarlet secure in Monkstown, we are planning a few days back in UK but we will be back next week with the next chapter! We are looking forward to exploring the South Western corner of Ireland – places like Kinsale, Bantry Bay, Dingle and the Shannon before we head up the coast and back around towards the Irish Sea.
