Day 5 – Kilkenny to Ballinskelligs

We had to be in Portmagee by 10 am to catch the ferry…so we were up at 6:30 am and skipped breakfast at the B&B (knowing that we had 2 hour drive and needed to stop for gas at some point).

The one and only tunnel we saw.

We were on the road just before 7:30 and drove back through Kilkenny National Park and around half the Ring of Kerry.

Run...run for your life!
 

We were low on gas when we left the B&B and almost ran out of gas on the way.

We almost learned the hard way that the Irish tend to enjoy a leisurely start to their work days and don’t open storefronts (AND gas stations) until 9 or 9:30ish am.  We finally found one pump that was open…and we managed to get 4/10’s of a liter in the tank before the pump died.  Yikes!  We drove another 12 km to the next station that, by that time, was open.  Whew!
 

 We arrived in Portmagee (a small fishing village filled with brightly painted houses on Valentia Harbor.  It was a haven for smugglers and pirates who preyed upon trade from the Continent and North America.  Today it is home to 80% of the area’s fishing fleet and is well known for its pubs and fresh seafood restaurants.) and found our boat and captain, Pat O’Neal.
The boat loaded up with about a dozen tourists and we headed out to the Skellig Islands.  We had light rain as we left the docks, but it cleared up after about 20 minutes and remained beautiful the rest of the day.
The 1.5 hour boat ride was uneventful but full of anticipation as we got closer and closer and the islands got larger and larger.

Skellig Michael
Little Skellig
A bit of history – The two Skellig Islands are eight miles off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland.

Skellig Michael (also known as Great Skellig) is a steep rocky island and is the larger of the two islands. For 600 years the island was an important center of monastic life for Irish Christian monks. An Irish Celtic monastery, which is situated almost at the summit of the 230 meter-high rock, was built in 588. The very spartan conditions inside the monastery illustrate the ascetic lifestyle practiced by early Irish Christians. The monks lived in stone 'beehive' huts (clochans), perched above nearly vertical cliff walls. The monastery survived a number of Viking raids in the 9th century. The community at Skellig Michael was apparently never large - probably about 12 monks and an abbot. Some time in the 12th century the monks abandoned the Skellig and moved to a monastery on the mainland.

Little Skellig is the smaller of the two islands. Like its larger neighbor, it is steep, rocky and uninhabited by humans. It rises to 134 meters above sea level, and is best known as the site of Ireland's largest gannet colony, with 22,500 pairs in 1993.

 

Unloading at the Skellig Michael dock.

Cave just beyond the dock.
Helipad for emergencies.

The climb up was long and got us puffing.  The climb down was not so hard.  Erin (acrophobic) had to hide behind John on the way down since the steps were normally open on one or both sides to drops off up 600 feet.
We saw a seal swimming near one of the coves and lots of seagull nests on the side of the cliffs (and some other species of bird that has a black head).

If you look hard, you can see the seal.		  

 

 
   
We climbed to the top of Skellig Michael and explored the monastic ruins.


View from inside one of the clochans.


Inside a clochan.


Inside a clochan.

There was the main settlement and then a second, single dwelling on the side of a cliff where a monk would climb to and live in for up to six months as penance for something he thought or did or did not do.


If you look near the top, you can see the stone wall.


Closeup showing the walled enclosure where the monk's shelter was.
 

Who knew that there were puffins in Ireland?  Yup…and we took WAY too many pictures of the almost too cute to be real birds.

The puffins made homes in natural rock shelters or dug holes in the hillside.

Little Skelling in the background.
On the boat ride back we went around Little Skellig which was, literally, covered with birds (Gannets).
   
 

 The ferry arrived back in Portmagee around 2:15 and we stepped into the “Fisherman’s Bar” for a pint before heading to the Beach Cove B&B in Ballinskelligs.


The view out of B&B window.

 We found out why it is called the “Beach Cove”…it really is on a beach cove and our bedroom window looked out over the ocean, complete with waves and surfers and a really nice stray dog. 

 

Ballinskelligs is a seaside resort town with lots of beaches and great scenery.

They have a their own Irish College where kids come in the summer to learn Gaelic.

 

We took a quick nap and then, upon our host’s recommendation, drove back to Portmagee for dinner at The Bridge restaurant.  John had to try the chicken wings (definitely NOT Woody’s, but quite tasty) and a burger with chips (yea, yea…french fries) while Erin had the seafood cassoulet…oh, yea, and some pints!


Working and eating.
We arrived back at the B&B in time to spend some time sitting on a picnic bench looking at the water and petting a local beach dog (it’s really good that the quarantine is long for dogs to the US, or we might have brought her with us).

 

When we retired for the evening, we heard something “whacking” outside our window.  Further investigation revealed Jack (one of the owners) driving golf balls into the ocean.  Well, not exactly INTO the ocean but from the front yard to the beach which during low tide gave him a great little place to drop the balls so he could retrieve them later.  Drove a couple dozen into pretty much the same spot about 250 yards away…not too shabby.

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