The crew decided to opt for a return journey via the east coast, rather than the west coast. So we had a lay day to give the boys a bit more time ashore and the skipper some time to plan a new set of destinations, waypoints, favourable tides, etc.
In the afternoon we spent a bit more time exploring the town and visited the aquarium.
Ate in an Italian restaurant and retired back to the boat. Cards again!!
Everyone up and we hoisted the radar reflector, as visibility wasn’t great. After breakfast and loo visits, we departed from Dingle Marina by 08:50. Fungie seemed to be taking the day off, but then we saw him briefly as we exited the harbour.
09:53 log read “Mizzle/mist and headwind – motoring. Rory seasick” Rory had removed his Scopoderm seasickness prevention patch when we arrived at Dingle, to try to stop the swaying motion when he was ashore. However he forgot to put one back on again on Sunday evening and proved the hard way that they must have been effective last week in preventing seasickness. Bob also hadn’t taken a Stugeron the previous night, so he wasn’t feeling too well either.
Made landfall, through the mizzle, much further east on Valentia Island than planned, as the skipper had input the wrong coordinates for the waypoint!! However we were able to skirt around the west coast of Valentia, with the coast just visible in the mizzle. By 11:52 we were abeam Puffin Island and by 13:40 had made Bolus Head.
Saw a lot of puffins flying to and fro Puffin Island with food in their mouths for their young, and for the first time noted quite a few Storm Petrels.
Around Bolus Head we altered course to Derrynane. Several boats were coming out from an anchorage behind Horse Island in Ballinskelligs Bay (one to check out next time).
We
found the narrow entrance to Derrynane a bit difficult to locate and get
correctly aligned to enter. However as luck would have it, another boat was
coming out as we approached – showing us the correct transits for entering.
You have to thread your way in between a number of rocks, before turning right
into the anchorage area.
The visitor moorings seemed very close in to the beach, compared to where the rest of the larger boats were anchored, so we decided that anchoring would probably be best. As we slowly motored in to drop the anchor, we were hailed by Sailor Miller aboard Linton Lady. The rest of the crew had gone ashore leaving Sailor to peel the spuds.
Having anchored, we decided we were not very well positioned, if the wind were to shift, so we decided to move in and try to pick up one of the visitor moorings. Our initial worries about the water depth were unfounded as the moorings turned out to be in deeper water than where we had previously anchored. Distance travelled 33nm.
Several large Beneteau hire yachts came in later in the afternoon and utilised the remaining visitor moorings or anchored off. Rory did his Hitler impression at one of the yachts chartered by a group of Germans, before realising that they were all on the other yacht watching him. The boys decided to play cards, instead of going ashore – no pizza restaurants visible.
We ate aboard in the evening and amused ourselves watching dinghy sailors and water-skiers pass to and fro in the bay. Then cards again!!