Ireland Part 1 - North West bound trip

Ireland Part 1 - North West bound trip
Overall impression so far is that Ireland is a very wet and sparsely populated country with folks from Cork buying up a lot of the land and old homes on the West coast. The economic growth of Ireland seems to have benefited people in
the larger urban centres but there is no evidence to show the same is true in the smaller towns and villages. Depletion of fish and seafood stocks are creating economic hardship along the coast. Tourism from EU countries as well as the major Irish centres is filling in the income gap to a small degree. Many of the tourist shops are owned by chains or outsiders who hire immigrant EU labour for the busy months. Little of the money stays in the villages. The tourist goods are manufactured in the Far
East, identified as Irish Designed and priced to the affluent wallet. Traditional music, if you can find it, is generally of very poor quality or is similar to a grade school concert with the village children performing. Modern rock or current top 10 hits seem to be the mainstay of most pub bands. The only things about Ireland that have met my expectations are the lush green growth, poor villages, hatred of the British and the taste of real draft Guinness.
Comments follow for the various Ports of Call so far visited.
Crosshaven - no anchorage - use docks or moorings
We stayed at the Royal Cork Yacht Club to rest up from the Azores crossing, filled water tanks, did laundry, updated the web site and tried to find traditional Irish music. Crosshaven is a small village with a large number of pubs and restaurants priced to the tourist trade with marginal quality and no traditional music of any kind (while we were there). The RCYC had the best food by far. Went to Cork by taxi and returned by bus. The Cork marine store was poorly stocked and very expensive. Cork
was impressive with an interesting mixture of new and old architecture. All of the chain stores were in evidence. A very busy city teeming with people from all over the EU. Cork is the second largest city in Ireland after Dublin.
Castlehaven - good anchorage
Anchored off a castle ruin in Castletownshend , visited a church (Protestant … the Catholic one is 2 miles out of town), attached graveyard and a highly recommended local restaurant for lunch. We met an avid sailor and his family who were from Cork and had a summer place in the village. This was a British stronghold up until Irish independence.
Sherkin Island (Baltimore) - good anchorage
Anchored off castle ruin and did a walking tour of part of the island … Horseshoe Bay … the abandoned Northern fishing village … the local school. Met the same fellow from Castlehaven and a sailor that we had met in the Azores. The sailor was single-handing a 36-foot sloop on his way to Norway.
Schull- good anchorage but hard to find
A very busy harbour filled with commercial fishing and tourist boats. The town has a great bookstore, grocery stores, a bank, several pubs and a misnamed farmers market. At night the street is filled with the overflow from the pubs and young drunks.
Kitchen Cove (Dunmanus Bay) - good anchorage
A pub and a plaque commemorating the Air India crash. We found the pub but were unaware of the plaque until after we had left. The small village was very poor, the pub in great need of repair, the locals resigned to a bleak future.
The anchorage held a couple of tourist sailboats as well as one cute fishing boat.
Glengarriff (Bantry Bay) - marginal anchorage - use moorings
We had a very disappointing lunch at a highly recommended hotel but found a lively tourist-catering village not far way. An island off the mainland was stocked with flora from all parts of the world and developed as a private garden. It is now owned and operated by the government as a park. We found some "traditional" music here but it was aimed at the mainly EU cliental.
Dunboy Cove - good anchorage
A historically significant site since it contains the Dunboy castle ruins (blown up by the English in 1602) and the Dunboy mansion ruins (burned by the IRA in 1921). There is now a major hotel/condo redevelopment project on the site.
Sneem (Kenmar River) - good anchorage
The anchorage is two miles from the village up a river that dries out at low tide. We were given a lift to town by a women from Cork who is building a summer home in the village … much to the chagrin of her husband who has a boat and wants to sail. The village was full of tourists from Cork and the EU.
Darrynane - marginal anchorage … watch drying rock
An almost landlocked port that requires careful navigation to enter at anything but high tide. Large beach area, sailing school, water sports, pub and "trailer park" for the tourists from Cork and beyond. Finally met some Irish that were not from Cork.
Portmagee- no anchorage - use moorings
The starting place for our Skellig adventure. We had to take a mooring ball far from town since there was no place to anchor. Landing the dinghy was a challenge since there were no facilities for small boats at the town dock. All of the space was reserved for local fisherman or tour boats. We managed to get seats on a tour boat (40 Euros each) that made the trip to Skellig Michael. Jane made it to the monastic site 200 metres above sea level while Brian stayed tending the birds at sea level. The
village is again focused on the tourist trade but seems to be in a better state of repair than others. Several suburban style housing developments are evident near the village.
Ventry Bay - good anchorage
There is a post office and pub catering to a large vacationing population. A sand beach attracts, a "trailer park" and scores of "B&Bs" provide accommodation. Activities range from Scuba diving, swimming, horse back riding and fishing. We met folks from the US and Cork but no locals.
Dingle - no anchorage - use marina

Bermuda and Azores comments

It has been a while since I updated this subsite. I had thought I could maintain a
daily log but that fell by the wayside when I realized I was not a writer. Opinionated
perhaps but unable to express ideas in a written form. Here is an attempt to summarize
a couple of months worth of experience. In a few words, the exploitation of the common
folk continues wherever we go. It is sad to see how the modern global economy is creating
a new wealth class structure that preys upon the economically depressed areas, driving
up property values, increasing taxes and forcing people to leave homes they had occupied
for generations.
In Bermuda the development is so complete that space no longer exists for new exploitation.
The service industry is dominated by imported labour, young Eastern Europeans for the most
part but also from the Caribbean. Bermuda was very expensive and very British. A controlled
environment where your movements as a foreign vessel were noted and restricted.
The Azores provides a different twist. There is a lot of land but in most cases
uninhabitable so houses are built by the ruins of older houses often without tearing down
the old stone structures. During the last century over half of the Azores population left
to find work in the US whaling industry. They sent money back home, they sponsored
relatives, they retired and came home "wealthy". I spoke to a man that had immigrated to
Canada and had returned within the last few years. He was complaining that so many
retirees were returning home that it was hard to find a cheap farm or even house to buy
anymore. The language is Portuguese so a fair number of service workers come from the old
Portuguese colonies such as Brazil. The availability and cost of food was on a par with
smaller Canadian towns.
Bermuda caters to British and American tastes while the Azores provided us with our first
glimpse of European marketing, packaging and products.

May 11, 2007 Bermuda

So we're in Bermuda. Not a planned stop over ... in fact I was dead set against coming here.
Too expensive. Herb , our router, had other ideas. "You want to die or just get real sick,
the choice is yours". We chose the obvious and headed south east instead of north east and
managed to avoid the first major tropical named storm of 2007. One boat has not been heard
from ... she crossed a location 24 hours after we did ... one day ... life and death. Her
EPIRB stopped after 30 hours ... nothing has been found. So much for the safety gear we
carry ...I hope it works better for us. The planned book entitled Sailing across the Atlantic
will be renamed. Big stroke across the word Sailing and substitute Motoring. We have had the
motor running for most of the trip from Charleston to Bermuda. When you are faced with 10 to
18 foot seas, 15 knots of wind and on a close reach the only way to gain any headway is to
motorsail. Our sails have behaved, the motor has been our golden steed and we have made
progress. If we have to motor to the Azores I am going to be really pissed-off. I bought
a sailboat not a bloody motor sailor. Bermuda ... folks on Bermuda Radio are very professional,
Customs folks were very nice except they decided my flair gun was a dangerous weapon and put
it in a safe. Now suppose I have an emergency that requires use of flares ... must be an
example of British humour. We have not been ashore since we arrived due to the number of
mechanical failures that occurred on route ... the number of things that find a way to leak
after being bashed about is incredible. I'll let you know about terra-firma next message
... brian

May 2,2007

On our way. Currently 36 miles from the shoreline and about 80 feet from the bottom.
Having a great sail. We were in Charleston for a number of days but somehow managed not
to see any touristy attractions. I guess that's one way to save money but I'll try and
schedule some for our next stop over. Onward to the Azores ... only 18 days away. ... brian

May 2,2007

On our way. Currently 36 miles from the shoreline and about 80 feet from the bottom.
Having a great sail. We were in Charleston for a number of days but somehow managed not
to see any touristy attractions. I guess that's one way to save money but I'll try and
schedule some for our next stop over. Onward to the Azores ... only 18 days away. ... brian

Welcome to South Carolina April 15,2007

A final comment regarding the Bahamas. For all those republicans and libertarians
out there that want to minimize government interaction with private exploitation.
Spend some time in the Bahamas without a fat wallet or credit card. Enjoy.

We are currently at dockside in Charleston waiting out a 3 day storm that has
included tornado warnings, 40-50 knot wind gusts, sustained 35 knots. We have
every line we own holding us to the dock and the boat is heeled over 15 degrees
due to the wind pressure. I hope the Atlantic will be calmer.

We are staying at a county run marina. The rates are the lowest in the area, the
facilities are better than most. They take all profits (and they are substantial)
to help finance the operation of other county recreation and conservation areas
that can't break even. Great setup and the facilities are continually improved.
The only drawback is the lack of marine/food stores within walking distance.
The Cooper River Marina is a model of how things can work to benefit both local/
transient boaters and state residents that use the other parks ... brian

Abaco Cruisers Net comments

My partner and I have been aboard our boat, Pilgrim, cruising the Sea of
Abaco and listening to the Abaco Cruisers Net since the last week of
January. We are leaving for Charleston within the next week for the
next leg of our world cruise by way of the Azores.

We may not typical of the cruisers we have met in the Abacos. We may not
typical of the cruisers we have heard on channel 68 and on the Net. We
enjoy cruising with other boats and getting to know other cruisers, but
we also like to meet local folks and learn about similarities and
differences from our background and experiences.

We also love remote anchorages and observing wildlife and fishing. We
are distressed by the "adult winter camp" and country club environment
in Marsh Harbour and Hope Town and Great Guana (Nippers/Grabbers); there
are too many US ex-pats in control leading to the loss of any local
flavour except notably on Man-O'-War and Green Turtle.
We were shocked at how few birds, indigenous animals and fish we saw.
The lack of local produce or fish varieties in the markets was a clear
sign of the decline in local production capability and any real interest
in maintaining a non-service oriented economy. The overfishing by "Sport
Fishermen" was very apparent evidenced by both the boasts "on air" and
lack of availability of product at the fish monger.

I mention all of this to let you know that our comments probably do not
reflect the general cruisers and cottage listeners to the Abaco Cruisers
Net.

We found the gender and sexual orientation insensitivity especially of
Jeff and Pete to be offensive. Many of the jokes and comments were just
not appropriate for the 21st century North America or Europe. The net
could be both informative and fun without taking shots at women and
gays. You may not have much control over the ads (invitations), but the
anchors could be just as effective and less corny and offensive.

On the positive side, we were happy to hear daily weather forecasts(and
have learned to take the "mostly sunny" forecasts with a bit of
saltwater) and were glad to learn of other boater's suggestions and
needs. We got in touch with one boat heading out to the Azores (but via
Bermuda) and had some good chart exchanges.

We wonder if the Bahamian government is interested in attracting
cruisers. Everything they are doing seems to favour development of
resorts, golf clubs, and condos at the expense of Bahamians and the
environment. It is hard to get access to beaches because the facing
land appears to be all private, often with locked gates (Treasure Cay),
no trespassing signs (most Cays) and unpleasant dogs (Man-o-War)
deterring us . The lack of formal/official weather forecasts and a
totally volunteer rescue service (they took over 20 minutes to respond
to a drowning outside of Marsh Harbour regardless of what was reported
on the net ... we listened to the whole incident while it was happening)
are other indications that cruisers' needs are not important.

It appears that the entire boating focus is on those folks that can
afford to spend a couple of months at dockside or on a mooring ball.