Sailing Trip Round Ireland, Stop 1: Rathlin Island
Coming into Rathlin Island
The whole crew were delighted with ourselves after spotting the whale and so many Baskin sharks in Donegal Bay. We may have to get on to the Whale and Dolphin Group in Ireland and inform them of our sightings. We also had accomplished a first night sailing with watches for most of us which including the use of a lee-cloth, a red light head torch and simply trusting the instruments as there was very little objects to use for transit due to clouds. We were wide awake and the Master Victualler has whipped us up breakfast and a cup of tea to keep spirits high.
We were approaching the west coast of the island where the lighthouse which looked like a converted hotel gave us reference. We were venturing in to the south entrance towards the marina and in between the Island and Ireland with their fair share of lobster pots to keep us alert.
From the Chartplotter, our navionics app and the eOceanic website information which is a very useful resource for harbours in Ireland the UK, we had the technical information to approach and our Skipper was docking for the 7th time at least.
We lined up the transit and entered the harbour nice and easy with the site a small and pretty village just behind the marina. We all had different thoughts in our head about what we had been through, what went well and what we could have done better and how we were feeling and how much we might want a little comfort!
The Harbour, Rathlin Island
Entering the harbour was easy and there was space for us to dock without any issues. Our focus turned to what we had to do before divesting our sailing gear and heading for a big Irish breakfast. The Skipper paid a visit to the harbour master and we were good to stay for a few hours.
Giving the fridge life!
Living on a boat, you learn very quickly the difference between 240 Volt AC and 12 Volt DC Power. The fridge required ‘onshore’ power to keep its stock coldish, so we brought it up to a socket beside the harbour master’s hut on the harbour. Now we were good to go!
Tidal Gates
Deciding on when to leave due to the Tidal Gate in this area was the conversation we were having on entering the harbour. And the skipper gave us a 1:45pm return time to the boat to take advantage of our position to head down into the Irish Sea.
Getting breakfast at McCuaigs and powering up the phones
With a brisk step in our pace, we set our bearings on the pub that served breakfast, a ‘Mega’ breakfast! On entering the café, on one side of the pub, there was a hunt for sockets to recharge our phones. The collaboration had begun, one of the guys had a multi-port plug and the team were engaged.
We took up 2 tables in the café and the silence of satisfaction surrounded us. And we simply enjoyed a bit of chat on what we had experienced last night sailing and speculated on what was yet to come.
Shore leave
After breakfast nothing like a pint and a chat which was one option and the other was a walk on the Island. I remained with those in the cosiness of the other side of the pub for a pleasurable pint of Guinness and a bag of cheese and onion crips, while others ventured out to walk the Island a little before our rendezvous back at the boat for 1:45pm.
The small chats count as we were slowly getting to find out about each other and what motivated us to take this crazy trip.
More info on the Island
As we sail a new series on TV is being released about the Islands of Ireland, called ‘Ireland’s Wild Island’ with Rathlin Island featuring as Episode 1. And a series was also released on the Lighthouses around Ireland too, called ‘The Great Lighthouses of Ireland’.
Wherever we were on the Island, we headed back to pickup the fridge and get ready to cast off again southwards down the Irish Sea with the potential of aiming for Greystones.
The Skipper was a bit mysterious though, so we never really had certainty of our next destination which was exciting in a way and kept us on our toes in another!
Next: Sailing Round Ireland — Leg 2 — Rathlin Island -> Greystones
Previous: Sailing Trip Round Ireland, Leg 1: Rosses Point, Sligo -> Rathlin Island
