South Coast- Sherkin Island and Cape Clear

 I don't know if anyone reading this has ever written a blog, but it is definitely only for certain type of person. If it wasn't for Ireland I'd never blog and once I'm home again I'll say farewell to blogging!

My adventure started last Friday, the 11th of July. I managed to get off work early but not as early as I had planned so I was definitely feeling the pressure. I had to speed walk my happy(ish) ass over to the car dealership to get my rental car then back to the house to grab my bags before hitting the road. The car dealers went smoothly, except for the fact the computer program they have to set you up with a car apparently isn't very user friendly. It wasn't the fastest process and the salesman sent me out the door without even completing the process. The car I got this time was a smaller compact car, it was a Seat Mii. It is the same make as my first rental car but just a different model. Four door, hatch back and an automatic this time.

 

After getting the car loaded and the destination set in the navigation, which was a newer and very confusing model of Seat/Garmin systems I stopped at a store real fast to get some snacks for the road. I got some Pringles, I'll tell you right now they only have 3 flavors in Ireland. Not just in Pringles but in all potato chips/crisps. Those three flavors at original, salt&vinegar and cheese&onion. After getting my original Pringles I got myself on the road. The first leg of the journey was on small country roads that are just marginally large enough for two cars, taking you through small villages and towns. In these towns cars park on the sides of the roads which are already small, making it nearly a one way street that is still technically a two way so you have to take turns and keep an eye out for on coming cars. At one point in the middle of one of these small towns a Pacing Horse (Breed of horse and form of horse racing) came pacing down the road heading the other direction, had the little racing buggy with driver and all! It was so random it was kind of funny but I also felt bad for the horse, not exactly easy on their legs to run on pavement like that. Was about an hour then I was on the motor way, nice and wide open with the ability to get some speed and actually make up for lost time. The time of arrival on the Garmin showed me just barely making it to Baltimore, the coastal town where I was to meet up with a group to ride across the water to Sherkin. It was about a 3 1/2hr journey  from point A to B.

Oh guess I could give a little background on the who the group really is! At the time I was on the road I actually had no clue who was in the group or how many people would be going to Sherkin Island. How I got it into my head to go to Sherkin was by going online to discover Ireland.ie, found a listing by a conservation group called Sea Shepard. They had organized a trip to Sherkin Island, Cape Clear (pronounced Clair) and a day of whale watching. So I'd signed up to join in on the adventure! 

The drive on the motor way was easy and peaceful. passing through the open country side since nothing but green hills with the happiest live stock in the world and farm houses to go along with them. There were several over passes from one side of the road across to the other side of the motorway. At one point I was about to pass under one of these when I realized there was a large herd of dairy cows making there way over the motorway! It looked so funny, never something I'd see at home. But I have seen it since and I'll probably see it again while I'm here in Ireland. It was probably about this that I had a major panic attack realizing I had forgotten my brand new rain coat I bought just for the trip along with my other jacket, all I had with me were hoodies, but of course by this time it was waaaay to late to turn back. Wasn't long before I came to Cork City, I was already in the county of Cork and as far as I'm aware Cork City is one or the biggest cities in the south of Ireland. I'd started in county Offaly and passed through the county of Limerick before coming to Cork. This was where I first ran into any issues traveling. The navigation system must not have been fully up to date, it keep telling me to go through round-a-bouts that didn't even exists. And the names of the motor way I was supposed to follow didn't match any of the ones on the signs of painted on the pavement. They did have several large multiple lane round-a-bouts that I got the pleasure of driving through four times because I was trying to figure out where exactly the nave was telling me to go. One other thing with the nave that didn't help matters was the fact I couldn't hear it! The voice of the navigator was at a whisper so I could here little bits and pieces but not enough. And even once I had a chance to mess with the settings no where was there anything that had volume control other than mute or unmute! Anyway I finally made enough circles around the merry go round of round-a-bouts to find the correct road. Shortly there after the road gradually got smaller, from the two lanes both directions of the motor way to one lane in each direction that were still a good size for a while, then on to the country roads barely large enough for two cars. And definitely small enough that a tractor would keep you from getting very far!

At this point I didn't think the roads could get any smaller! But oh was I wrong! This being my second time

driving I was feeling comfortable with the road sizes that was until the Garmin had me take a right turn off on to  a dirt road, literally and I mean literally only big enough for one car! If I had met another car going the other way one of us would've either had to tunnel into the bushes on the side of the road which have hidden stone walls in them or back up until we could get out of the way. Luckily I didn't mean any other cars. This road seemed to go on forever, past several farm houses twisting and turning through the country side. In passing one farm house I met a couple dogs, one boarder collie and one black shepard. The both were fans of chasing cars and trying to bite tires. If I slowed down at all they'd get in front of the, honking the horn only seemed to encouraging their pursuit while I tried to keep the car on the road but yet not run over anyone's paws. I increased my speed but still the dogs kept up with me for at least 5-8min which on this road seemed like an hours' time! Finally after thirty minutes on the dirt one car road I was back on the pavement with room for two cars.

Side note for a little car talk! By this time I had very much decided I didn't like the european version of an automatic transmission. It would shift up into fifth gear rather quickly but with the many twists, turns and hills of the country roads I needed to be in a lower gear more often than not. Strangely this car wouldn't down shift unless you came to a crawl or a full stop. Then when shifting up again it nearly gave you whiplash it changed gears so hard! It did have a manual tip-tronic mode but I wasn't about to go there. The other thing I noticed was that the car didn't have a "park" gear option, just drive, manual, neutral and reverse. In order to put the car in "park" you had to put it in neutral and pull the parking/E-brake. Also if you're ever in any european country, don't get a petrol/unleaded gas car. Go for the diesel cars, they are much more fuel efficient.  Oh and FYI don't say "shift" in regards to cars in Ireland, here in it means snogging or making out, getting it on!!! I learned that one the hard way! ugh..... 

Anyway after nearly having a heart attack because of the dogs and the fear of meeting a car going the opposite direction on the seriously only one way road and finding my way to the pavement it was still another good 30-40mins of twisting and turning Irish country roads before I came to Baltimore, the small coastal town from which I'd launch my adventure! Thankfully I had the phone number of the Organizer of the trip and gave her a call as soon as I was to the pier. I was the last person to arrive (thanks Garmin!) but thankfully they were waiting just to see if I'd make it. After being pointed in the direction of the free parking and collecting my bags from the car, I was brought to the boat that would bring me to Sherkin! I met a couple of the follow adventurers and was helped about the boat which was called a rib, for God only knows what reason?! It was literally less than ten minutes to get Sherkin, thankfully! Couldn't take another long journey at that point. 

This is a rib- not as tasty as some! But gets the job done! :)

Got checked in at the hotel and went up to stairs to check out my room and freshen up before dinner! 

 

My lovely bed that was as hard as a rock.

Good sided room all to me-self!

The bathroom, that tub nearly killed me! 

 

The view I was lucky enough to have!

 After getting myself settled into my room I made my way downstairs to get myself some dinner! Ended up ordering the spinach and cheese pasta with garlic bread and some hot tea. They have a bunch of picnic benches out on the grass in front of the hotel, so I made my way outside to enjoy the view of the bay and the boats while I had my dinner. It wasn't long until I was joined by fellow Sea Shepard Guests, two of whom were visiting from Holland! Thought that was pretty neat, never been to Holland or met anyone from there before. Had plenty of good dinner conversation even though most of it I didn't actually participate in, I just sat back and took it all in. At much of the conversation was about diet, never even crossed my mind that most of the people that were involved in the conservation group would be vegetarian or vegan. But that took up most of the conversation for the night and since I'm neither and have mixed feelings on the subject I felt it better to keep my mouth closed. Obviously it's your own personal choice what you do and don't eat, but I almost have an easier time grasping the concept if someone is a vegetarian simply because they don't like the taste or texture of specific meats rather than for political reasons. Animals and animal products have been part of human life, ceremony and survival as far back as we can look. Yes, there are more "humane" ways to go about getting animal products than many of the modern companies use. But what exactly are you going to do with a pig, a cow or a sheep if you don't eat it at some point?! The world would be over run with animals if we didn't eat them. Either way, I know I'll never be a vegetarian and more power to the people than are for giving up something so delicious!  

Two things that were said at dinner really stuck with me, nothing earth shattering or controversial! But in talking about foods, some terms caught my ear.One was diet milk....what?! At home we'd simply say 1%, 2% or skim milk. I guess diet milk means the same but it just sounded so strange to my foreign ear! The other was just how one of the ladies pronounced hummus as hoo-mas. Ireland for such a small country has a very wide range of accents, then many people in Ireland have come from the UK or another country in Europe, so there is even more training of the ear that must happen. I find it quite entertaining! Doesn't help EVERYONE talks a mile a min, probably the hardest thing to get used too.

After quite sometime it started getting to cold for me to sit outside, seeing as how the one thing the hotel was lacking was a massive fire pit outside, so I went inside with the rest of the group. Got myself warmed up and watched as the sun set and the clouds rolled in over the bay. Made the city lights of Baltimore look like stars trying to shine through a cloudy night sky! It wasn't long until the long journey of the day caught up with me and went to my room. I took myself a nice short shower, even though the water pressure was lovely the water temperature didn't stay warm for longer than the time it took to get fully soaped up! After a cold rinse I went to get out of the tub, as I mentioned before I nearly died at this stage. The floor of the tub wasn't at floor level and the sides of the tub were an excessive amount taller than the standard tub. Add a slippery wet surface and your just asking for trouble! I managed a couple of awkward slips, slides and acrobatic maneuvers to keep my face from meeting the floor but managed to stay upright!  After getting ready for bed I made the mistake of turning on the the T.V. and found a movie to watch. Which of course I had to finish so I didn't get to sleep until 1am!! The movie was Up In The Air, made in 2009 and has George Clooney in it. Worth watching! 

Benches outside with the mist setting in!

The next morning we had to be at breakfast by I think it was 9-930am so that we could meet the boat that would be taking us to Cape Clear (clair) for a nice hike around the Island!

Breakfast dining room! Felt so spoiled. 

Breakfast was served with hot coffee, orange juice and cereal. Then a server would come out and take your order for a hot breakfast if you wanted one. I had a cup of coffee, multiple cups of orange juice, a bowl of cereal and a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. The scrambled eggs came out in  a dome shaped glob. Looked a little worrisome, but the texture and taste was normal. Hit the spot!

After breakfast we then went down to the dock we'd arrived at yesterday and loaded back on to the rib to be taken around to Cape Clear that was just south of Sherkin. The day was over cast but fairly warm, thankfully! Due to the fact I'd totally forgotten the rain coat I'd bought just for the trip along with my Columbia Jacket I was down to wearing my underarmor and Dicks Hamburgers hoody! Thankfully they kept me plenty warm throughout the day.

This is the Beacon aka a fancy light house ish thing.
on the main land by Balitmore. Also called Lots Wife
since it looks almost like a pillar of salt.

Part of the coast line of Sherkin, the rock formations are
ever changing with all the rough water wearing away at them.

I was able to see many old stone remains, either houses or walls
along the shore lines of Sherkin.

  The ride to Cape Clear wasn't a very long ride, followed the shore line of Sherkin and passed between the to islands until we came to the southern most end of Cape Clear and the pier. The pier consisted of a sloped cement slab cover in slime! Every kind of algae you could image covered the closest parts of the pier making it so we had to bring the boat quite far forward and climb out and up about a foot onto the pier. Once on solid ground the sights of the ocean and this lovely little island started to take us in! 

The Pier with all the lovely algae at the very end.

Looking along the coastline of Cape Clear.

A little harbor seal coming in for a closer look at us!

He was so cute! There were actually two but one disappeared rather quickly. 

After spotting the harbor seal and spending a good ten minutes watching and waiting to see just how close they would come, which was closer than I'd expected. We then started the up hill trek into the heart of the little island.

All the little houses were so quaint!

Truely a one way road!

If you don't watch for cars you will lose a toe or a whole foot!

There were lots of cows on the island, a few horses but don't remember seeing many sheep.

This was my favorite house on the island.

For being an island you could walk across in a day there were plenty of  ruins.

 

And the mist/fog sets in!

Little village where the one shop and three restaurants are. 

The harbor where we were picked up and taken back to Sherkin at the end of the day.

We spent most of our time just walking around pretty aimlessly, had many huddles around a map to try and figure out where we were and where we were trying to get too. Turned out that when we were brought to the island we were dropped off at a different pier than we had originally thought and so we'd been totally turned around. Even after that several members of the group still felt the need to huddle up and discuss the best route to take. Myself and my two walking buddies just continued walking not really caring where we went. Just taking in the sights of the houses, fields, the old stone walls that surrounded everything on the island. We attempted to try and find a path down to the coast line but found a dead end instead. After walking for a couple hours we came to the history museum of the island. Tiny little building, the vast majority of the items in there were about the boats and ocean. They had quite a few mannequins in the museum, which creep me out so I didn't spend allot of time before going back outside.
After the museum we started walking to the center of the island where the harbor and the few shops of the island are. It was time for lunch and one of the restaurants which was also a tiny general store was waiting for us. When we arrived there was a long table set up for us all. I had their seafood chowder, which was amazingly good! After doing a little shopping the local craft shop after lunch we were picked back up by the rib and taken back to Sherkin.
Once we were back I was so exhausted that I went straight to my room, took a shower and a nice long nap. Woke up from my nap in time for dinner of a spicy chicken salad and apple pie, which I ate while watching a showing of Blackfish. Blackfish is a documentary about killer whales that are kept in captivity at seaworld, as well as a couple other theme parks. I'd seen this documentary once before but it was interesting to watch again. If you haven't seen it I believe it's on youtube.
After dinner and the showing of the film (or as the Irish say, the fil-um) my two walking buddies and I went to explore Sherkin Island. We followed the few street signs they had to a small beaches on the island, then on the way back to the hotel we stopped by one of the other piers and the old monastery ruins that were right near by! Got back to the hotel and played two games of Irish pool which took longer than any game should. It wasn't until about 1am that I got to bed, good thing I got a nap.

Sunset in the bay

This cow jump through the bush it was munching on and scared us to death!

The first beach we came to on our walk.

The second beach we came to on our walk, didn't walk out to the water because it was windy and cold.

The monastery ruins

Monastery ruins from a  different angle.

Looking out at Baltimore from the pier on Sherkin.

 

 

The next morning I woke up even earlier than the day before, packed all my bags and went down stairs. I checked out of my room then went into the breakfast room for another breakfast of cereal, eggs and toast, coffee and orange juice! After everyone had finished breakfast and checked out we all went down to the dock where we were met by out whale watching guide and his lovely boat.

The whale watching boat was a catamaran. 

After we all loaded everyone and all the bags onto the boat, we were all given life vests and a brief on safety as well as what animals we were on the look out for. We also got a warning that all the whales in the area were here from feeding and that they cover a vast area so seeing them can be hit or miss. With other whale watching tours in more tropical areas the whales are coming together into a smaller space for breeding so are much easier to see.
As we made our way out of the bay past the beacon just ahead of the boat we spotted some Harbor Porpoises off in the distance. We had to turn off the engine on the boat since the whales are so shy we weren't able to get any closer. The small glimpses we had where just of the dorsal fins as they breached the water on the horizon.
After a few minutes the whales had vanished and we were off in the search for them. The day was amazing, even with the extremely low chance of seeing any more whales the weather and the water couldn't have been any better!!

While we zig zagging across the waters at a peaceful speed always having an eye on the water for whales in the distance, we also got to enjoy a mass amount of sea birds. Which included the Manx Shearwater, a little black and white bird that flies skimming just above the waters surface for food below...

Manx Shearwater 

Another kind of bird that we saw allot of was the Black Guillemot bird, black bird with white on it's wings and bright red feet. Our guide said he calls them clock work bird cause their little feet never slow down and they never seem to have a landing plan they just crash into the water.

Black Guillemot 

The last bird we saw was the Gannet, very large white birds that dive like rockets into the water to catch fish! Towards the end of the first half of the boat ride we came upon a whole group of them and watched them feeding. They are crazy cool birds I really enjoyed them! Even saw some of their young ones that still learning.

Gannet

While Enjoying the water and the sun I also managed to snap a few cool shots of the coast line and the crazy rock faces!

Small cave hiding there

The tower in this last image is apparently the oldest religious sight in Ireland called Dun an Oir Fort or fort of gold. Not sure why it was called fort of gold, thinking that some pirates left gold there?! Not sure.

After spending several hours on the water we stopped at Cape Clear and the same little harbor we'd been at the day before. I know we'd all noticed it before but I don't think I remember to mention it, but the Cape is where all the cars come to die. Every car we saw was dented in multiple places and had one or both bumpers being held up by rope or some even had duct tape keeping parts in place. They didn't sound any better when the engines were running, many were missing mufflers and sounded like they were about to die.
After sitting for 45min, having a snack and watching all the people and cars we were back on the boat to head back to the main land of Baltimore.

 

On the way back to the main land we passed by seal island or rock where all the seals spend their time in the sun!

A smaller rock by seal island was loaded and while using binoculars I could see some fuzzy baby seals. 

Not only are there seals on the rocks but all the little black spots on the water are their heads. When we got closer they wanted to keep a good eye on us! 

You can barely see the little guy but on the far left point of the rock there is a seal hanging out! It was so much fun watching these cute critters in their real environment!

Another look at the beacon as we came back into the bay! 

Cute little sail boats in the bay! It wasn't long until we were back in the harbor and off loading from the boat, loading back into our cars for the long drives back to our homes!! It was an awesome weekend I'll never forget and a thoroughly enjoyed myself!