Two Scotsmen, an Englishman and an Irishman: Day 13

We departed Dingle at 07.45am for the Aran Isles initially, but an early weather forecast made us think we may have to miss them out and continue for Rossaveal. The forecast is for a North Easterly Force 4, one of the few wind directions that leave the Aran Islands exposed. Normally the wind is from the South West so this is unusual and typical of the unusual weather we have been dealing with so far this trip.

So we hatched a plan to continue to what was our next stopping place that is sheltered from the NE.

This means a run of 93 miles arriving on Sunday morning at first light.

On leaving Dingle we noticed a very strange rock just at the entrance, the sea erosion has carved out what looks like some sort of sea monster that wouldn’t look out of place in a Jason and the Argonauts story.

We have to navigate through some tight channels at Garraun Point and then sail up the Atlantic coast to Galway Bay, passing some outstanding scenery. Many of the points come straight down to sea level from a tremendous height. A spectacular rugged coast.

Surprising Sandy beaches quite far out at sea draws tourist boats tailing ribs taking people out to them.

We had a great sail being briefly joined by a Pilot Whale, too briefly to get a photograph unfortunately, but the sailing was good for most of the day we even broke out the Cruising Chute for nearly all of the afternoon. The Cruising Chute is a very large colourful large sail that lets you sail fast down wind. We were also treated to some very warm weather with our layers having to be peeled off, the deck temperature got near 23 degrees.