Roaringwater > Baltimore

Kilcoe Castle

We arrived in Cork on Saturday, and drove straight down to Baltimore. We have a house for the first week, at No 3 Castle End. The weather is settled with high pressure, warm and sunny. Con took us out for a rib ride on Sunday. We pottered around in the passage between Spanish Island and Ringaroga, where numerous seals were also enjoying the glorious weather. There’s not much water in this stretch and plenty of rocks so we had to keep a careful eye out. On the way back in, Laura helmed and came out through the gap planing at full throttle. Less of a wake when on the plane, and Laura likes the speed!

Tiernan launched Treo early on Monday morning, and Con and Mary offered to take us and our gear over to Roaringwater in their rib. This is a great help as it means we don’t have to ferry people and cars back and forth. We load all our boat gear plus deflated dinghy into the rib and head off. Laura is once again at the helm and we have to convince her to take it easy, as contrary to her, Mary does not like the speed! 

The weather is perfect, calm, sunny and hot. Con is at the helm now, and he slows down as we approach Jeremy Irons’ Kilcoe Castle. I ask if we can go in closer for a gawk, and he turns in between Manin Island and Manin Beg. We potter around a bit enjoying the spectacular views of the castle from the water. A few minutes later and we’re alongside Treo on her mooring. We drop off Laura and a bunch of the gear, then head for the pier where we will inflate the dinghy. It’s only about half-tide so we need to be extra careful going up the last stretch to the pier without going aground. We tie up and drag the dinghy over to a patch of grass and start pumping. Once she’s inflated we thank Con and Mary and row back down to Treo to find Laura stretched off in the cockpit sunbathing.

Roaringwater pier

We store our gear and get ready to head off towards Baltimore. There is no wind, but I optimistically unroll the jib just in case a breeze picks up out in the bay. We motor our way down, and as we pass the last line of mussel barrels, there is still not a breath of wind. The jib is hanging straight down from the forestay, limp, not flapping in the slightest. There isn’t a ripple on the surface of Roaringwater Bay, except for our wake. I have never seen it like this and I can’t imagine there are many times when it's like this. 

We'll have to motor the whole way to Baltimore, and we found in the past that a full tank lasts about an hour. I’m a bit worried about running out of petrol as a ferry bears down on us, or just as we try to pick up a mooring in Baltimore Harbour. So we stop for a minute at the entrance to the harbour and put a splash of petrol in the tank. Probably not completely in line with health and safety best practices…

We pick up Con’s easter mooring, but the buoy has somebody else’s name on it so we are unsure of having the right one. We drop it and pick up the middle white one, which we are certain belongs to him. A successful, if very unusual, start to the season!

1/07/2018

Rib ride with C, J-A, and D. Laura at the helm. Seal colony off Ringaroga. Full throttle back through Green's Channel. 

2/07/2018

REL

Roaringwater to Baltimore

Winds F4-5 in the AM, then F1-3 by late afternoon. Tiernan back from hols. Launched boat AM.