Bantry Republic of Ireland

Our first priority on the morning of Thursday 2 September, well our first priority after breakfast, was to complete the formalities for arriving in Ireland.  We left the dinghy on the new-looking and empty visitors’ pontoon just to port of the harbour entrance proper and asked direction to the Harbourmaster’s office.  It turned out that the office is located the Old Courthouse at the far end of the main square (Wolf Tone Square), about a 5min walk from the pontoon.  The chap behind the desk was very welcoming and having ascertained that we had completed the Irish Passenger Locator Form online prior to our arrival, told us that there was no additional paperwork to complete nor any charges for anchoring.

He gave us fairly vague directions to the Customs office and we subsequently ended up on a walking tour of the town, without locating Customs.  In the end, the librarian gave us directions (and a map!) and we found the office was just a 2 minutes’ stroll from the Bantry Bay Port Office!  Like the port office, it was hardly a bustling hive of activity and there was little paperwork for us to complete there either but at least we had now fully and officially arrived.

Wolf Tone Square

By this point we had seen much of the small town already but after a coffee to recover from our exertions so far, we set about quartering the remaining parts of Bantry.

It’s a moderately busy little place in September, clearly something of a regional centre with a surprising array of shops ranging from pretty high end to bargain basement.  And, of course, pubs, bars and eateries to go with that range.

Roth Muilinn Mill wheel outside the library

We found a fish shop and restaurant that looked good and bought a kilo of local mussels to cook for dinner. (It seemd like the right choice after we had just navigated past lots of local mussel farms).  We also noted that the town’s outdoor market takes place on a Friday.  How unusual to turn up somewhere and find that the market is due to happen the next day, rather than to find that it happened the day before your arrival!

Local mussels for dinner

So, the next morning, after an excellent moules frites chez Blue Velvet, we returned to Bantry to try out the market.

Wolf Tone Square on market morning (Friday)

It was a surprisingly large affair with stalls selling everything from what looked to be the contents of the family garage/loft; to stalls with tools, hardware and workmen’s clothes; to ones selling local gifts and crafts; to food stalls of take-away food or selling fruit, veg and some lovely looking breads.  We bought a fruit loaf, which we hoped was like Guernsey gâche but turned out to be a less tasty imitation, plus some pricey, but delicious, organic soft fruit.

Market-fix complete we stopped by the large and very well-stocked SuperValu supermarket, conveniently located in a brand-new building about 50 yards from the visitors’ pontoon.  Here we stocked up on all the essentials for the next week or so.  Our plan for the afternoon was to make the short hope to Glengariff before heading on to more of the small harbours and anchorages around the southwest tip of Ireland.  Quite how far up the coast we would get we had no idea but we were pretty sure that food shopping didn’t get much easier than in Bantry ,so we made sure we’d made the most of it before moving on.

Bantry, Republic of Ireland

Helford River UK to Bantry Co Cork Republic of Ireland

The wind was still in the east and forecast to remain that way for several days, maybe weeks, so we planned to leave the Helford River, heading for Bantry in Co Cork.  Although the Republic of Ireland does not require visiting yachtsmen to make their entry into the country at a Port of Entry, with the ongoing issues relating to Covid we decided that it made sense to do so.  So, we had decided on arriving in Bantry, at the country’s SW tip.  The easterly winds would give us a nice downwind passage there and, if the winds remained in that direction for some time, we would be able to explore up the west coast for a while before heading downwind along the south coast towards Cork/Crosshaven on prevailing winds later in September.

Leaving the Helford River

But before we got that far we needed to complete Ireland’s online Passenger Locator Form, declaring our intended arrival point, Covid vaccination status and address for the first 14 days of our stay in the country.  Duly completed (thanks to the wifi at the Helford River Sailing Club – we had little Vodafone data service at anchor in the river), we completed the final preparations for BV’s passage and set off.

A good sailing breeze, and the weather looks set to cheer up too!

As we left the river, heading to round the Manacles, we had a good sailing breeze and as we set course for the Lizard, with Georgina (our Hydrovane) readied for a full day’s work, the cloud started to lift.  It looked like it was going to be a good passage!

Passing the Lizard

Lizard Point well behind us

The sailing was uneventful as we rounded Lizard Point and headed across Mount Bay.

Lovely sailing using our favourite sailplan

Off Land’s End we needed to cross the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS).  Our direct track to Bantry had us crossing at a rakish angle but this is not permitted by the regulations.  Also, we still had a little favourable tidal flow close into the coast.

Land’s End and the Longships Light

So we sailed up towards the Longstone Lighthouse, off Land’s End itself, and then set a heading of 90degrees to the TSS to cross the 2 lines of (non-existent) traffic, altering heading to make a better course towards Bantry in the zone between the 2 ‘carriageways’.

Land’s End in close-up

I had the first night watch and with no moon and full cloud cover it was very dark.  At the beginning of Nicky’s watch the moon rose, glowing red, but being quite a new moon produced little extra light.  The wind picked up, Nicky reefed, we carried out more watch changes, the sun rose, we adjusted the sails.  It was all very civilised.

Fastnet Rock

We closed the SW tip of Ireland at the end of the afternoon of Wed 1 September, passing through the Off Fastnet TSS in much the same way as we had the one off Land’s End.

Welcome to Ireland!  Nicky watches dolphins playing around BV’s bow (the splash on the
bottom photo is a dolphin beside BV – honest!)

Approaching Mizen Head, shortly before sunset, we were joined by a large pod of dolphins which played around BV’s bow for about half an hour.  But from there we still had a further 6 or so miles to run to the entrance of Bantry Bay and a further 20nm up the bay to Bantry itself, which meant that our entry into Bantry was at night.

As we approached the bay the wind dropped so we reverted once more to engine.  At the top of the bay there’s a large oil collection facility where tankers moor offshore and off-load oil to onshore storage tanks via hoses with floating ends.  We’ve seen similar systems off many islands in the Caribbean.  Beyond that, the channel to Bantry becomes narrower and winds between islands and headlands, off which are moored numerous mussel farms.  The channel and the farms are all well-lit (and well-charted) but we still wouldn’t wish to do it for the first time at night in poor weather.

Morning views of Bantry

We finally dropped anchor off Bantry at 0135hrs, outside the moorings off the sailing club and clear of a marked turning circle (but a turning circle for what we never found out).

We found we had anchored right out in front of Bantry House

In the morning we would need to go ashore to check in with the Harbour Master and Customs to formally arrive to Ireland but for now sleep beckoned.

Morning view across the bay just off Bantry town, looking at the islands, headlands and
mussel farms we had passed in the night

Bantry, Co Cork, Republic of Ireland

Helford River UK to Bantry Republic of Ireland

A brief update:  We left the Helford River in Cornwall at 1230hrs on Tuesday 31 August and set sail towards Ireland.  The wind has been very favourable for that passage so we elected to head towards Bantry rather than Cork.  If the easterly winds stay around for a few more days then we should be able to explore some of the south western inlets of Ireland before using the more normal south-westerly winds to make our way back towards Cork and then return towards Falmouth in the UK.  The 1230hrs departure was timed for making our way around the Lizard and Land’s End which worked and then we blaster off across the Celtic Sea eventually dropping our anchor off Bantry at 0135hrs.  The passage was 253 nautical miles and we completed that in 37 hours with an average speed of 6.8 knots.  Not bad going!  However, after 2 disturbed nights at sea it’s time for a bit of a relax and maybe some Guinness.

Bantry, Republic of Ireland