Bofin Harbour Inishbofin County Galway Republic of Ireland (Part 1)

Departing Clifden with the fish farm and support vessel to the right of the picture where we had
originally hoped to anchor 

We had wondered about staying at Clifden for the day but the wind forecast was so good that we decided to carry on to Inishbofin, which we were keen to visit. There was still a good swell as we left past the protecting islets and rocks off Clifden but nothing like as high as the previous day. With a reef in the main, full staysail and 4 rolls in the genoa we had enough power to beat into the swell but not so much as to be overpowered in the breeze.

Once offshore, it was only a couple of hours of fast, fun sailing, past more rocky islets to Inishbofin. Here, the harbour entrance is renowned as narrow but, following a 90-degree right turn, the protection inside the natural harbour is equally renowned as being excellent.

Approaching Bofin Harbour

There is an original leading line marked by 2 large towers but this goes over a shallow patch (sounding 1.6m). A much newer directional light has been installed showing a line close in to the lighthouse.The light is fairly weak by day, but it is visible. It’s also a very narrow beam; the leading line is just 0.5 degrees wide and the left and right of centre beams are 5 degrees wide but it’s very doable, and much better than going over the shallow patch at a 1m low tide!

Just about to turn 90 degrees right into the harbour and pass the ruined Cromwell’s Fort

Anyway, we made it in safely and then had to find some space in which to anchor.  There are quite a few moorings in the harbour (most empty but a couple with boats on them), some areas are pretty shallow, there are ferries that dock on both the outer pier and the inner quay, so you need to leave space for them to manoeuvre, and there were 2 yachts at anchor too. Nevertheless, we found a space quite close in to the southern rocks which, with the wind forecast to remain in the south and southwest, was perfect.

We had a lazy couple of hours and then inflated the dinghy and went ashore to explore. It’s a lovely island and we ended up doing a 9km walking loop all around the west end of the island.

When we got back to the anchorage we found that Cahoots had arrived having had a good sail from Greatman’s Bay on the outer edges of Galway Bay. We had a sundowners beer with them and heard about their engine which was still smoking but which was working okay, though thy thought it really needs new/cleaned injectors and a new air filter.

Bofin Harbour, Inishbofin, County Galway, Republic of Ireland