Malta - January 2022

 We travelled to Malta in January for a post Christmas break and stayed in Valletta.

View of Valletta from rooftop of hotel

 

Valletta

 

View of Valletta from rooftop restaurant

 

Fishermans proverb "As skinny as a small spotted dogfish"  Said to one of slim stature

 

Skye - December 2021

 Travelled to Skye for Marks birthday and stayed at The Three Chimneys.  Such a beautiful place.

Seville - November 2021

 Our daughter spent the last year working as an au pair in Seville.  She said it was such a beautiful city we should visit.  So we did and had our own personal guide!!

View at Mirador de Las Setas of Seville

Plaza de la Contratacion

 

Abreu Suites, Seville

 

Orange trees

 

View from La Giralda

 

Catedral de Sevilla

 

La Giralda

 

Real Alcazar

 

Guadalquivir

 

Plaza in Macarena

 

Look at that sky!

 

Sunday afternoon socialising in Macarena

Day 19 Arrival Crosshaven, Cork

 We arrived at Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven in early evening.  Pizza and beer in the bar.  Staff here really helpful and the club was very busy with lots of courses taking place.

We had decided to wait here until we got a weather window to get across the channel to Brest and not being the fastest yacht and this being our first big overnight we wanted to make sure we had a clear 3 day window and unfortunately it never arrived.

We had some lovely days out in the area, everyone is so friendly here and can't do enough for you. We visited Cork and Cobh (Cove).

Cobh is the last port of call for the Titanic, it was called Queenstown then. There is a great museum there on emigration from Ireland.

We finally decided due to weather and other family commitments (getting our daughter to university) that we would get Doragh lifted out and kept in Cork until April when we can make the journey at our leisure.

It has always been our insistence that our sailing is relaxed, enjoyable, stress free and that we try as much as possible not to have a timetable.

So Doragh was lifted out of the water on 16th August and we headed back to Donaghadee to get our daughter ready for university.

Doragh tied up in Royal Cork

Visit to Cobh

Arrival at Royal Cork

Arrival at Royal Cork

View of Owenabue River at Crosshaven

Dolphins!

Doragh being lifted out for Winter

Day 16 - 18 Dunmore East - Crosshaven (Cork)

 Dunmore East is a very small fishing harbour with only a few spaces against a small pontoon (although the facilities are excellent) so most of the boats were having to raft.

Not being great fans of rafting we decided to drop anchor in the bay.  It was a beautiful evening and a bank holiday weekend so lots of activity. Swimmers, paddleboarders, kayakers' and of course sailors!

We got a place on the pontoon the next morning and enjoyed a walk around and a few drinks and tea at The Spinnaker.

More engine trouble causing some diesel leakage which we had to get fixed before heading off on Tuesday 3rd August towards Crosshaven.

Day 10 - 15 Kilmore Quay - Dunmore East

26th July to 31st July 2021

Hung around the boat for the next few days.  Starting to know more about whats going on and who's behind it like nosy neighbours!

Mark spend most of Tuesday working on the water pump and engine, getting it ready for the engineer.

Water pump turned out to be fine, so by a process of elimination its most likely electrical!

We have been going for the odd swim at the local beach at high tide and I now feel like a member of that elite group of cold water swimmers!😇😂😂

Brian, the mechanic arrived on Thursday and told us the starter motor had basically fried so new starter motor required.  It was replaced on Friday and we waved farewell to Kilmore Quay arriving in Dunmore East, Waterford on Saturday evening.

Day 9 Kilmore Quay to Kilmore Quay!!

Our plan for today had been to leave Kilmore at 12.30 and head to Dunmore East, have something to eat, a bit of a rest and leave at 11pm for Cork. Arriving at lunchtime on Monday.

We left as planned and had only got out of the harbour when the boat filled with smoke, alarms went off and engine cut out.  Immediately got the head sail up and headed for the Safe Water Marker Buoy to allow us time to sort things out. It soon became apparent that we need to return to Kilmore Quay for specialised assistance. However, being spring tides and we were leaving on the low tide to get the push south, we had no room for error. There wasn’t enough wind for us to sail the very long leading line into the harbour without risking being pushed onto the shallows either side, so we contacted the coastguard who got Kilmore Quay RNLI to kindly give us a tow back in. 

So, back at Kilmore Quay Marine where we will be until Friday when we can get engine sorted. Turns out  the water pump had seized, but engine won’t turn on.

Many, many, many thanks to those amazing volunteers who rescued us.  Today they were called out twice to rescue kayakers and another boat! 

 

Day 7- 8 Arklow to Kilmore Quay Wexford

 Kilmore is a small fishing village but is a popular holiday location aswell.  Its like a small Ballycstle with amazing beaches.

Great Saltee and Little Saltee islands sit just off the coast and boat trips go out daily.  These islands are nature reserves and this part of the world takes eco and environmental conservation very seriously which is great to see.

The beaches here are amazing and would rival anything I've seen in the med.  It has a few lovely restaurants and pubs which took Covid regulations very seriously. 

Windy! Doragh in the background

Kilmore Quay

Kilmore Quay

Walk on the beach