Midlifekayak

Had a great night’s sleep on the lawn outside the Stone House B&B in Baltimore. Jerry and Rhianne who run it, provided us with a huge breakfast this morning to set us up for the day’s paddle. They are also on the RNLI crew and had arranged for us to store our boats safely by the lifeboat station. Thanks so much guys!

It was a late start as we had to repack the kayaks after picking up provisions for the west coast. However, the stiff easterly wind helped us on our way out of the safe haven of Baltimore harbour, past Sherkin Island and into the Atlantic.

We were ticking along nicely at 5 to 6 miles an hour in the following sea. As we rounded Sherkin Island and turned to run down the north side of Clear Island we got our first glimpse of the Fastnet Rock, Ireland’s teardrop. The last piece of Ireland that emigrants saw as they sailed to America.

After a brief stop for a stretch and a coffee in the harbour on Clear Island, we started the open crossing towards Crookhaven Harbour. As the wind strengthened behind us, we zipped along at a fair old rate, surfing the ocassional wave. For a while we were tempted to keep going round Mizen Head and aim for Portmagee. But that would have been another 25 miles. So after a couple of hours we entered the safe waters of Crookhaven by paddling through a cave in the headland. 

Coming through the other side we were treated with a scene straight out of Spring Watch. There on the rocks in front of us, was a sea otter eating a fish that it had just caught. Stunning! 

Jerry and Rhianne – The Stone B&B.