We arrived in Dublin after sailing across a very quiet Irish sea on 18 July. We saw quite a few porpoises and got 3 good sightings of a Minke whale about half way across.

We were told that Howth was a nice place to stop at with a good transport link into Dublin and that is exactly how it turned out. Howth is on a peninsula NE of Dublin and a bit of a seaside resort and thriving fishing village. The marina was big but quite challenging to enter as it was a very narrow and shallow channel. Howth is the main sailing centre for Ireland with a busy race calender and lovely club house.

The next day we had a tourist day in Dublin, going on a city sightseeing trip and enjoying the lovely weather. We travelled on the DART train which was very cheap and efficient. Back in Howth we decided to treat ourselves to a fish dinner at “The Oarhouse” on the quayside (just one of the many fish restaurants there). The fish was so fresh and delicious and the wine was good too! Nice to have some cold white wine as our fridge is not working just now, which is a bit of a challenge!

Howth harbour wall with Ireland’s Eye (island) in the background

Bridge over the Liffey, Dublin

Dublin Georgian street

Andy at Trinity College, Dublin

Dublin to Wicklow Saturday 20 July

An uneventful sail down the coast to Wicklow harbour, no whales but back to very shallow water ,only about 20m deep even several miles offshore. There are lots of sandbanks running parallel to the coast but luckily they were all marked with buoys. Wicklow harbour was full of people enjoying the water, but making it difficult to safely negotiate a spot to anchor! The water was lovely and warm though so we were also tempted in after we got settled. Even Andy went in for a swim as the water was 16 Degrees C! We later moved Vaila to the quay side as the swell became worse during the evening. It was the first time we had done this with the boat and we set the alarm for 0130 to make sure that we had enough line out to cope with the tidal drop (which luckily is only 2m here)

Up against the wall at Wicklow harbour.

Wicklow to Wexford Sunday 21 July

From Wicklow we sailed down to Wexford, a nice little town in SE Ireland. The entrance is tricky as there are lots of shifting sand banks but it marked with a buoyed channel so we thought it should be fine. The water depth dropped to 2.4 m on entering though so that was a bit scary. Safely in and anchored opposite the town quay with a big tide flowing in and out but we knew our big Manson anchor would hold us. Up early the next day to catch high water to leave and the channel was easy (the chart plotter really helps!). Little did we know then that we would get to know the channel really well! We got as far as Rosslare with a good wind and then the fog came down. Rosslare is a big port with massive ships and ferries and so this and fog are not a good combo. We motored back and forth for a few hours hoping for the fog to lift but no joy. So then we had to wait till 6pm to get high water to get back to Wexford! Hey ho. You win some you lose some.

So here we are still in Wexford. We are taking the chance to get shopping in and get the laundry done. Everyone is lovely and friendly and we had a pleasant evening at the local boat club last night after having our first BBQ on board courtesy of the Cobb BBQ!