Cahersiveen to Bear Haven - in the rain

A really wet day, not much wind and a rolling swell left over from yesterday's wind; not a great combination but the 40-mile, 8-hour passage was still interesting.

We left Cahersiveen at 6.00am to gain favourable south-going tide, knowing that we wouldn't be able to reach Dursey sound before the adverse tide made it impassable. So we had to go the long way round, passing the rocky islands called The Bull, The Cow and the Calf. On the way we passed Puffin Island and saw about 20 Puffins near the boat.


The Bull


The Cow


The Calf

We had to motor the whole way, with only 6 or 7 knots of wind. Not enough to sail but we hoisted the mainsail anyway to help reduce the rolling (which was a bit uncomfortable near some of the tidal headlands). We saw one other yacht, motoring in the opposite direction, which re-affirmed the advantages of Maunie's pilothouse design. Their crew were all dressed up in full foulies and huddled for shelter in the forward end of the cockpit - we were sitting in normal clothes in the pilothouse, CD player on, watching the world around us and flicking the windscreen wiper switch occasionally (it really needs a variable time delay setting or, even better, a rain-sensor!)

We made into Bear Haven just in time to pick up a visitors' buoy for a lunch stop. The main harbour of Castletownbere is a major fishing port, so no great attraction to us, so we plan to move across to a small marina called Lawrence Cove on the north side of Bear Island. We're informed that there's no mobile phone signal there.

The weather forecast promises another poor day tomorrow - mist and light winds - and then a west or northwest wind, plus sunny skies on Tuesday so that looks like our window to cross the Irish Sea back to Cornwall. If we waited until Thursday (our original plan) the wind will be on the nose all the way, not nice!