Tern's Travels
Pacific Seacraft 37
| Vessel Name: | Tern |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Pacific Seacraft Crealock 37 |
| Hailing Port: | Falmouth UK |
| Crew: | Larry & Manice Stabbins |
04 July 2022 | Dingle, Kerry, Ireland
Dingle, Blasket Sound to Aran Islands
Dingle, Blasket Sound and on to the Aran Isles. 28 May - 1st June
11 June 2022 | Cahergal Ring Fort, overlooking Valencia
VALENCIA AND KERRY, 21-27 MAY
Valencia's main habitation is Knightstown where a large marina within a set of breakwaters was envisaged but never completed. The breakwaters make it a safe place to tie up but there are no facilities so the next day we went up the river, which is constrained by tide, to the marina at Cahersiveen [...]
11 June 2022 | On Sneem Sculpture trail
KENMARE RIVER, north shore. 19-20 May
After three days boat-bound at anchor in Kilmakillogue we were keen to move on so we motor-sailed NW in 15-20 knots of gusty SW wind to anchor in the N cove of Garinish Islkand in Sneem Harbour. It was still too windy and grey to make it attractive to go ashore but by the morning it was brighter [...]
18 May 2022 | Dursey Sound cable car support
Kenmare River
Once the wind eased and we could move on from Adrigole, Bantry Bay, of course, there was no wind and we motored the 15nm to Castletown Bearhaven to provision andget nearer to the west end of Bantry Bay. Sailing from each river northwards needs not only good weather as the swell can get so large, [...]
12 May 2022 | The Italian garden at Garinish Island
Glengarriff Harbour and Garinish Island (Ilnacullin) 7-12 May
Glengarriff is sheltered enough to be a hurricane hole. It's a must to visit but as strong SW winds were forecast it was a perfect place to be. It was a fine evening and were greeted by the resident seals as we anchored near Garinish Island. The next day was overcast but we spent most of the day on the [...]
12 May 2022 | Live fowl for sale in Bantry market- you can buy almost anything!
Adrigole and Bantry
In settled weather we were abl;e to continue east towards Bantry, stopping in the protected Adrigole harbour which is home to a large population of harbour seals. The potentially peaceful is setting disrupted by the noise from the busy coast road with its traffic from the fishing port of Castleberehaven [...]
Fair Isle
Fair Isle is midway between Shetland and Orkney and has a stunning little harbour on its east side where yachts are welcomed as long as they don't get in the way of the Good Shepherd ferry.The sail across The Hole was delightful in a good NW breeze which died off as we got in the lee of the island making the entrance to the harbour relatively calm. There were puffins sitting in the water all the way into the harbour but I have been pretty unsuccessful at getting any decent photographs of them- they dive under water just when you get near enough for the picture! By the night the harbour had all the yachts it could handle: 5, with the Good Shepherd on the slip where it had been hauled uo during the recent gale.
There is a famous bird observatory which attracts the majority of visitors to Fair Isle. There are resident populations of some birds which the observatory folk keep a census of and there are the migratory birds which are observed and logged rigorously. The quietest time for the migratory species is early August and the "Obs" is closed and the staff on holiday at this time, which was the time of our visit. Looking on the positive side, we were able to wander around when there were hardly any other visitors and see the resident birds outside the breeding season, just a quiet time on Fair Isle. So we now know a bit about puffins, skuas, rock doves, Northern wheatears, fulmars, shags and Fai Isle starlings, to name but a few. During the year hundreds of species pass through Fair Isle as it's such a handy stop off, some stopping to breed, others just passing through.
So the Obs is central to Fair Isle's culture as is the crofting way of life which most of the residents
pursue.As on Unst, everyone wears several hats and there are never enough hours in the day and no one is ever bored. The people were all extremely friendly and happy to chat, which was a bit surprising as they live in something of a gold fish bowl, no one can do anything without everyone knowing! If you're interested there is a pair of documentaries on BBC 4 about life on Fair Isle (Living on the Edge)- we met many of the people in the films even though we were only there for a couple of days. We would like to visit again, preferably in the spring to see the real bird action!
As usual we decided to move on because there was a good forecast to get to Inverness. We had been hoping to go south around Cape Wrath but with endless depressions queued up in the Atlantic and trotting across Scotland we gave up on that plan and were just grateful for a window to get to Inverness and go back through the Caledonian Canal. Orkney would just have to wait.
Although we had to motor for the first half of the 145NM passage the sun was shining and the wind was a light northerly, just not quite strong enough to sail. It was due to increase, which it did and we had a great sail all through the night with a full moon then continuing down the Muray Firth with a fair tide. We were able to go straight into the canal as the tide was just high enough as we arrived at the sea lock and by 0930 we were berthed in Seaport marina at the start of the "Caly".
