Bangor was a good place to get stuck. We needed the rest to reorganise the boat and catch up with the house sale admin and banking through wi-fi. We were however well ready for getting on south and the relatively settled weather picture for the weekend gave us the chance.
Saturday we were up and out the marina for 6.45 to get the best of tide south. Idea was to get to Ardglass for Saturday and then Dublin on Sunday. We motored south against a very light breeze with the tide helping us along up to 9 kts so decided that we should keep onto Malahide. This was 80 miles or so - a very long day, but enjoyable until the last few hours when the wind and waves from the south made it a hard slog.
In checking the detail for Malahide I realised that our arrival time would not make the entry possible since the channel goes across the beach with barely a metre at low tide! Plan changed to Howth;(yes Alan you told me so). This proved to be an experience! After a 13 hour journey the last few hours of which were hard work we had to navigate a tight entry through port and starboard piles at near low tide, most of which were bent at 45 degrees. Yvonne had been allocated a berth over the VHF which turned out to be very tight and at first attempt we were blown off the pontoon by the wind which was typically quite strong at this stage. A second attempt assisted by a couple of lads from a neighbouring boat made us secure for the evening.
Although we were tired, Howth yacht club, who operate the marina, looked worth a visit and we enjoyed a few drinks with friendly local members. Laura struck up conversation with a couple who turned out to be seasoned long distance cruisers who had sailed the Atlantic Spanish and Portuguese coasts; a font of information.
On the Sunday morning the sun shone and the marina was alive with activity. All sorts of boats from optimists to sonatas and larger keel boats were joined by canoes and pleasure trip boats making for a spectacle for the masses of pedestrian sightseers.
The weather outlook for our next massive hops south was not encouraging so we decided to stay a few days in the Dublin area and Malahide offered a much cheaper option.
We set off from Howth at high tide Laura at the helm, and we now understood why half the port and starboard markers were bent- most of them are completely underwater at high tide and so your likely to hit and bend them!
A short downwind sail in 18 knots of breeze, very pleasant in the sun past Ireland's eye (see photo above). Now at high tide we still only had a little clearance over the beach into the small Malahide estuary. The beach was busy with Sunday day trippers who were paddling only a stones throw from us as we entered, a very strange sensation.
So we are here in Malahide, a small seaside suburb of Dublin, great atmosphere lots of pubs, restaurants and shops. 20 minutes on the train to central Dublin. A good landing!