Nearly three years ago we were in Ireland for my nephew Dustin's wedding to his Irish girl, Laura (from Omagh). We arrived only a day before the wedding (our biggest regret) and spent about ten days after the wedding weekend touring around Ireland. We didn't have any set-in-stone plans but wanted to get to Dingle and the Ring of Kerry.
For any of you who have been to Ireland, it is a tiny country, but roads other than the main highways are a bit tricky to navigate and so though the coasts are gorgeous, they are not simple to get to, from, or around.
We made it to Dingle late one afternoon after a day's driving around the Cliff's of Moher and then into County Kerry.
The islands off the coast opposite of the Dingle peninsula immediately struck me as something incredibly special. Stark, craggy, and lonely yet utterly enticing.
These are the Skellig Islands.
Check out a little history of them below.* One of the islands was inhabited by monks in the 6th century while the other is a sanctuary for puffins and gannets. I've been wanting to visit since I saw them.
This is a somewhat complicated prospect, however, which is why I've had to plan for so long.
Only a few ships (boats really) are allowed to go per day and are entirely dependent on decent weather to make the 12 km trek. It is a long trip out to the tippy-top of the ring of Kerry (the Skellig ring is actually even further west), particularly from Dublin or anywhere on the east coast. So you really need a couple of days to make the trip -- one to get near to the coast and the other to be sure to be there for the 10 a.m. departure from Portmagee.
Sheila knew that this trip was a priority for me but we couldn't really figure out how to do it. We considered having all four of us drive to Killarney and spend a couple of days while I trek out to the coast and hope a trip goes. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Skellig Michael from the port. You get a couple of hours on the island, then you get a ride around the Little Skellig to check out the bird colonies, and then back to port for a round trip of about five hours. That plus an hour or so to and from Killarney, and that's a long day. As our time winds down, the kids are less interested in long drives, less able to be bribed with "but there's a pool in the hotel!!" and Maggie's got a bit of work to do yet before her finals, so we are less willing to pull her out of school.
More intimidating than even the logistics, however, are the 700 steps to the monastery:
"The monks of St. Fionan's monastery led simple lives and lived in stone, beehive shaped huts. They would descend the 670 steps early every morning and fish for the morning's breakfast and would spend the rest of the day praying in the church, tending to their gardens and studying. The huts, which are round on the outside and rectangular on the inside, were carefully built so that no drop of rain ever entered between the stones."
We've also been concerned, as of late (thanks Dervla), about rumors that people have died hiking up the stairs (or, more specifically, falling off).
A bit of internet research (i.e. not critical thinking in any way) suggests that it will not be a problem.
Here's an article from RTE from 2009 about "safety to be highlighted at Skellig Islands."
This is all to say that Lynne and I are making the Westward Trek tomorrow. We are heading to Killarney and then to Portmagee on Wednesday morning. I spoke with the skipper tonight, offered him any Dublin delicacies he might be missing out on the coast, asked about the conditions, the dangers and, really, whether or not bathrooms are available. He assured me only that it was safe and that his boat has a "to let", but he could not assure me about the weather.
It is Ireland after all. We will call the morning of, and hope for the best.
Wish us luck. Sheila and the kids will be staying back. I will have her report updates here over the next day or so!
*Here are a few tidbits from Wikipedia and a bit of information that I've read over the past nearly three years regarding the history of these rocks in the middle of the Atlantic:
"Once known as the 'Skellocks', the Skellig islands are two small, steep, and rocky islands lying about 13 km west of Bolus Head on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. They are famous for their thriving gannet and puffin populations, and for an early Christian monastery" that thrived on Skellig Michael.
"The smaller island is "Little Skellig". It is closed to the public, and holds Ireland's largest and the world's second-largest Northern Gannet colony with almost 30,000 pairs. It is about 1.5 km eastnortheast of Great Skellig."
From the Skellig Experience Website: "On the spectacular Small Skelligs 23,000 pairs of gannet nest on every available ledge making it the second largest gannet colony in the world."
From a distance it looks like someone put sugar water all over it and then opened up a thousand feather pillows and let them stick all over the slopes of the island.
The larger island is called "Skellig Michael." "Skellig Michael was uninhabited prior to the foundation of its monastery. Folklore holds that Ir, son of Milesius, was buried on the island, and a text from the 8th or 9th century states that Duagh, King of West Munster fled to 'Scellecc' after a feud with the Kings of Cashel, although it is not known whether these events actually took place."
"The monastery's exact date of foundation is not known. The first definite reference to monastic activity on the island is a record of the death of 'Suibhini of Skelig' dating from the 8th century, however Saint Fionan is claimed to have founded the monastery in the 6th century."
"The site had been dedicated to Saint Michael by at least 1044 (when the death of "Aedh of Scelic-Mhichí" is recorded), however this dedication may have occurred as early as 950, around which time a new church was added to the monastery which was called Saint Michael's Church."
"The monastery remained continuously occupied until the 12th or 13th century.[2][3] During this time, the climate around Skellig Michael became colder and more prone to storms, and this, along with changes to the structure of the Irish Church, prompted the community to abandon the island and move to the abbey in Ballinskelligs."
For any of you who have been to Ireland, it is a tiny country, but roads other than the main highways are a bit tricky to navigate and so though the coasts are gorgeous, they are not simple to get to, from, or around.
We made it to Dingle late one afternoon after a day's driving around the Cliff's of Moher and then into County Kerry.
The islands off the coast opposite of the Dingle peninsula immediately struck me as something incredibly special. Stark, craggy, and lonely yet utterly enticing.
These are the Skellig Islands.
Check out a little history of them below.* One of the islands was inhabited by monks in the 6th century while the other is a sanctuary for puffins and gannets. I've been wanting to visit since I saw them.
This is a somewhat complicated prospect, however, which is why I've had to plan for so long.
Only a few ships (boats really) are allowed to go per day and are entirely dependent on decent weather to make the 12 km trek. It is a long trip out to the tippy-top of the ring of Kerry (the Skellig ring is actually even further west), particularly from Dublin or anywhere on the east coast. So you really need a couple of days to make the trip -- one to get near to the coast and the other to be sure to be there for the 10 a.m. departure from Portmagee.
Sheila knew that this trip was a priority for me but we couldn't really figure out how to do it. We considered having all four of us drive to Killarney and spend a couple of days while I trek out to the coast and hope a trip goes. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Skellig Michael from the port. You get a couple of hours on the island, then you get a ride around the Little Skellig to check out the bird colonies, and then back to port for a round trip of about five hours. That plus an hour or so to and from Killarney, and that's a long day. As our time winds down, the kids are less interested in long drives, less able to be bribed with "but there's a pool in the hotel!!" and Maggie's got a bit of work to do yet before her finals, so we are less willing to pull her out of school.
More intimidating than even the logistics, however, are the 700 steps to the monastery:
"The monks of St. Fionan's monastery led simple lives and lived in stone, beehive shaped huts. They would descend the 670 steps early every morning and fish for the morning's breakfast and would spend the rest of the day praying in the church, tending to their gardens and studying. The huts, which are round on the outside and rectangular on the inside, were carefully built so that no drop of rain ever entered between the stones."
We've also been concerned, as of late (thanks Dervla), about rumors that people have died hiking up the stairs (or, more specifically, falling off).
A bit of internet research (i.e. not critical thinking in any way) suggests that it will not be a problem.
Here's an article from RTE from 2009 about "safety to be highlighted at Skellig Islands."
This is all to say that Lynne and I are making the Westward Trek tomorrow. We are heading to Killarney and then to Portmagee on Wednesday morning. I spoke with the skipper tonight, offered him any Dublin delicacies he might be missing out on the coast, asked about the conditions, the dangers and, really, whether or not bathrooms are available. He assured me only that it was safe and that his boat has a "to let", but he could not assure me about the weather.
It is Ireland after all. We will call the morning of, and hope for the best.
Wish us luck. Sheila and the kids will be staying back. I will have her report updates here over the next day or so!
*Here are a few tidbits from Wikipedia and a bit of information that I've read over the past nearly three years regarding the history of these rocks in the middle of the Atlantic:
"Once known as the 'Skellocks', the Skellig islands are two small, steep, and rocky islands lying about 13 km west of Bolus Head on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. They are famous for their thriving gannet and puffin populations, and for an early Christian monastery" that thrived on Skellig Michael.
"The smaller island is "Little Skellig". It is closed to the public, and holds Ireland's largest and the world's second-largest Northern Gannet colony with almost 30,000 pairs. It is about 1.5 km eastnortheast of Great Skellig."
From the Skellig Experience Website: "On the spectacular Small Skelligs 23,000 pairs of gannet nest on every available ledge making it the second largest gannet colony in the world."
From a distance it looks like someone put sugar water all over it and then opened up a thousand feather pillows and let them stick all over the slopes of the island.
The larger island is called "Skellig Michael." "Skellig Michael was uninhabited prior to the foundation of its monastery. Folklore holds that Ir, son of Milesius, was buried on the island, and a text from the 8th or 9th century states that Duagh, King of West Munster fled to 'Scellecc' after a feud with the Kings of Cashel, although it is not known whether these events actually took place."
"The monastery's exact date of foundation is not known. The first definite reference to monastic activity on the island is a record of the death of 'Suibhini of Skelig' dating from the 8th century, however Saint Fionan is claimed to have founded the monastery in the 6th century."
"The site had been dedicated to Saint Michael by at least 1044 (when the death of "Aedh of Scelic-Mhichí" is recorded), however this dedication may have occurred as early as 950, around which time a new church was added to the monastery which was called Saint Michael's Church."
"The monastery remained continuously occupied until the 12th or 13th century.[2][3] During this time, the climate around Skellig Michael became colder and more prone to storms, and this, along with changes to the structure of the Irish Church, prompted the community to abandon the island and move to the abbey in Ballinskelligs."
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