Wind, Saltee Islands and fruits of the sea.
A cracking days sail took us round the bottom right tip of Ireland, beating into a force 6 with the lee rail under unfortunatly leaving us with 20 gallons of water in the bilges, the fridge, storage boxes... another problem to solve!However a small discovery for man but a marvellous sight for mankind as the Saltee Islands hove into sight, we dipped the ensign to Mark 'Salty' Stuart after whome the islands were named (although they got the spelling wrong).

On wednesday we set out to explore the Salties (there being 2, the southerly and largest, 'Great Salty' named for Mark, the northerly smaller 'Little Salty' named for young William Stuart). A beautiful although still very chilly day saw us anchored in a beautiful cove surrounded by cliffs of screaming Gannets and Guillemot collonies, an amazing sight.

We took the dinghy ashore and walked to the top of the clifffs; Mark, a view of Great Saltee!

A view of 'our cove' with Moondance and the colony cliffs in the background

From the top of the cliffs we got a fabulous view of the Gannet colony

Then it was time to catch out tea,

3 cod (my first) and one Pollock later .... all in all a very successful day!