More yoga! This time it was the anchor winch and we were lucky. The morning after the gale the winds had dropped to almost nothing. We came to lift the anchor and nothing happened, the anchor winch had failed, it wouldn't go up, it wouldn't go down. If that had happened last night as we anchored in 30+ knots of wind we would have had a spot of bother. Still, it all keeps me amused!

Winch fixed (a wire had broken) we sailed up the coast a little to be met by St Brendan, the Irish saint who is said to have preceded Columbus and got to America around 600ad, not bad in skin 'curagh'; it made me feel a little whimpy thinking our recent blow was hairy! This is St Brendan pointing forward to the unknown, cape blowing in the wind behind him.


On monday we set off for Galway, 70 miles north. Wind force 4 on our beam gave us a great sail at 6/7 knots. We were joined for a short while by a Minke whale swimming alongside us; he didn't show much of himself, only about 10' of his great back arched out of the water every minute or so.

We stopped briefly a couple of hours out of Galway in the middle of a big flock of sea birds diving into the sea, a sure sign of a school of mackerel. Sails rolled away we drifted with the birds for 20 minutes and pulled out a dozen mackerel, that was tea sorted!

We are now leaving the boat in Galway for 10 days and heading home. I will be back 1st of June with Melanie for a week. Pete and Chris are then out for a week and Paul rejoins me 15 July.

The Volvo round the world race yachts finish the race in Galway the week Melanie and I are here so Galway is gearing up for the party of the year, more on that in a couple of weeks; bye for  now.

 We had a cracking sail to the Dingle Peninsular. A few views of life at a funny angle!

Lee rail under
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Yes that is the sea going past the window!
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The Dingle-

Dingle is home to a now famous dolphin called Fungi, a wild dolphin who has made Dingle his home for over 30 years and likes to interact with boats in the harbour. After the tourist boats had gone in we went out in our little pink rubber dinghy to say hello. Knowing what he was supposed to do Fungi did his stuff! He swam round us within a few feat of the boat (thats my paddle in the photo). I got a good look at him underwater by sticking my head in the water but the moment I got in he scarpered! He used to show off and jump out a lot (Melanie and Olly came to see him 8 years ago and he jumped clean over their boat!) but I think he is past it now, I feel for him!

Yesterday was a biking day. 5 hours in the saddle around more Kerry mountains and over a 1600' pass (thats a big climb on a little folding bike!) A bit of rain, a bit of sun - thats Ireland but great views from the top.

We have to be in Galway in a week to leave the boat as we are going home for a while. With northerly winds forecast in a  few days I decided to leave today in a strong easterly wind (east is off shore so not as bad when strong). Expecting force 6/7 on our beam we got 7/8 on our nose with a maximum gust of 43knots (F9-50 mph) ripping spume off the water with a vengeance, it was time to retire gracefully! I found the nearest shelter I could and we are now sitting out our third gale with the wind beating in the rigging and the boat bucking about her anchor, ear plugs and a pillow over the head tonight!

We had an uncomfortable 24 hours in Derrynane over the weekend with winds of force 7 in our little protected harbour (the English south coast got quite a beating we understand!). Much thrashing about lead to our snubber breaking with an almighty bang during the night as the chain took up the slack (the snubber is a rope attached to the main chain to stop the grinding noise of the chain on the bow roller), that's a 12mm thick rope!

After things calmed down we headed north again and stopped at the Skellig islands, a very impressive lump of rock rising sheer out of the depths. A bunch of monks decided that they would do their monk thing on top of it 1300 years ago. The dwellings still exist in remarkably good condition with only minor repairs done for preservation,









home also to some very photogenic puffins!

Imagine what it was like up there 1300 years ago in a february gale ,it doesn't half make our force 7 sound whimpy! The monks where at the top (thats right at the top!) of the larger rock in the background, the nearer 'bird pooh' island is home to 30,000 gannets, thats a lot of bird pooh as you can see, it isn't snow!

Today we got the bikes out again for a 6 hour marathon into the Kerry mountains and over a pass by Irelands highest mountain (in the background), very similar to snowdon at just over 3000'.

The scenery was stunning,

and we passed some peat blocks cut from the bogs and laid out to dry, they really are still using them!





PS Guiness really does make you strong!

We passed some stunning scenery

Thar she blows!
We left Bantry Bay on Saturday for the next big inlet, Kenmare river. It was a grubby day, rain but a good stiff wind behind us. As we rounded a headland Paul spotted the telltale blow of a whale about half a mile inland of us, a fair way away but close enough for a good view when the beast is that big! Minutes later they were popping out of the water over and over again. They were Minke whales, around 30' in length. The most spectacular was the white underside of a 30' whale, horizontal, 6' out of the water then crashing back into the sea; that image will stay with me for a while. Mostly they were coming vertically out of the water to about half the length of the body. Sorry, no pics!

Our anchorage was a delightful little natural harbour call Derrynane which brought our next little adventure, Razor Fish hunting! Razor fish are the long flat shells that you see often on the beach but never see the beastie. That is because they live under the sand.

How to hunt Razor Fish:-

First park the boat on the beach.
This is our party piece, not many boats can do that!
Moondance has a lifting keel which allows her to sit on the sand; we get lots of worried onlookers who see us in shallow water as the tide is dropping thinking we will end up on our side, we wave back nonchalantly!

Next, don outdoor equipment (heavy water proofs if in Ireland)
Take one container of salt (they are not fussy which brand)
Pour liberally on any little hole found near the waters edge at low tide and stand clear!










Within a few seconds there will be a squirt of water if there is anyone at home.
Next the end of the Razor fish will appear - BE PATIENT - they are very quick at retreating!
When he is halfway out, grab him!
I think the salt makes them think the tide is covering and it is time to come up and feed





Clean the meat out of the shell, put them in a frying pan with a bit of oil and hey presto, it really does work (the fish is top right on the plate)!

They are very tasty, look a bit like squid but are much more tender.

You can even throw in a few Mackerel for good measure (now I'm showing off! Note the Irish sunshine is out again)

We are now at the south end of the ring of Kerry, it makes for some great sailing

and some spectacular anchorages. The sailing season has not started here yet so we have everywhere to ourselves.

From here we cycled 40 miles into the mountains and back along the coast road. Its a very beautiful place.
Today I went walking in the hills (Paul prefers to cycle so he went round the coast road). This is a view of our anchorage.

The battle of the Bantry Bay (Crustacean v Moondance).
We were sent away with fine instructioins from Jane Yeoward on how to catch prawns and langustine in a collapsable pot, time to give it a try!
We unpacked the small wiry pot, first problem, how to keep it on the bottom? We found some suitable rocks and loaded the pot with the most wonderful concoction of fish guts, dead crabs (from inside said fish guts) and 2 fish heads; the Crustacean would NOT be able to resist this lot, all we had to do was lower it over the side, wait for the morning and haul in our catch (providing we were strong enough to haul it all aboard).

The morning came, we hauled in the pot and the crustacean HAD enjoyed our offerings, only trouble was that they pinched it all to eat on their own table, there were no fish heads and no prawns, out smarted by a nearly blind sideways walking beastie! We figured that the crabs had been in and not only departed themselves but carted off their booty through the entrance, no mean feat, look how small the hole is and its half way up the side of the pot. Crustacean 1 Moondance 0. We live to fight another day, prawn pot mark 2 is on the drawing board!

Not really quite so sporting but a couple of days later we pulled up alongside a boat pulling in its pots and got our haul of langoustine that way, boy they were good!

                                                             

Prawns are not the only 'fruits de mer' that we have been feasting on, mussels came of the underside of a pontoon in the bay we were anchored in by the handful, whilst picking we were being watched by someone else who would have liked the mussels!

Meanwhile back on board, bored with scrabble we decided to play hide and seek 'you'll never find me in here'!

The fridge had packed up (if your not paying for your boat you are fixing it, I don't really think that anyone actually has time to sail them!)

I had a fabulous walk over the local mountains. It is an incredibly beautiful place, very rugged. Its like the lake district but without the people. On a 5 hour walk I saw precisely noone!

This is a view of an anchorage at the top of Bantry Bay (the haze is 'coz it really was a beautiful sunny day, now we don't get many of those over here!)