Kinsale to Baltimore - what a day! 24 May 2023

May 24, 2023

Old Kinsale Head lighthouse

A very civilised start to the day. We planned to leave our berth at 10.00 to make the most of tide, and because our destination, Baltimore, was only 4.5 hours away. It was chilly on deck before we left, but rapidly improved once we started motoring.

Leaving Kinsale by boat is dominated by Charles Fort - an impressive bit of
military hardware first occupied in 1682 and now a
visitor site managed by Heritage Ireland.

Through the day we then passed a series of headlands, all of them wonderful to see, particularly this superb calm sunny day.

Old Head of Kinsale where there is only access for the members (and their guests)
of the Old Head Golf Club (where annual membership starts at €30,000pa!).
Everybody else is not happy.

Seven Heads - no lighthouse, but the remains of a watchtower.

Galley Head. As we were passing the Mizen Head coastguard called us up
on VHF radio (much to our surprise, and, initially, some consternation) to ask
us to keep an eye out for a missing person - no other details provided.
We kept an eye out but didn’t see anyone.

Toe Head with its purple rocks (and a variety of other
colours though these are not obvious in the photo).

Our trip has also been something of a wildlife spectacle. Our first encounter was with a single Harbour Porpoise, and then as we crossed Clonakilty Bay we spotted a Minke Whale followed quite quickly by another - both a little distant and brief to get a picture.

However, very shortly after that we encountered a large number (probably well in excess of 50) of Common Dolphins. They were mostly feeding off our starboard side, but a small number of them could not resist joining us to ride our bow wave. What a treat - for them and us!

This wasn’t the end of our wildlife extravaganza. We passed Galley Head into Glandore Bay, and while looking out for that missing person, we spotted a group of 8 or more Basking Sharks swimming in big circles. We had them on both sides of us, one really close, but mostly a bit distant. Fabulous. Unfortunately the only picture we’ve got takes a bit of faith to see the sharks.

2 Basking Sharks in Glandore Bay.
The dorsal and tail fin can just be seem for both animals

A glorious lunch anchored in Castletownshend - a wonderful place to sit for a while, as is almost anywhere on a day like today.

Castletownshend on a glorious day.

It was then a short hop to Baltimore, but the excitement was far from over. We had received a number of reports of a Humpbacked Whale near Baltimore, and although we were keeping a sharp lookout, we did not really expect to see it. How wrong we were. It appeared and we were able to follow it (at quite a distance) for a short while. What a treat!!