Morning came early, and with it brought a new game. Unbeknownst to us we had some neighbors nearby. So we had to play a fun round of rock or sheep. Trust me when they are laying down for a snooze and it’s dark out, you can’t really tell a difference so rock or sheep can be quite riveting.
But all good games must come to an end and we must start to rouse ourselves and make ourselves somewhat presentable for the day. So it was time to use the Loo with a View, to use that throwback to my Serengeti adventures and what my guide Eric called when you need to sign your name on mother nature’s guestbook.
But it was a fabulous view, when we arrived the previous night it was super dark. We had a lovely view of the nearby hills and sheep and the inlet of water and overlooking the lovely colorful town of Portmagee.
So I’m not sure if I told you yet what we had planned for the day. My friend Brenden who lives locally, recommended this adventure, so if it all went south it was his fault. Hahaha!
This is also an adventure you have to plan for far, far in advance, if possible a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away…. Guess it yet? Well we were heading to Skellig Michael, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So why the Star Wars reference? Only because one of the more recently made Star Wars movies a few scenes was filmed there. But that is not what makes this place special. It is this rocky island outcrop miles off the coast toward the west of Ireland. Actually that is what skellig means, rock in the sea. It is the home of this beehive monastery that was built around 800, located all the way at the top of the island about 600 steps or so up.
But since it is a protected heritage site, they limit the number of visitors a day. To get there you need to take a boat, only so many boats have permits to make a landing on the island and every boat can only take about 12 or so passengers. The visits are only open certain months of the year as well and these bookings book up fast. So, if you’re lucky enough to find an opening and you want to go, do not hesitate even a second, book and book fast. Since we were planning this more last minute I was not having any luck finding any openings during the days we were going to be in Ireland. But there was one outfit who didn’t open for advance booking prior to the season opening, meaning you couldn’t book for something next year, this year opportunity only. They were opening their bookings on April 4th, I set my alarm to look and reserve first thing that morning. Morning came and first thing I did was hope onto the computer to book away. Timezones were against us this morning, only maybe 6 hours open and they were mostly booked out for the days we would be around but luckily enough I was able to nab the last few remaining spots. Only once you were booked were you directed to the 12 minute, yes 12 minute, safety video. Apparently these 600 some odd steps are not the safest in the world, but what can you expect of year 800 craftsmanship. These aren’t the evenly spaced stairs with railings to aide you about and it goes up, up, up into the clouds and being Ireland and all, it is usually quite misty so these exposed rocks can be quite slippery.
Now I have a fear of heights and stairs so this sounds like it is going to be right up my alley, but sometimes you need to push through to see the real good stuff. Now having our booking secure, doesn’t officially mean you are going yet. The seas can be quite rough making for uneasy passage and quite a dangerous landing onto the island so only the day before you are to go are you to call the captain to get confirmation if you are officially a go for the island or not.
Well the day before my sister and I joked that we are excited to go but also would almost welcome a no go call from the captain, as hey it’s not us who backed out. Well the call was made and the forecast for the seas was a go for the visit to Skellig.
The visitors center wasn’t open when we drove by so we popped over the bridge to drive through the town of Portmagee, and we finally found a place to deposit our recycling and garbage. Can you believe we have been looking for someplace to drop this off since the day before and no luck? We had ourselves a good chuckle as it was a roadside bathroom which had won runner up for Ireland’s Top Toilet Award. Well I had to see what that was all about and it was quite tidy, but rather cold water if I recall correctly (for hand washing, I wasn’t splashing around in the toilet like an idiot).
Skellig Michael
Driving back to the visitor’s center we were able to enter and wander about before we could board the boat. Now all forecasts have indicated that the weather would be mid-50’s as the high today and overcast. So we dressed and packed our backpacks accordingly.
Now enter our crew and captain of the ship. Timmy and Tommy. Tommy being the captain, Timmy was to entertain us, and that he did. Soon we did discover that Timmy well he either didn’t have or it had expired the elastic in his underwear as there was quite a bit of hiking up that it needed from time to time.
Oh I see birds… Sea birds in fact. Hahaha! Gannets were coming into view, oh the cousin of my Booby friends from the Galapagos. We spotted some common murres, then I spotted one. A puffin!!!! I have been so excited to see puffins. Now I went to Iceland years ago hoping to see puffins, but we just missed them as they had already gone out to sea for the season. In researching our trip to Ireland there are some Puffin prone spots and Skellig is one of them and I was so hoping to see the puffins.
The island loomed ahead of us, coming into view slowly, circling the island, looking up far ahead you can see moving spots of people climbing up to the dizzying heights above. It was our turn to make landing. Now this is no typical landing of coming into a port. This is a well calculated jump onto some stairs from a moving an bobbing vessel surging back and forth with the waves.
We made it. Moving forward we were directed to head to the start of the stairs and to wait for the group on board to listen to a safety lecture before we start up. Again safety lectures to scare the pants off you before you go anywhere. Speaking of pants off of you, that’s exactly what I did while waiting. Remember the mid-50’s and overcast drizzly skies the weather predicted. Wrong!!! It must have been in the high 70’s/low 80’s with a blazing sun. So I started to strip. There was no way I would make it with these long pants, jacket and long sleeved shirt. So I shimmied down to shorts and a tank (thank you convertible pants).
Deep breath and its time to start. Quickly upon going up some stairs do we encounter all of the puffins! Man are these birds small. I had pictured them much bigger in my mind. A small penguin one would think maybe duck sized but taller. No these little birds had to be about the size of a robin. And the noised they make, you would never think that was a bird. Its almost like a cat that is very unhappy mewing at you about to start a fight. Mew, mew mew mew mew…. I wanted to spend more time with the puffins but we had limited time on the island and we still had a long way to go to get to the top or as close to it as my legs and head would carry me.
Remember when I said I had a fear of heights and stairs. I wasn’t kidding. Anxiety was quickly settling in to me as we were making our way up and I would turn around and see what loomed beneath us. I kept warning Lisa that I don’t know if I can make it to the top. My heart was absolutely thundering inside of my chest. We took breaks from time to time and let people pass us, going up or down. And I’m sorry I would not let them have the inside pass, I was hugging that hillside as if my life depended on it. They could take the outside all they wanted. We made it to a main resting point a little over halfway up and took a break and enjoyed the views (but DO NOT look down). There was this crazy girl at this point who was making her way up and down in heels, in heels!!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love me some heels but not on these steps, not on this island. We had a perfectly sunny day, but if it was drizzling in the slightest I couldn’t imagine how slippery those rocks and steps would be, and one twist of an ankle. Ugh!!!
Putting her out of my mind, Lisa asked if I wanted to make a go of it. No, but I suppose we should, the top seemed so close. So off we went again, oh and here is where it became really fun, this section of the stairs was steep!!!! Man how did these monks do this back in the day?! We eventually made it to the top and were greeted by these amazing huts the monks lived in. There was a guide giving and overview and lecture so we stopped to listen for a bit but ended up walking about a little to explore. Then we decided to head down, we had plenty of time but again we did have limited time on the island and who knows how long it would take me to get down, this was the scary part.
Remember that steep part at the end of our ascent well the view wasn’t much better about to go down. All you could see was crashing waves hundreds of feet below you and a sharp drop. A lot of choice words and expletives came out of my mouth. Full blown anxiety attack came on and I honestly didn’t know how I was going to get down. Some other people came up behind me and I gave them the go ahead to go first. They tried to usher me on, but no, I can’t imagine trying to do this with the anxiety I had then add on top of it 1. A captive audience 2. Feeling like I am slowing everyone down so pressure to go fast would build up in my mind. So I encouraged them to go first as I honestly didn’t know how I would tackle that first stretch of stairs. I am not ashamed to admit I took a trick out of my old book of when encountered with such situations and I went down the first 10 -15 steps or so on my butt, crabwalking in a way until it wasn’t as steep and I felt I could properly get my legs under me. Talk about feats of strength. Sometimes strength isn’t about physical power but of mental power and getting through some tough times and pushing yourself. As much of some things scare me, I still push forward and through it although I may grumble. I find those experiences that the thought scares but exhilarates and excites you all at the same, those end up being the best experiences of your life.
It took awhile but I made it down the stairs, I had to put blinders on or so I call it to make it down. I had to face the inside of the stairs, walk down them sideways and hold one hand up to my eye to block the outside of the stair view (aka plummeting feet below into crashing waves). We made it down with lots of time to spare. If I weren’t so freaked out I would’ve suggested that we spend time at the main puffin lookout we found on the way up (which in actuality wasn’t very far from the beginning of the stairs).
When it came time to depart we had the fun of reversing our traverse up that set of stairs onto a surging boat. Main thing that when it comes to this is you need to commit. If you are making your step onto the boat just do it, don’t wait, don’t hesitate just step. One woman did hesitate just as the boat started to surge up and away from the wall, gave us all that heart dropping moment but they were able to pull her back to the wall and next time get her onto the boat. Commit!!!
On our way back to the mainland, we swung around the other Skellig island, Little Skellig, which is home to a colony of gannets. The rocks washed white with birds or droppings, over 27,000 pair of breeding gannets line these rocks in fact.
Arriving back in port we departed to continue on and finish our journey on the Ring of Kerry. My sister wanted a beach experience and she found one at Ross Beigh Beach. It was a bit breezy and after we slid and climbed down the rocks we reached the sand and dipped a toe into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic.
We finished our tour of the Ring of Kerry weaving in and about the city of Killarney to reach Killarney National Park visiting Torc Waterfall. Here is where are the people are, so far in the past day we have avoided masses of crowds but visiting a city and its nearby treasure.
We had thought that maybe Killarney would be our end for the day but dealing with traffic and the crowds we decided we would push on and see what other items we could discover along the trail.
Stay tuned for the adventures we had to finish the day as we explored County Limerick.
Links
Our daily drive
What did we see:
Where did we eat: Snacks on the Boat
Where did we stay: Old Castle House