We left the Skomer island North Haven at 6 am bound for Ireland. With a 20 knot northerly wind it was a bit chilly but we had a good sail and arrived at Kilmore Quay marina www.wexford.ie/kilmore/index.htm on the South East corner of Ireland at 5 pm. We didn’t see any other leisure sailors and only a few commercial vessels.

 RORO ferry passing astern.

Ten miles out from Kilmore Quay we were joined by a school of about 20 to 30 porpoise who danced around our boat for about 20 minutes. It’s always exciting to see them duck and dive around the bow wave and under the boat. The marina is run by the council and as we arrived at 5 o’clock there was no one there to greet us. Hence we are stuck in the marina until the marina manager turns up for work again tomorrow. The marina has water and electric on the pontoons and a laundrette, shower and toilets in the harbour office. The bad thing is that the facilities are only accessable when the office is open 8 to 5.

  Kilmore Quay High Street during the rush hour.

Tuesday 20 April.

We checked in with the harbour manager and then got our bikes out to explore Kilmore. We set off at about 11 o’clock and we were back by 1 o’clock. Not much there unless you want to watch a wind farm. There’s lots of old and some new thatched cottages and houses plus miles of beach. In the evening we went to the one pub in town. I ordered a pint of Guiness, a glass of wine and a coke, € 9.10. Expensive or what?

  My first pint of the black stuff.

Wednesday 21 April.

We hung around until the afternoon when at 14.30 we set off for New Ross but only got as far as Ballyhack where we dropped the anchor for the night before proceeding up the river in the morning to New Ross.