We arrived at Schull in the south west corner of Ireland on the 7th June on a grey day with low cloud and heavy drizzle, it was quite some arrival as we paddled as fast as we were able, chased by the rejuvenated Tropical Storm Alex. Once again the forecast had changed quite radically as we paddled from Toe Head Bay where we had camped the night before.
The previous day we woke around 5.30am and started the daily task of breakfast, breaking camp and packing the boats. There is no short cut in this process given the importance of keeping our kit dry, its critical everything has a place and is in it with electrical kit double dry bagged to be safe. Typically this process takes about 90 minutes from waking, we can do it faster but prefer the orderly pace ensuring nothing is forgotten and the kayaks and paddlers are ‘ship shape and Bristol fashion’. We've talked about it often and thorough works, you don’t want to be caught out in bad conditions wondering if hatches are on proper, drysuit fully zipped or safety devices working. We had an extremely enjoyable 44km paddle in good conditions from Dunworly Bay via the stunning Galley Head and its striking lighthouse founded on Swiss cheese geology riddled with caves .
Rounding Galley Head on a beautiful day to be at sea
We arrived in ToeHead Bay in the evening and tried checking the weather forecast as we rounded Toe Head in a beautiful glass calm sea but signal was lost on phones and VHF, we had the fallback of Garmin Inreach GPS but decided against paying for marine forecast as the outlook had been stable for the last few days. As we entered the bay we got a wave from a kayak fisherman dangling his line while an Atlantic seal watched patiently just a few meters from his bow. The beach had cattle at one end which aren’t conducive to a good nights sleep and what looked like a smelly pile of washed up kelp at the other end which we had fallen foul of before and now avoid like the plague. Bang centre there was a rough track leading to the beach through a beautiful wetland and we could already hear sedge warblers calling as we pulled the boats up on the beach. It turned out the track was a rough access bulldozed out years ago for the Coastguard station 300 metres inland.
We set about emptying the boats with our daily procession between them and our camp spot carrying Ikea bags full of kit and then the empty kayaks up the beach, we prefer this to trolleys when we have a choice. On surfy beaches heavy boats full of kit and food are a liability as we can barely move them by hand so the quickest means of getting them away from dumpy surf and risk of being over turned is to lift them on to a trolley and with one person at each end pull and push them up the beach which is okay in all but the softest sand which can be very tiring after a full days paddling. By the time the kit was up at the proposed camp spot on the track the fisherman had landed and was walking up the beach for a chat, it turned out James was local and just like many before on this expedition his first thought was for our wellbeing once he knew what we were doing. Happy we had all we needed he said he’d see us on his way back with the kit and headed off into the wetland and appeared a few minutes later driving a buggy that trundled down the beach and then back up again with is kayak and fishing gear on looking like some remote control toy car from a distance .
Once back at the camp James produced a 4kg Pollack that Sarah didn’t fancy getting too close to when asked to go alongside for a photo, the resulting images still amuses me and spark a distant memory of the Monty Python Fish Slapping Dance ! .
James said his goodbye and we set about making the meal and getting the camp organised; we have our routine, Sarah puts the tent up, sleeping mats and gets the sleeping bags ready while I prepare the meal. A little while after we’d finished the last scraps of food we heard the characteristic sound of the buggy returning and James appeared waving some money that he wanted us to put in the Fund. This spontaneous kindness does seem to be a characteristic of the Irish, we've experienced it throughout the 600 or so kilometres paddled by this stage, it warms the heart and every time leaves you with a feeling that I guess can best be described as love. We slept well, we always sleep well after a days paddling and are usually in bed for 9.30pm ready for an early start.
As soon as we popped our heads out of the tent the next morning and looked out passed the shelter of the headland we knew that sea conditions were up and as we paddled out of the Bay a ‘small vessel alert’ from the Met Office appeared on our phones as signal came back. The news wasn’t good, remnants of a Tropical Storm Alex that originated from Hurricane Agatha some 9000 kilometres away in the Eastern Pacific was on its way and scheduled to start impacting south-west Ireland today. Undertaking a challenge such as the one we are on and living our lives at the behest of the Atlantic Ocean its remarkable to know that an event on the other side of the planet can within a matter of days impact upon us in such an absolute way. The US National Hurricane Center initiated an advisory note on it as a Potential Tropical Cyclone over the eastern Yucatán Peninsula on June 2 and here it was now right on our tails. The system remained disorganised until after it crossed Florida two days later causing widespread flooding, sadly some deaths and on June 5, it became sufficiently organised to be named Alex while located north of the Abaco Islands. Alex then tracked across the Atlantic and unusually gained some strength that had interrupted the tail off these storms normally have as they move north.
* Leaving the shelter of ToeHead Bay the sea is up and already pounding the coast, 28km to go a focus needed
The reading wasn’t good, this was a serious Storm Alert and would start to hit us before we arrived at Schull, in fact it explained the increased south westerly Atlantic swell that was already hitting shore and turning its entire length as far as we could see into a line of pounding surf, foam and white water. We had a choice, go back and spent 5 days probably on an isolated but safe beach and walk out for food or push ahead the 28km to Schull, a proper campsite with showers and shops close by.
We looked hard at the forecast, did our calculations and decided to go for Schull due mainly to the tide flow being with us and picking up to 3 knots the nearer to got to Gascanane Sound between Sherkin and Clear Islands and then the relative safety of Long Island Bay. We calculated our bearing as the islands were not visible in the drizzle and set-off but the further we went the wind increased on our beam and with it so did the sea state until at about 4 kilometres from Gascanane Sound it was becoming uncomfortable. The kayaks were weather-cocking* badly despite skegs*and this was no time to start adjusting the trim of the boats which we often did by moving the water bags. The broadside waves were also slowing us down considerably despite the tide flow under the kayaks being with us for the next 3 hours. The cloud base had lifted slightly with improved visibility so we stopped to consider our situation and out of the gloom to the North came the unmistakable sight of the white Baltimore Beacon on its rocky headland.
*Sarah entering Baltimore Bay and channel to the harbour with the characteristic Beacon a welcome sight
There wasn’t much conversation needed to decide on a change of direction and enter the relative calm of Baltimore Bay and through to Baltimore harbour.
As we entered the harbour the sea conditions dropped and seeing the ferry leaving Sherkin Island we headed over towards the empty slip and a small pebble beach to land, stretch the legs and have a brew, we needed it. Both of us relaxed knowing that the onward journey though longer would be safe in the shelter of the islands. The remaining journey of about 16km would have been a delight in normal circumstances as we paddled through the multitude of small islands and viewed the almost limitless opportunities to camp with envy given their rarity in our previous 100km. However, the cloud had started to drop again with heavy drizzle and we couldn’t see more than 100m for the remainder of the journey, but sea condition were now helpful as we passed Hare Island and made towards Carthys Islands and the entrance to Schull.
A Force 4 rising to 5 wind on our backs and 2 knots of tide helped us ‘fly’ across the rising sea with waves averaging a playful 1-1.5m between the islands. We surfed at times and travelled at 10kph for the last section of the journey into a very grey wet and uninviting Schull harbour. We pulled the kayaks up onto the slip in the rain, the town appeared abandoned with just the odd herring gull eating crabs by the shore, but we had arrived safe and were elated at the progress and decisions made.
Little did we know then that seas off Mizen Head would rise to 6m and it would be 6 more days before the kayaks would be back on the sea as we face the next challenge of our journey, the remote and fearsome southwest headlands projecting out like fingers into the Atlantic which await us as the compass turns north.
Tropical Storm Alex : https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/06/world/americas/tropical-storm-alex-bermuda.html
SKEG : A skeg is a retractable blade that drops out of a slot in the hull of the kayak near the stern. It does not pivot. It is dropped and retracted by means of a slider usually on one side of the cockpit and is used to help control the direction of the boat
WEATHER-COCKING : turning towards the wind