Fifi has a day off!!

This is Fifi's travelling companion (Peta) writing the blog at the end of Thursday 28th May from a little desk, at a little attic window, in our B&B at Portmagee. We arrived in Portmagee last evening and spent the night in a boutique B&B with stunning views over the harbour.

Unfortunately we were unable to extend our stay there (a real shame given the brilliant fruit and pancake breakfast!), but we were directed to a lovely establishment across the harbour and are now happily ensconsed here in our spacious, view-rich attic room!

Portmagee is an tiny fishing village in the SW of Ireland … picture postcard perfect really, and without the tourists. It is, as we discovered, the starting point for boat trips to the Skellig Islands, some 12 km off the coast and into the Atlantic, on which a clifftop monastery was built around the 12th century. It is also known for its birdlife so, being a bird person, I leapt at the chance to do the excursion out there today... trips were cancelled yesterday because of the bleak weather.

Fifi, however, was slightly nervous about the still-fiesty seas and the prospect of losing her pancakes, and opted for a land-lubber day in Portmagee, investigating future accommodation options and chilling-out (not literally). That's what I was doing on the high seas …
About 8 boats (taking 12 persons apiece) leave the tiny Portmagee harbour at 10.30 am and point their noses towards the two islands know as the Skelligs … small boats, I might add. I was on a boat with a group of russians, and some germans .. and several were pretty sick .. one poor woman looked as she was about to die, so ill was she.

I had a good possie near the bridge and stood up the whole way with my eyes fixed on the horizon (an old anti sea-sickness trick) and managed to get there and back without major queasiness. We donned wet weather gear to combat the significant splash from the swell and were all grateful for it.

What a stunning day it was .. we had about 2.5 hours on the main island (Skellig Michael), which is a black granite and slate outcrop, steeply-sided, minimally vegetated with the astounding remains of its 12th century abbey/monastery at the top. How they built it and lived there beggars belief. It was place for pilgramage too in the ensuing centuries.

Skellig Michael's other major attraction is that it is covered in birds … kittiwakes, petrels, guillemots, gannets, razor bills, and PUFFINS to name a few .. hundreds of gorgeous puffins who have little burrows all over the island and who have just arrived (in May) for their breeding season. Absolutely stunning. I could have spent days watching them and the other birds. Such grace in the air, such skill landing on slippery cliff faces on miniscule nests in high winds, real beauty in their natural environment. It was such a treat. The puffins will remain one of those special and unforgettable lifetime experiences.

The trip home was far less challenging (wave-wise) and included a circle around the second Skellig Island which is home to the world's second largest population of gannets … hundreds of thousands of them, making the black cliffs white – an astonishing sight.

Reaching land was rewarded by a wonderful cup of tea in one of the Portmagee pubs. Sarah and I then visited the 'Skellig Experience' museum, which is just down the road from the B&B... a very comprehensive display on the history of the Skelligs, both historical and environmental. Well worth the entrance fee.

The day was topped off by a fantastic dinner at a relatively local restaurant called Fushcia … run by two lovely people who have escaped the ratrace and settled here .. the dinner was up there with the best meals we have had on the trip. We might have to return tomorrow night, providing we think our waistbands can cope with it (which, I can tell you, is looking pretty doubtful in my case!!)...