Aleria's Adventures

Aleria in Kilrush We splashed Aleria in Kilrush over two weeks ago now. Actually, it was July 10. We had intended to go down once more and clean her up some more, hank on the sails and dodger, finish cleaning below and servicing the generator, before bringing her home in a 2-3 day passage.  After 9 days of temps in the high 20sC low 30sC in the shade, the weather has broken and today it is cool and raining. What a relief! There's a status yellow alert for rainfall and thunderstorms but I don't think we are going to have them. Ours today is a gentle rain. Ally and Gilly came by for lunch after visiting at Ross House and we were able to sit outside but on the porch avoiding the sprinkles.  I'm sure I am going to miss the incentive to go swimming and kayaking on the Bay but not the exhausting heat, and catching up on the gardening and the polytunnel will be useful. And of course, a weather window to bring Aleria home would be welcome. There has been little to no wind, and

Illas de Cies We left the Finisterre region and sailed back southward toward the Rias Baixas. We had not yet visited the barrier islands but had secured our initial permission document before heading out of Ireland. In the 1980s, Spain acquired several archipelagos of islands off the Atlantic coast and established a National Park to ‘preserve’ these islands. The Cortegada Archipelago is well inside the Ria de Arousa. The Salvora Archipelago is in the mouth of the Ria de Arousa. The Ons Archipelago protects the Ria de Pontevedra, and the Cíes Archipelago sits across mouth of the Ria de Vigo. These islands form natural barriers against the forces of the Atlantic, protecting the sealife and shores of the Rias Baixas. The archipelagos have waters so turquoise and sands so white that they evoke Caribbean beaches...until you put your foot in the water. Let's just say it's refeshing.

We did it!  Elation, exhaustion, amazement. To hold a book you have written in your own hands, to flip through the pages and see your treasured photos, and to read words that sound too good to be yours, but they can't be anyone else's, is just short of miraculous. I am very pleased with the outcome.

Sailing around the cliffs of Achill Remote and Wild  by Daria Blackwell s/v  Aleria Co-author of  Happy Hooking The Art of Anchoring . We emerged from the shelter of the inner islands only to find a furious chop in the bay. It was supposed to be fairly benign conditions today, but the wind was howling in from the West whipping up the seas against the outgoing tide.  There was a huge swell coming in from the Atlantic, which we had expected behind the retreating gale from the day before, but we had not expected this maelstrom given the  Met Eireann  forecast early this morning. But that's the west coast of Ireland. Unpredictable. Majestic. And many days formidable.