We sailed into Crosshaven and stayed at the Royal Cork Yacht Club – oldest sailing club in the world, founded in 1720. The marina is on a crowded little river, with hundreds of boats packed tightly onto moorings and in the slips of the 3 marinas in town.
Town is a bit of an exaggeration – village is better but it does have about 6 pubs!
Crosshaven & Royal Cork Yacht Club (Not impressive, but nice inside)
We then went up to Cork City Center and stayed at the City Marina – just a dock with no facilities – but water and electric available. The motor up to Cork went right by Cobh – described in the Lonely Planet Guide as having a ‘palpable sense of tragedy’ as it was here people left Ireland headed for the USA to escape the famine. It’s also the last stop for the Titanic and the Lusitania which was torpedoed off the coast of Kinsale.
Cobh
Cork is a very friendly city – everyone extremely helpful. Unfortunately we arrived on a bank holiday though, so it was strangely quieter that normal. (One would think it would be businer). The dock was in the port area of town (naturally!) right beside the old customs houses – all almost deserted but neat looking buildings – and there were large ships loading and unloading just along the way from us.
Finding Irish music in the pubs was fun – had to grab a beer whether or not something was playing afterall! Enjoyed some very good music – especially in Charlies, where the players outnumbered the paying customers!
Abigail joined the boat in Cork, so we’re now three happy cruisers! She seemed to have fun, meeting an old friend and staying out until the wee hours!
We’ve been decidedly cut off since arriving – internet is non-existent and my phone has gone on the blink – telling me that there’s no SIM card in it. The local iPhone fellow tells me all is well with the phone, so it’s probably a US phone company issue… Oh Well! We are now proud owners(!) of an Irish phone – email me for the number if you want to chat!!!
Strangely, I didn’t take any pictures within cork other than of the strange little castle on the river bank approaching Cork – and a huge Swordfish that was being slowly hacked to pieces in the famous ‘English Market’ downtown! Complete oversight on the photos – sorry.
Now on passage – overnight – to Dun Laoghaire, just south of Dublin. Just to help a little, Laoghaire is pronounced Leery – but Leery doesn’t have nearly enough vowels to be Irish!
