Sailing Ireland - Scotland

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Inishturk, Ireland - Inverness, Scotland 5/8-12/8-2014

Here comes some fresh pics from our recent week...

After our Atlantic crossing, we spend two wonderful days on the lovely island Inishturk, in Connemara at the Irish west coast.

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There are only 48 people living on this small quiet island, most of them are fishermen/sheep farmers.

Coming here really feels like going back in time and I love it! :)

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After our 11 days spent out in the Atlantic it really feels cozy and fun to finally be able to "run wild" and enjoy the green sceneries surrounding this silent place.

After two nights in the small bay of Inishturk, we continue our voyage further north, along the west coast of Ireland, towards Scotland.

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Scotland welcomes us with beautiful grey rainy weather...

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Nope, it's not a joke, I really like and enjoy grey sceneries! I really find it so beautiful :)

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On our way to the Caledonian Canal! As we are coming from the west, we enter the canal in Fort William, at the Scottish west coast. 

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The Caledonian Canal is a 50 nautical miles (96,5km) long coast to coast canal, going through the Highlands of Scotland. 

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About 35km of the canal is man made, the remainder being formed by natural fresh water lochs.

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There are 29 locks and 10 swing bridges along the waterway, all operated by Scottish Canals' Staff.

From the east towards the west, the Caledonian Canal is slicing through the spectacular scenery of the Scottish Highlands. 

This truly is a beautiful shortcut between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea!

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This cozy canal has four natural lochs, which are Loch Lochy, Loch Oich, the famous Loch Ness and Loch Dochfour. 

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Will we get the glimpse of Nessie, the mythical Loch Ness monster, this time..?? :)

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The last locks before entering the North Sea are located in Inverness. 

After four calm and partly very rainy days in the Caledonian Canal, we are ready to cross the North Sea. Leaving Inverness today, the 12th of August and have approx 4-5 sailing days waiting ahead...

The North Sea next! Thereafter, it is getting time to spread smiles in Sweden again!! :)
 

Great sailing Azores-Ireland‏

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Atlantic Ocean, Azores-Ireland 23/7-3/8-2014

The 23rd of July, we leave the harbour of Ponta Delgada in the Azores to start our sailing north, towards Ireland and Scotland. 

With both wind and swell from the south we get a nice and comfortable start of our 1200 nautical miles long crossing.

 
Far out in the open sea, about 400 nautical miles from the Azoren waters, we suddenly get company of the really big and curious kind. A huge fin whale appears right behind us! :)

She is interested about us and starts to follow us....

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The big baleen whale seems to like the 3-4 knots speed our sailing boat currently is making through the water and she keeps very close while continuing surfacing at both sides of the boat. 

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This great majestic mammal looks so curious. Suddenly she dives just underneath  the boat and when surfacing again she start to roll around in the water, showing her belly and sides, while watching us from beneath. 

All of the behaviours above she makes a several times and she gets as close to us that we start to think: "-Don't get closer now otherwise you'll hit the boat (!)" :)

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 Wow, it's truly amazing to watch this gigantic animal being so curious and interested about us!  

The fin whale is the second largest creature alive in the world. They normally reaches a length of impressive 22meters, but can get even bigger. 

Our sailing boat really starts to feel tiny compared to our new massive friend! 

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I've experienced many great encounters with fin whales before, both above as well as underneath surface, but this visit turns out to become an extra ordinary one.  

The whale keeps us company for almost three hours and it really looks like the whale is happy about her new sailing company.  

No doubt about that we truly are enjoying her wonderful presence too! Moments like this are pure magical... No words enough!

 

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We keep seeing plenty baleen whales most of our time out at sea. 

Some days are more windy then others, while a couple of days shows up to have no wind or waves at all. Then it feels like the entire Atlantic Ocean has turned into a silent sheltered lake... ;)

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The beautiful Common dolphins keep us company many times during our crossing :)

 

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 A grey, chilly day we get a new passenger onboard :)

The Redshank really looks a bit lost where he is flying so far out at sea. The bird seems tired and we are happy to see that he finds some rest onboard.  

In the beginning, it looks a little bit difficult for the small one to keep balance on the moving boat. But soon, our new temporary passenger finds a better and more stable place to rest. 

He has now moved to the zodiac which is placed in front of the mast. There the redshank rests for a couple of hours until  the bird suddenly gets afraid of some movements in the sail and so he flies away towards the never ending horizon.

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When being three persons onboard we have a 3-hours watch system. 

This means that each person has the responsibly of the steering for 3 hours, when those 3 hours are done it's time for the next person to take his/her shift. 

Like this  it keeps rolling day and night during all days of the crossing.

  
After our many days spent out in the great Atlantic, totally surrounded by deep pelagic water and an infinite horizon, it is exiting seeing the first signs of land.

11 days of sailing and we finally reach our temporary Irish destination Inishturk, a small island off the Irish west coast.

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I truly love the beautiful, rough coast of Connemara and am very happy being back at this wonderful place again.  

But we won't stay long. After two nights in the calm bay of Inishturk, we will now continue our sailing along the Irish west coast to come to Scotland where we will make our next stop.

More from Ireland and Scotland in my next blogpost! :)