Well, as you can guess, you are about to be smothered in the cutest little birds you have ever seen. PUFFINS! But first let me get a word in edgewise. We are back in Ireland in a rolly anchorage off the town of Dunmore East. It is still a working fishing port and the fresh fish at Azzurro was spectacular.

We worked our way through the last of our Scotland stops and spent a few days in Bangor, outside of Belfast. We were hosted to dinner at the Royal Ulster Yacht Club, the home of all 5 of Sir Thomas Lipton’s failed attempts to win the America’s Cup. We enjoyed some great conversations with folk and even heard some good jazz on Sunday.

Then we moved on to Dun Laoghaire again. The weather was so calm that we were tired of motoring so we tied up at the marina and took the train into Dublin and had a weekend vacation in a cute hotel by the Portobello canal, just a few blocks from St. Stephen’s Green.

Just to show how calm it had been; the ‘Round Ireland Sailing Race only had a few finishers out of over 100 boats due to lack of wind. Many had to anchor just to keep from drifting backwards with the tidal currents.

We picked a good weekend, as it was Pride festival and Dublin sure knows how to put on a parade. It took three hours for the last of the celebrants to reach the park at the end of the route. Great fun and celebrations were had by all. Crazy! Nancy and I rode around town on the LUAS trams and did a lot of walking. Mostly just watching the world go by and eating good food. The best cocktails at 9 Under, too.

After the Pride fest we stopped in to the National Gallery to take in the artwork. It really is a good museum; not too large as to overwhelm you, but a great diversity of artists.

Since Dublin we have retraced our track back inside Tuskar Rock and along the south coast. We’re heading back to Baltimore, in county Cork, where we will meet up with old friends there and stock up for the passage to Madeira later in the month. It has been 2 years exactly since we arrived in Baltimore from the Azores. The wind since Dublin has been sketchy and often on the nose, but we did have a great tacking fest against the wind to get to Rosslare. That was fun, if tiring.

Okay, what you’ve all been waiting for, we wound up back in Tobermory, (we really enjoy that place) Nancy booked us a trip over to Staffa to see the cave and the Isle of Lunga to see the birds. Boy were there birds! Puffins and every kind of soaring water birds I can’t even name them all, but I enjoyed watching them swoop back and forth among the cliffs! So without further ado; here come the Puffin Pics.

We spent a couple nights in Ardfern where we picked up some repair parts we had shipped in. They had a lot of dogs and a fine market and pub. We also stopped at Gigha for our 27th anniversary and had a great dinner at the Boathouse Restaurant by the shore, and a few pints at the pub with some fine folks and great dogs.

Well, that’s all for now. We have a new freezer unit to pick up in Baltimore so there is still work to be done before we head farther south. Don’t forget to check out the new entries in the Studio and Book Nook. Oh, and come sailing with us soon!