The south (and a bit of the west) coast of Ireland

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 15:41:53 +0200

On the way from Crookhaven to Durrus

Blair’s Cove

After Crookhaven the forecast was for a few days of reasonably good weather, so we nipped round the corner into the first “ria” of the west coast and anchored in a bay called “Blair’s Cove” near Durrus. Here I took a photo of the posh hotel/restaurant that Marion and I once visited in the distant past. I still remember that the owner who ran the hotel was German (so everything spotless, neat and tidy, fantastic breakfast) and that her husband who ran the restaurant was Belgian (so wonderful food). And now we were sleeping in their view!

Off to Ireland Together

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 15:18:03 +0200

The last few weeks in Ponta Delgada flew by, mainly because it turned into a real revolving door. I’d barely waved one lot of friends off before the next lot turned up. The funniest encounter was completely unexpected. A Dutch gentleman was standing on the pontoon next to the boat: nice boat, sir, the usual chat, nice bloke, so I invited him aboard. At some point, just as I was about to show him below, his wife turned up too. She said hang on, I’ll fetch our other two as well. Five minutes later I’m standing in the forward cabin, having only exchanged first names, when I suddenly catch the second gentleman’s surname: Korte. Hey, my first boss at Oracle was called Wim Korte too. Flabbergasted, I said: but Wim, you know me, I’m Kees Verruijt and you hired me! Imagine meeting again like that after 30 years! It turned into a few very pleasant days with Wim, Margaret and their friends. Good company for trying out the better restaurants, too. The morning after the photo below, Margaret was standing at the boat: is my passport at yours? No, sorry. And an hour later: can I borrow your bike, because the passport is still at the restaurant! What a relief!

Ierland on Merrimac

The south (and a bit of the west) coast of Ireland

Off to Ireland Together