Blasket Island, Ireland

This day was most interesting. Peter Cox had arranged a boat trip to The Great Blasket Island for us, which was super. We left early around 9:00 and had planned to return at 4:00.  The hotel packed a paper sac lunch for us which was super...but the sac broke....in the boat, as it got a bit wet and made for difficult carrying. There is no water or facilities (to our surprise) on the island so Peter also brought along some extra water. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride, except the tide was out when we departed Dingle and we had to board a Zodiac to get out to the small boat that took us across. Now that was quite fun with tripods and camera gear, but we made it with the help of the boat crew who were all very nice! We also had to disembark on a Zodiak upon arriving at The Great Balsket, the ramp was slick with sea moss and had to be sanded down for a sure footing getting off the Zodiak.
Upon arriving and hiking up hill to the ruins, I enjoyed my sandwich in the shade of an old ruin.  The view from the top was amazing!

This documentary shot will give you an idea....of the process we went through to get on the shore. The Zodiac boat made two trips to get everyone on to the island with gear.

It is hard to imagine life on this island with the steep slopes and distance to the main land. There are  stories and books written on the Island life:    The Celts,  The Blasket Islands, The Western Island by Robin Flower,  The Islandman by Tomas O'Crohan,  An Old Woman's Reflections by Peig Sayers,    Peig by Bryan MacMahon,  A Pity Youth Does Not Last by M. Guiheen,  Twenty Years A-Growing by M. O'Sullivan,  Hungry For Home by Cole Morton   
I hope to pick up a few on Amazon when I get home, and learn more about the lives of those that built and abandoned these structures. We had fun photographing the donkeys that remain. A few folks shared their apple cores with them and then they started following us around. It was a fun day! (everyone got a good suntan this day as there are no trees for shade)
That's all for now  the sun is breaking through and its time to get driving, or walking!