Sailing inyourfootsteps.com

12°C

Swell today

Direction SW, height 0.0 metres, period 9.9 seconds, significant wave height of 0.2 metres.

Haven position?

51° 44.594' N, 009° 32.352' W

Where is that position?

Centre of Glengarriff bay north of Garnish Island.

What is the initial fix?

This waypoint is 700 metres southeast of Four Heads Point 1.5nm from the channel between Ship Island and the eastern shoreline.

What is the story here?

Glengarriff Harbour is an anchorage situated north of Whiddy Island in the northeast corner of Bantry Bay. The harbour offers simple access at any state of the tide and complete shelter from all weather conditions in beautiful surroundings. It is an excellent harbour to safely leave a yacht plus moorings are available.

Glengariff does require some straightforward navigation as it has not got navigational markings and should be entered with daylight.

Why visit here?

Glengarriff (Gleann Garbh in Irish, meaning "rough glen") is known as the ‘Madeira of Ireland’ on account of its spectacular beauty and mild climate. Positioned on a sheltered bay and surrounded by high mountains it is a cruising paradise that no one cruising Ireland’s southwest coast should miss. This lovely harbour offers a host of quiet anchorages to explore providing several days of pleasure to the passing boatman.

The must visit in the area is the state owned Illnacullen Island (Garinish on the charts) that is open to the public. Consisting of 15 hectares (37 acres) it is known to horticulturists all around the world as an island garden of rare beauty. The gardens owe their existence to the creative partnership, some eighty years ago, of Annan Bryce, the then owner of the island, and Harold Peto the architect and garden designer. In addition to the gardens a spectacular view of the surrounding area may be obtained from the old round Martello tower built to guard against a threatened Napoleonic invasion.

The nearby national forest (the glen that gave Glengarriff it's name) contains some of the oldest and most extensive oak and birch groves left in Ireland. A short but steep trail leads up to Lady Bantry's Lookout, offering a vista of Bantry Bay and the west Cork area.

The village, with a population of approximately 800 people, has a host of local pubs that frequently offer live music in the evenings during the tourist season.

From a yachtsman’s perspective, Glengarriff Harbour is the birthplace of the Irish Cruising Club. Nineteen yachtsmen happened to meet there in July 1929 aboard five cruising yachts and though unplanned the club was founded.

Personally, I spent a horrid wet week here and never got bored for a moment with all the new anchorages to explore, Illnacullen Island and eating out etc.

How to get in?

Sail up north of Whiddy Island and round Four Heads Point to port. Keep at least 300 metres offshore of Four Heads Point to avoid the foul ground that extends from the point, afterwards the entrance to the harbour is clear. Make towards Gun Point and pass to it to starboard, again keeping at least 200 metres offshore as a shallow area extends westward from the point.

From there you should take a heading of approximately 015° to go between the narrower section lying between Ship Island and the eastern shoreline. There is a conspicuous white house with chimneys on shore northwest of Glengariff castle that acts as a useful tracking mark – note: the castle may be concealed by trees.

From Four Heads Rocks the entrance to the harbour is clear up to Garinish (Illnacullen) Island - 41m high with a conspicuous Martello tower on its summit – save for foul ground extending 200 metres south of this island, called yellow rocks. A mussel farm that lies off the eastern shore is the key issue to locate on this leg.

The channel between Ship Island and the eastern shoreline is easily accomplished as the middle section with over 16 metres of draft is at least 300 metres wide. However due to unmarked offlying rocks on either side keep middle-to-east position as you move up the channel. Once inside you will find another mussel farm on your starboard side beneath the castle. When past Garvillaun Island (to the north of Ship Island) the harbour is deep and clear of submerged rocks.

From there you can take your pick of several lovely anchorages. Yachts can anchor anywhere south of Bark Island in approximately 10 metres of water. North of Bark Island there is a perfectly sheltered anchorage in about 3m that provides convenient access to the pier in the north of the harbour. You will find very good mud holding throughout the area.

There is a wide choice of other anchorages around the harbour. In addition there are six seasonal visitor moorings are available at position 51° 44.900’N 009° 32.300’W. The 15 tons rated moorings are large, coloured bright yellow and labelled VISITOR. A daily charge of €7.50 may be levied.

What are the tides here?

Today's local tide estimates are based on High Water Cobh -0035
Today's Cobh tides — High waters: 06:31, 18:48, Low waters: 00:38, 12:54
Today's Dover tides — High waters: 00:05, 12:22, Low waters: 07:13, 19:27 (From Tide Times)
HW Cobh –0045sp, -0025np
MHWS 3.2m MHWN 2.4m MLWN 1.1m MLWS 0.4m

The latest monthly Dover Tides and Cobh Tides courtesy of the National Environmental Research Council. Printable monthly tides for Dublin, Dunmore, Cobh, Galway, Belfast are available from the ISA.

The national weather forecast, Met Éireann and BBC shipping forecasts, plus a very simplified Munster tourist outlook. From an Atlantic perspective a 24 hour North Atlantic synoptic chart that you may ‘right click’ and save to your hard disk. Met Éireann’s Eastern Atlantic chart and the BBC’s surface area forecast plus visible satellite images for Ireland and Northeast Atlantic from Met Éireann. Wind observations, XC UK & Ireland, Windguru wind & wave reports, and Windfinder where you can determine a forecast time. Coastal radio stations (VHF Channel) Weather forecast at 0103 and thence every 3 hours updated every sixth. Cork 26, Bantry 23, Valentia 24. Radio broadcasts on RTE 1 (89.1FM) 0603, 1253, 1655 and 2355.

A free tidal range prediction application for windows, a simple tide monitor plus the rule of twelfths are available in inyourfootsteps.com shared ‘experience’.

What facilities are available?

Glengariff is a lovely little tourist village with post office, hotels, restaurants, pubs, and basic shops for provisions of milk and bread but not fresh meat. Petrol & diesel are available and two water taps are available on the quay. A large hotel offers showers and baths. Most shops here are however tourist oriented.

Located 20 km (~12 miles) west of Bantry, and 30 km (~18 miles) east of Castletownbere there is a bus to Cork via Bantry and Killarney.

What emergency contacts are there?

Valentia Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre (MRSC) VHF Ch 24 & MF 1752 kHz covers this costal area. Cork (26), Mizen (04), Bantry Bay (23), Shannon (28) and Galway (04) provide relay stations. Coastguard Radio is always called on a working channel. Emergencies are worked on 16, 67 and working channel.

Alternatively, or if ashore, phone 999 or 121 (free) and ask for ‘Marine Rescue’. Gardai (police), Fire and Rescue are also available on this number. Valentia (MRSC) may be called on +353 669 476 109

Other useful contacts in this area:
VHF Ch14 Captain Alec O’Donovan
Tel: +353 (0)27 53277
Mobile: +353 (0) 87 9532777
E-Mail: alec@bantrybayport.com
Glengarriff is under Bantry Bay Harbour Master Control

More information at the Bantry Port site.

Any security concerns?

I left my boat here in the west corner of the bay in the Blue lagoon for a week unattended and there was no problem. In fact the ferry men to the island generously tied my yacht Topaz to their moorings as a force nine was promised one night while I was away and they felt she would be better on their spare mooring.

What navigational resources are available for this area?

The large scale Admiralty Charts 2424 ‘Kenmare River to Cork Harbour’ Scale of 1:150,000 covers this area. 1838 ‘Bantry Bay - Shot Head to Bantry’ Scale of 1:30,000 provide detail. Imray C56 ‘Cork Harbour to Dingle Bay’ scale of 1:170,000. The Pilot ’Sailing Directions - Irish Cruising Club - South and West Coasts of Ireland’’ covers this in great detail.

With thanks to:

Burke Corbett, Gusserane, New Ross, Co. Wexford.

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