Sailing inyourfootsteps.com

9°C

Swell today

Direction S, height 2.2 metres, period 9.9 seconds, significant wave height of 2.6 metres.

Haven position?

51° 40.921' N, 009° 27.888' W

Where is that position?

Approximately 200 meters northwest of the harbour entrance.

What is the initial fix?

This waypoint is 300 metres north of Whiddy Point East that is Whiddy Island’s north-eastern most point.

What is the story here?

Bantry harbour is an anchorage that resides under the lea of Whiddy Island in the east most corner of Bantry Bay. Lying off Bantry town the anchorage offers straightforward access on any state of the tide, in all conditions, and it may be approached from either side of the island. The northern route round Whiddy Island is the preferred channel with a deep water channel marked by large lit buoys to the oil terminal. The harbour offers excellent all round shelter and good holding in mud.

Please note that east of Whiddy Island you will find a host of unlit oyster and mussel fishing rafts plus, in autumn, shrimp pots. These floating structures, some mere lines of barrels, are low, often unmarked and sometime hard to see. The harbour commissioners do not allow these to encroach on the channel but they are always close by. As a result it is not advisable to make a night entry or in very poor visibility without local knowledge.

Why visit here?

Bantry (Irish: Beanntraí) claims an ancient connection to the sixth century saint, Breandán (Naomh Bréanainn) the Navigator. In Irish lore Saint Breandán was the first person to discover America.

The town of Bantry is also associated with the Irish Rebellion of 1798 as being the place where an earlier attempt to land and launch a rebellion was made by a French fleet, including Wolfe Tone in December 1796. Tone, a Dublin-born Irishman, led the United Irishmen in what he hoped to be a re-run of the French Revolution to overthrow British rule. This was to be assisted by French Republicans and an invasion force arrived in Bantry in 1796.

The formidable French fleet consisting of 43 ships carrying 15,000 troops had divided mid-Atlantic into smaller groups to avoid interception by the Royal Navy with orders to reform at Bantry Bay. However, as with the Spanish Armada in Elizabethan times, it was dreadful weather that confounded the enterprise. For six days the French battled against storms but at times their ships were "close enough to toss a biscuit on shore". Finally, with 10 of their ships lying at the bottom of Bantry Bay, the remainder of the fleet turned for home.

This was the second French attempt on Bantry Bay. One hundred years earlier in 1689 French ships sailed up the Bay in an ill-fated attempt to restore James II to the British throne.

During the Irish War of Independence/The Tan Wars the 5th Cork Brigade of the Irish Republican Army was very active in Bantry, and many remained so during the "Civil War" that followed. Those who died between 1920 and 1923 'In Defence of the Republic' are listed on Wolfe Tone Square. Bantry’ rich history is celebrated at the Bantry Museum, run by Bantry’ Local History Society.

Whiddy Island is at the head of the bay near the south shore. It was formerly an important oil terminal, owned by Gulf Oil, terminus for Ireland. ConocoPhillips now maintains a Single Point Mooring (SPM) at the Whiddy Island oil terminal. On January 8th 1979 the oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded, killing all 42 crew members, as well as seven employees at the terminal. The jetty was seriously damaged at the terminal, but fortunately the storage tanks were not affected. Nevertheless, 250 employees at the terminal, one of the largest employers in the region, lost their jobs. There was significant environmental impact, and so the local fishing industry was also affected. Some small tankers offload oil to the area, but no longer moor by the old oil terminal.

Bantry House, home since 1739 to the White family, the former Earl of Bantry, is located south of the town and provides a gracious venue for the prestigious West Cork Chamber Music Festival, a 10-day event that takes place in early July.

The town is an important economic centre to the region. Apart from tourism, fishing is one of the main industries and, as you can imagine from all the rafts, Mussels is one of its noted harvests. Every year a mussel fair is held during the second weekend in May with lots of music, street entertainment and, of course, seafood.

How to get in?

The northern approach to the harbour is very straight forward. Just be aware of
a ruined and badly lit oil terminal jetty 500 metres north of Whiddy Island oil terminal. Once you pass this and round Whiddy Island’s the north-eastern most point all that is required is to follow the channel markers in and then drop down on the anchorage.

Whiddy Point East may be rounded close in but all other islands in the harbour are generally foul all round out to 300 metres in some cases. From Whiddy Point East you simply track the markers in to the channel picking up and leaving the Horse Lt buoy to starboard, Gurteenroe to port and then Chapel to starboard.

Horse Lt buoy - Fl. G. 6s – position: 51° 42.142’N 009° 27.795’W
Gurteenroe Lt buoy Fl.R.3s – position: 51° 41.841’N 009° 27.822’W
Chapel Lt buoy F1.G.2s – position: 51° 41.663’N 009° 27.963’W

Then progress on south to the anchorages off the town in deep water all the way. Do not pass close to any rafts you may encounter as floating mooring lines may extend some distance.

The western entrance may only be used in good conditions as it has a 2 metre bar, just seaward of the narrowest point, that sometimes breaks. Tidal streams in the western pass reach 1.5 knots where, by comparison, you would only find up to half a knot in the Northern entrance. Also outside the bar note Cracker Rock that has only 1.7 metres of cover.

Cracker Rock – position: 51° 40.390’N 009° 30.459’W

If entering via this route come to the south of Cracker rock by steering towards Relane Point keeping about 150 metres off the shore line. When you can see the south side of Reenbeg Point come in-line with the high water mark on South Beach turn on to 063° (it may be noted on your chart) and continue in until it narrows. You can then take a mid channel route. This transit takes you between the shore and Cracker Rock.

Anchor northwest of the town off the old ruined town pier but keep 200 metres off as there is foul ground all around it. An alternative is to anchor outside of the main pier. In both cases make sure to keep clear of fairway where you can expect a wash from the Whiddy Island ferry.

To escape this you could move 600 metres west and anchor outside local yachts to the northwest of Bantry house. Alternatively you could select a quieter location off Rabbit Island that lies alongside Whiddy Island. There you may anchor 200 metres southwest of Rabbit Island or 100 metres to the north in 2-3 metres.

With permission from HM it may be possible to moor, for short periods in good weather, on the outside of town pier. However this is subject to wash.

Bantry Bay chart overviews and navigation overviews are available on bantryport.com

What are the tides here?

High Water Cobh -0035
Today's Cobh tides — High waters: 05:40, 17:58, Low water: 12:07
Today's Dover tides — High waters: 11:11, 23:32, Low waters: 06:21, 18:43 ^{From Tide Times}

MHWS 3.2m MHWN 2.4m MLWN 1.1m MLWS 0.4m ML 1.8; Duration 0610
More accurately HW Cobh +0045sp, +0025np, or alternatively +0600 on Dover (tide as Bantry).

What facilities are available?

Bantry is a busy bustling holiday town offering good pubs, restaurants and hotels plus the best shopping and transport centre on this coast. Water is available on the pier also petrol, diesel, engineers, and some repairs locally.

Bus are available to Cork, Glengariff, Castletownbear and (summer only) Kenmare, Killarney, Clonakilty. Skibbereen is 30 KM on the N71.

Nearest international airport is Cork Airport. Bantry also has a small privately owned airfield called Bantry Aerodrome.

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:
Bantry Bay Harbour Master - Captain Alec O’Donovan
WHF: Ch14
Tel: +353 (0)27 53277
Mobile: +353 (0) 87 9532777
E-Mail: alec@bantrybayport.com
More information at the Bantry Port site.

Any security concerns?

Never a problem known to have occurred in Bantry Harbour.

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. Small scale charts for this area of the coast include 1838 ‘Bantry Bay - Shot Head to Bantry’ scale of 1:30,000, 2552 ‘Dunmanus Bay’ scale 1:30000, 1840 ‘Bantry Bay: Black Ball Head to Shot Head’ Scale 1:30000.

Imray C56 ‘Cork Harbour to Dingle Bay’ scale of 1:170,000. Ordinance Survey of Ireland, Discovery Series Map ref No. 85 ‘Cork’ plus ‘Cork, Kerry’ 88 scale 1:50,000.

With thanks to:

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

---

Please zoom out to see the 'initial fix' for this location.

How can I get this offshore?

If a mobile signal is available you can access all of our information via a mobile phone's internet browser. We provide a 'Lite' site, Lite In Your Foot Steps using the shorter initials www.liyfs.com, that presents our data in a simplified, speed optimised format. Similarly, if an internet connection is limited or expensive, switching to the 'Lite' site enables faster and more efficient access.

Alternatively print this page's text, illustrations and photos, but without the internet menu, layout, backdrops and Google maps, or economise upon printer consumables and print this page with text only, to get a hardcopy of this location.

What other useful information is available?

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’.



Print this haven

Add a review or comment:

Please log in to leave a review of this haven.

Please note inyourfootsteps.com makes no guarantee of the validity of this information, we have not visited this haven and do not have first-hand experience to qualify the data. Although the contributors are vetted by peer review as practised authorities, they are in no way, whatsoever, responsible for the accuracy of their contributions. It is essential that you thoroughly check the accuracy and suitability for your vessel of any waypoints offered in any context plus the precision of your GPS. Any data provided on this page is entirely used at your own risk and you must read our legal page if you view data on this site.