Sailing inyourfootsteps.com

13°C

Swell today

Direction SW, height 1.1 metres, period 9.9 seconds, significant wave height of 1.2 metres.

Haven position?

52° 8.140' N, 006° 35.530' W

Where is that position?

In the anchorage situated 200 metres off Little Saltee Island’s western shore about midway along the island.

What is the initial fix?

This waypoint is Kilmore Quay’s safe water marker, a red and white buoy with a long white flash (Iso 10s). The buoy is positioned between Kilmore Quay and Little Saltee Island and the anchorage is three quarters of a mile south of the marker.

What is the story here?

The Saltee Islands are two small islands that reside off the south coast of County Wexford, approximately half way between Hook Head and Carnsore Point. This is a secluded anchorage on the west side of Little Saltee Island, the smaller and northernmost of the two islands.

This is a stay aboard anchorage that offers protection from the east up to force four. Access requires attentive navigation to pass around the Saltee Islands numerous outlying rocks, shoals and strong currents. They are however very workable in settled clear conditions and highly enjoyable.

Please note that currents can run up to 3.4 knots on springs. Those planning to explore these waters have very good large scale charts such as ‘British Admiralty 2740’.

Why visit here?

This is another excellent Little Saltee Island lunch stop or tide wait location for those who do not want to commit to the time or expense of entering Kilmore Marina.

It is also close enough to St. Patrick’s Bridge to provide a good location to observe the precise turn of the tide to maximise the route ‘eight hours of a following tide from Kilmore Quay; east or westbound’.

General interest information on Little Saltee Island can be found in the Landing Beach entry.

How to get in?

Directions for a northeastern and southern coastal approaches plus additional island cruising notes are provided in the Landing Beach entry for Little Saltee Island.

The Landing Beach approach overview should be followed from the Kilmore Safe Water Marker to the anchorage. Then a vessel should continue along the west coast of Little Saltee keeping approximately 300 metres off the islands western cliffs whilst following the 2 metre contour.

Be careful not to drift into the island as the shoreline shelves abruptly. Likewise make note of the ‘Privateer Rock’ with 3 metres of cover. Although unnamed on the charts it is clearly marked half a mile west of the centre of Little Saltee Island.

Privateer Rock – position: 52° 08.349’N, 006° 35.635’W

Continue along the coast until Goose Rock is identified ahead.

Goose Rock – position: 52° 08.042’N, 006° 35.546’W

The rock dries to 2.6 metres and resides 300 metres off the southwest corner of Little Saltee Island and as such will be clearly visible.

When Goose Rock is approximately 200 metres directly south anchor in a depth to your preference approximately 200 metres off the shore. Excellent kelp free fine sand holding will be found here.

No landing is typically possible here. However in very settled conditions the three storm beaches, facing the Great Saltee around the islands southwest corner, may offer landing opportunities on lower tide levels.

What are the tides here?

Today's local tide estimates are based on High Water Cobh +0013
Today's Cobh tides — High waters: 07:36, 19:53, Low waters: 01:41, 13:56
Today's Dover tides — High waters: 01:04, 13:22, Low waters: 08:17, 20:33 (From Tide Times)
Dover -0535, Cobh +0019sp, +0009np Get Dover Tide
Tidal Range:
MHWS 3.8m MHWN 2.8m MLWN 1.5m MLWS 0.6m

Direction of stream outside the harbour:
Dover HW to +0500 west-southwest
Dover HW +0600 to -0100 east-northeast

Between Carnsore Point and the Saltees:
East by northeast stream commences +0525 Dover (-0110 Cobh) spring rate 2.4kn.
West by southwest stream commences-0040 Dover (+0510 Cobh) spring rate 2.6kn.

South of the Saltees the streams rotate clockwise:
East going flood stream commences North +0535 Dover (-0120 Cobh), spring rate 1.7 kn, turning east northeast approximately three hours later and ends in a south-easterly direction.
West going ebb stream commences south at -0020 Dover (+0530 Cobh) spring rate 1.9kn turning west by south approximately three hours later and ends in a north-westerly direction.
Particularly strong tides are to be found in Saltee Sound where spring rate tides can reach 3.5kn and do not set fairly through the sound with many eddies.
Expect a slack water of approximately 1 hour between the tides.

What facilities are available?

There are no facilities on the Little Saltee Island and this anchorage offers no landing capability.

Immediately ashore Kilmore Quay has a 60 berth finger pontoon marina with water, electricity and diesel available on the quay. There are 15 visitor berths and although this seems a low number, the marina manages to accommodate its guests even in peak seasons. Advance bookings are not taken but you can contact the Harbour Master a couple of days before entry details below.

Kilmore also offers an excellent chandlery marine engineering and lift out capabilities plus two mini supermarkets and a post office. A wide selection of good pubs and restaurants plus a hotel are all within a short walk from the Marina.

What emergency contacts are there?

Dublin Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) VHF Ch 83 covers the area from Carlingford Lough to Youghal. Carlingford (04), Wicklow Head (02), Rosslare (23) and Mine Head (83) 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. Dublin (MRSC) may be contacted directly on +353 1 662 0922/3

Other useful contacts in this area:
Kilmore Harbour Master: monitors channel 9, phone +353 53 912 9955 hmkilmorequay@eircom.net
RNLI, Kilmore Quay’ Mersey Class Lifeboat, phone +353 53 91 29690
Police: +353 53 91 29642 or 91 22333; Doctor: +353 53 91 35296
Chemist: +353 53 91 35655; Customs: +353 53 91 33741

Any security concerns?

Never an issue know to have occurred to a vessel anchored off the Saltee Islands.

What navigational resources are available for this area?

Admiralty Chart 2049 ‘Old Head of Kinsale to Tuskar Rock’ scale of 1:150,000 covers this sailing area. The key chart for this sailing area is the large scale British Admiralty 2740 that covers the Saltee Islands & Kilmore Quay at a scale of 1:25,000. Imray charts C57 and C61 overlap in this area plus Discovery Ordinance Survey map 77 covers the land area.

With thanks to:

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

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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 Leinster 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. Carlingford 04, Dublin 83, Wicklow Head 02, Rosslare 23 and Mine Head 83. 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’.



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