Ardglass Marina

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2y

Traveler Was heading for Dun Laoghaire
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- Jun 7, 2018
- ☁️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 7 ft
- Northern Ireland Newry Mourne and Down Ardglass Ardglass Marina 54.261692, -5.60581154°15’42” N 5°36’21” W
Day 9
Lovely Ardglass
June 7, 2018 in Northern Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
The alarm went off at 07.30 and I was leaving the harbour an hour later.
It was flat calm and I didn't hang around waiting for a breeze as I needed to get to the mouth of Carlingford Lough before the flood started.

Shortly after leaving a 'Seatruck' ship left the docks behind me and slowly caught up as we travelled down the lough. I kept a close eye on him and I increased my speed thinking I might get out into the open sea before him but shortly before the 'narrows' at the exit of the lough it caught up, so I moved future out of the channel to give it plenty of room to pass.

It got very hot during the morning and I was nearly at Newcastle 4 hours later before I got enough wind to sail. From there I had enough wind for a close reach doing about 4.5 knts. for the remainder of the day. It was a pleasant but not fast sail and I ended up deciding to pull into the small harbour of Ardglass rather than continue onto Bangor which had been my original intention.

I called up the marina and was told to tie up wherever there was room.
Having examined the photo of the marina in the sailing directions, I decided to tie up to a long pontoon on the outside if there was space.
There was, it was empty!

I was tied up by 15.30 and went ashore to the office where I was giving warm welcome by the elderly gentleman on duty. The marina seems to be a community run enterprise and it proved to be a nice spot to break the voyage.

I wandered up to the village and got an ice cream at a shop.
The gentleman behind the counter informed me that he had been an extra in the 'Game of Thrones' as were two of his sons.
I've never watched it... yet.... but looking at his beard and hair I had no reason not to believe him. He would have fitted into the cast of the 'Vikings' no problem.
(a few years later I saw him being interviewed on TV about it, he was telling the truth)

There is a castle in the middle of the village and a golf course overlooking the sea with an impressive castle-like clubhouse just south of the harbour.

I wandered up to the supermarket and got some provisions and on the way back to the harbour, spied a Chinese restaurant and decided why not?
I dropped the provisions to the boat and headed back for a takeaway and sat eating it in the cockpit with a glass of wine as the sun slowly went down.

I tried to read for a while but by 23.00 I headed to bed suffering from more fresh air sickness.Read more
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Traveler Keeping Ireland to Starboard
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- Jul 20, 2021
- ☀️ 28 °C
- Altitude: 23 ft
- Northern Ireland Newry Mourne and Down Ardglass Ardglass Marina 54.261781, -5.6060154°15’42” N 5°36’22” W
Day 58
Ardglass, a beer on the marina.
July 20, 2021 in Northern Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
We were greeted by a warm and sunny morning.
I went ashore to have a shower while leaving the engine running to warm the oil as I wanted to do an oil change. I had got a loan of a pump from Jim and planned to do it when I came back.
Unfortunally the pump didn't fit and when I gave it back to Jim, he explained how he did it and I realised I was doing it wrong but I didn't have time to try again and and will try again tonight when we get to Ardglass.

I assisted Jim in leaving the marina at 10.00 and then followed him out.
Unfortunally I broke one of my cardinal rules when single handed. As I was leaving, I didn't wait for sea room and began taking in the fenders while under autopilot in the channel out of the marina and in the middle doing that, I looked forward to see that Eureka had wandered off course and was heading straight for a large metal pole with was embedded in the bottom that marked the edge of the channel.
I just got back to the wheel in time to throw Eureka in reverse and she stopped about 2 meters from the pole before starting to go astern. Phew!

We had a nice beat into a NE wind until we were out of the lough but this disappeared once we reached Copeland Island and turned south to go through Donaghadee Sound, keeping close inshore to avoid the worst of the tide.
On went the engines as we motored south on a mill pond while banks of fog off Strangford caused us to keep a sharp lookout but the sunshine had returned by the time we reached the small harbour of Ardglass at 17.50.

The skipper of a nearby yacht assisted me in berthing and I rewarded the kind gesture with a bottle of cold beer while I had one myself and we sat and had a chat.

After dinner we wandered around the village and before going to bed I carried out the oil and filter change on the engine. No rest for the skipper!Read more
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Traveler Was heading for Dun Laoghaire
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- Jun 23, 2018
- ☁️ 15 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Northern Ireland Newry Mourne and Down Ardglass Ardglass Marina 54.26168, -5.60578154°15’42” N 5°36’21” W
Day 25
Sleepy Ardglass
June 23, 2018 in Northern Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
It was about 01.00 as I began to cross Belfast Lough which was very busy with two outbound ferries and one inbound, this time they were well lit. The cruise ship 'Marco Polo was also well lit as it headed north up the Irish Sea but that was well off to my port.

It was beginning to get bright when I was passing Rigg Bank, just south of the lough but the traffic was not finished with me. I had to charge course to keep out of the way of a container ship heading north and there were also a few trawlers around just to keep things interesting.

It was time to decide where I going to tie up.
Ideally I'd like to have kept going until the late afternoon. Howth was still about 15 hours away. While it would still be light when I'd arrive, it was too far. Carlingford was another 10 hours but the entrance was only passable at the right state of tide and my timing would be wrong this time.
So instead seeing I was beginning to feel a little tired, I decided cut the day short and to head for Ardglass which was about 4 hours away.

It appeared that Ardglass was still asleep when I arrived but as I approached the marina I saw a couple sitting having breakfast in the cockpit of a nice wooden yacht and they interrupted their breakfast to assist me in tieing up at 08.00.
It turn out he was Dutch and she was a Dub and they planned to head to Dublin later in the morning.

Even though it was lovely and sunny even at that hour, I headed down below to get some zzzzz's and didn't wake until noon.

I headed up to the office to report in, pay and have a shower before going for a walk.
I found a nice restaurant called 'Blue Donkey' close to the marina and had a coffee and cake followed by a visit to the supermarket for milk and bread.

Back on Eureka I sat in the sun and checked the tides and made a passage plan for tomorrow's journey south. I planned to make the next stop Dun Laoghaire.

I cheated a bit on dinner. It was one of those pasta meals, just add water, then I had an early night before an early start tomorrow.Read more
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