August 2, 2018: Skelling Michael & Ring of Kerry

A visit to the Skellig Michael mountain is the highlight of our trip.

Some of you may know this location from Star Wars - The Force Awakening, where Rey and Chewbacca land on this rock to meet Luke Skywalker.

The Ring of Kerry is a 120 mile loop drive we took to get to Skellig Michael. We drove only part of the loop, but it was spectacular!

Skellig Michael is a jagged isolated pyramid-shaped mountain , > 700 feet tall and located ~7 miles into the sea. It also has a twin rock, called Little Skellig which is closed to the public. These are some of the most westernly parts of Ireland. It has a monastery of igloo-like huts built by monks in the sixth century to live in isolation and be closer to God, weathering winter storms and viking invasions. Around 1100 AD, it was abandoned due to unlivable conditions as well as pressure from the powerful church to bring the monks in line with stricter Catholicism ! The beehive huts are connected to the sea 600 feet below by an amazing series of stone stairs, built by the monks over many hundreds of years. The monks lived a harsh, lonely and disciplined existence, subsisting by catching birds and fishing for food and trading bird eggs and fish for candles and animal hides.

Boats haven't been going there for the past 3 days due to choppy sea conditions. They went today, when we arrived there, despite a cloudy-looking day. This attraction is very popular and only 180 people are allowed each day, since this is a UNESCO World Heritage site and there are a number of birds that use this rock as their home for nesting. Each boat is allowed to take 12 people.

The 1 hour boat ride starts from the cute town of Portmagee, where we were privileged to use an award winning toilet.

Was the sea rough and the boat ride was bumpy ! We all got drenched in spite of being prepared with rain gear. Satto felt sea sick, as did I. It was all, however, worth it!

It was a foggy day with low visibility, yet spectacular. When we got there, we couldn't see the mountain till the boat got real close to it. Below is a picture on the way back, when a bit of fog had lifted and you can see the bottom half of the mountain

The colors on the mountain were a mix of greens and browns and oranges !

The tour guide gave us a brief introduction about the mountain and how it was important to preserve it and also about safety for climbing. Then we started climbing the 600 steps to the top. Hiking shoes are needed; otherwise it can be dangerous. The steps are vertical and uneven and you have to focus on the steps, especially since visibility was low.

The fog was dense. Could barely see the bottom.

The fog added a mysterious feel to the whole place !

These are the beehive huts the monks lived in, cooked and slept. These were built using stones from the mountain and have no mortar. Yet, they were water proof and dry inside. This showed the architectural skills of the monks.

These cute birds are Puffins. We were lucky to see them, usually they are gone by early August. Most of them would migrate in the next couple days. I love puffins -- they look like very curious birds and they burrow in the soil on the mountain side.

It was extremely windy, foggy and a light drizzle had started on the way down. If the day were not foggy, we would have had amazing views from the top, all the way to the mainland.

We walked sideways down the steps, to prevent slipping. The steps were wet from the light rain that was falling.

The wind was whipping even the wet hair !

This is where the scene in the Star Wars- Force Awakening was shot (where Rey hands Luke Skywalker his light saber). It was decided not to use this mountain for the next movie, since it was very disruptive to have so many film crew on the mountain and disturbing the environment for the birds.

You can see the waves crashing against the rocks below.

As we hike down, we can see Little Skellig in the distance, also covered by fog. The boats we came in were bobbing around in the water. We get 2-2.5 hours on the Rock to explore. There are no bathrooms or any kinds of facility on the mountain.

Final view of Skellig Micheal as our boat goes towards Little Skellig.

Little Skellig is home to ~60,000 Gannets. You can see them dotting up the mountain as white blobs. Because of these birds, humans are not allowed to land on the mountain. These birds are large and have a wing span of some 6.6 feet - they hunt fish by diving into the sea and chasing their prey underwater. They have adaptations that allow them to do this and they are fearless birds. There are thousands of birds covering the rocks and thousands flying overhead. I got bird poop (guano) on my jacket!

On our drive back from Skelligs, we stopped at the Skellig Chocolate Factory, where they give free samplings of some 8-10 different chocolates.

Kids refused to pose for the pic below, so we oldies did :-)

We also made a quick stop at Ballinskellig Castle. This castle ruins is walkable when the tide is low. We couldn't go much closer, because the rain picked up.