Castletownsend to Baltimore via Barlogue Creek

The adventures of Chili III
Peter & Belinda Vernon
Wed 18 Jul 2018 17:00
51:29.7N 009:17.6W
51:29.1N 009:22.7W
 
Barlogue Creek is a really lovely hidden anchorage that you sneak into via a gap between rocky cliffs. You'd never know it was there without the pilot book and we had it to ourselves. Carrying on up the creek by dinghy brings you to a narrow passage that the tide rushes through in and out of Lough Hyne - a rare enclosed salt water lake surrounded by wooded hills and containing a huge variety of sea creatures - over 1000 including the very rare red goby! We tried to get the dinghy up the rapids against the tide but got nowhere and walked instead. 3 Dublin families arrived by rib and had excellent fun running the rapids in wetsuits.
 
On to Baltimore harbour, a nostalgic moment from Belinda and I as we last visited in Foreign Exchange in 1994 (pre children) and heard the most amazing tin whistle player in the pub on the quay who had attracted a big crowd from far and wide. The old pub we remembered is now, inevitably, a more trendy  bar but a lovely place to sit and have an evening drink writing post cards and enjoying the fresh breeze, bright evening sunshine and clanking of masts and halyards as the sailing dinghy's are put back on the hard at the sailing club. The weather seemed set fair for our trip to Spain the following day. It brought to mind our last departure from Baltimore to sail back to Falmouth 24 years ago. It was blowing a 6 and as we  left the harbour late afternoon just as a local boat was coming in. "Where are you heading?" the skipper shouted over the gusts and spray. "Falmouth" we yelled back. "God help you!" were the last words we heard before embarking on a really tough 36 hours in the Irish sea. We hoped we were in for a better time of it tomorrow....