Dunmore East and Waterford

Marita3
Mark & Helen Syrett
Sat 27 Jun 2015 07:03
52:15.753N 7:06.605W
We left the Isle of Man feeling that it deserved another visit. The countryside was lovely with hills and a couple of mountains and lots of green and pleasant land. The towns of Douglas and Peel were clean, attractive and friendly.
However it was time to head 160 miles south to Waterford and tides dictated that we ask the harbour master in Douglas to remotely open the bridge which he did at 0400. We extracted Marita from the somewhat tight marina without causing damage to ourselves or anyone else and went out to the outer harbour. The wind was blowing and we raised a reefed main whist in the relative shelter of the breakwater. Then we rounded the breakwater and were engulfed by seas that resembled the Isle of Man landscape——hilly and mountainous!
A few rather bouncy hours followed with rain squalls (as usual) but once clear of the south tip of the island the seas settled down and the wind abated slightly to give a fast passage south. In the afternoon the wind died and we had to turn the engine on for a while and we made good progress through flat water—amazing how quickly it all changes. 
The sun made an appearance to set
and then to rise
We rounded Tuskar Rock just south of Rosslare in the early hours of the morning and as the wind increased and decreased we motored/sailed/motored west towards Dunmore East which lies at the mouth of the estuary of the River Suir that leads up to Waterford. 
We picked up a mooring at Dunmore East at about 0900, had breakfast, a ferry ashore (an all inclusive price for the mooring and ferry of 15 euros!) and fell asleep in the afternoon. The sun shone, albeit for about 4 hours.
Dunmore East is a small place with a very active fishing harbour and a children’s adventure school with boating, water sports, wall climbing etc etc.
Helen was keen to see Waterford so at 0800 the following morning (no peace for the skipper) we motored with the flood tide, in poor visibility and rain, the 15 miles up to Waterford where we parked up on the pontoon in the middle of the town. 
We felt pleased with our achievement in navigating the narrow channel and shallow water-------until we found a cruise liner had beaten us to it! 
A lot of shipping appears to navigate this channel and there were wharfs for coal, timber, grain, sand and a power station.
A few hours ashore and with shopping completed, including a trip to the Waterford Crystal shop and factory and the two Cathedrals

we were on our way back down on the ebb in slightly better weather and dodging the dredgers that were at work in the river. The forecast was for the wind to strengthen and blow firstly from the south and then veer to south west / west and we wanted to take advantage of the south wind to go west towards Cork. Being tide bound at the top of the river was not ideal so we were back on our mooring at Dunmore East by 1900 preparing for yet another early start the next day.