Saltee Island

Today was one of those incandescently perfect days. Josh and I went to Kilmore Quay and he explored the tiny harbour town while I took a boat over to the Saltee Island. You can only reach it by boat and once near the shore you have to take a dinghy to get the rest of the way to the island. It's owned by one family and they allow visitors access during the day. There is one house on it for the family when they're in residence but other than that it is wild and uninhabited by humans. It is a bird sanctuary and an important migratory stopover for several species of birds, including puffins. It's a little early for the puffins to be in residence, about two weeks too early but I did see one! They are the cutest, sweetest and happiest looking birds. I think they're my new favorite animal. How can I get one?

The ride out to the island was a little terrifying (have I mentioned I don't like boats?) but other than being very wet, it was rather uneventful. We dinghy-ed the rest of the day and were told we'd be picked up at four o'clock. I spent the afternoon exploring the island, staring at cliffs, laying in flowers and watching birds fight, warm, feed and fly. It was magnificent. It was literally everything I hoped for in coming to Ireland. I have absolutely checked off the topmost item on my bucket list. If we had to leave Ireland today, that would be okay. Mind you, I still want to explore the rest of the coast and see the Cliffs of Moher, but this was perfect. No other words can describe it. Flawless (okay one more).

I'll just share with you a bunch of pictures of my journey around the island. It's not a huge island (but big enough that I still got lost and had trouble finding my way back to the boat. (Of course, I have trouble finding my car in a parking lot so that's not saying much).

The pontoon boat that took us over to the island

The boat

A staircase leads you from the rocky shoreline up to island.

The sign that greets you and tells you about the Prince of Saltee and the rights of his heirs to the island.

Some old ruins

A very old stone throne randomly situated on the island. I can only assume it's for Prince Saltee himself.

That huge rock face in front of me has hundreds of birds sunning themselves on it.

Obligatory selfie?

So many birds! Can you see them in the bottom left corner of the picture on the rocks?

One side of the main part of the bird sanctuary area.

The other half of the bird area. Hundreds upon hundreds of them.

The dinghy back to the "big" boat.

It was so beautiful. I wish I could come up with a better word to describe it. It's otherworldly in its beauty. The colors are so rich and magnificent. It was pure joy to wander and explore. It made me miss my big brother a lot though. You know how certain experiences and moments make you wish for someone? I really wished for him today. He would love hiking the area and it's something we'd absolutely love doing together.

On the drive back to the hotel we passed a field of yellow flowers. It's kind of a dream of mine to be able to run through a field of flowers for as far as you can see in all directions. Josh had me turn around, park and climb the fence into this field to run through. (I love that he not only acknowledges my flights of whimsy, but encourages them). I tried to run but they were too dense and tangled. But it was exquisitely beautiful to stand in the middle of so much yellow. 

The bar at our hotel has Connect Four. We've play like 100 times in the last two days.

We're off to stay the night in a castle! My sister-in-law and brother got us a voucher for Christmas that's good towards a stay in a castle in a few countries in Europe. We saved it for Ireland and I can't wait! We're all booked for tomorrow night and I plan to spend every second I can in the castle! Check in is at 4, so we'll be there at 3:59!