Dun Laoghaire and Dublin

Dun Laoghaire is in exactly the same position in relation to Dublin as Bangor is to Belfast, a port/resort on the south side of the bay and connected by rail to the capital in each case. I can see I might find this confusing when I look back! Generally the town feels a bit more prosperous than Bangor, which had a lot of empty shops, but the train into Dublin, although grandly called the Dart, actually uses quite elderly rolling stock (1980s, according to Wikipedia). We are next to what was once the ferry port, although nowadays the ferries go into the middle of Dublin, or to Rosslare further south. It is still in use as a cruise terminal but this seems to be a tender port and the cruise ships anchor off.

I thought Bangor was quite a big marina but this is vast, supposedly with room for more than 1000 vessels although with quite a few empty spaces. It's such a long way up to the marina building that they provide an "amenities barge" conveniently close to our mooring. This is a mixed blessing, with loos that are not terribly keen to flush and shower water pressure which sometimes dies to a dribble, perhaps if two or more people are showering at once. At the top of the ramps, you get in and out of the main building and the marina security gate by using a fingerprint scanner. Apparently my fingers are a bit inadequate as I've only successfully opened the door once. Fortunately someone else has always been around to let me in. My MacBook has no problem with my fingers so I blame their technology.

The forecasts from here are looking very unhelpful, with moderate or strong westerlies and southwesterlies. There was a possibility we could get to Arklow on Thursday and maybe across to Pembrokeshire on Saturday, but in the end I wimped out because both passages just looked like another uncomfortable slog, in each case with a short weather window which might get shorter while we were en route. Arklow has fairly limited mooring options and loos/showers only in its very small marina. So in the end Erika decided to head home by ferry on Thursday evening before the next strong wind hit us. As I write, Storm Lilian has passed through in the early hours of Friday morning. It arrived quite suddenly at bout 0230 but between 3 and 4am there was a steady 30kt-plus - not very gusty, just a strong wind going on and on. It peaked at just under 43kt. Fortunately the boat was absolutely fine, but I was awake for a while!

Anyway in the meantime we made the most of Dublin, which feels proportionately bigger and more confident than Belfast. We had a wonderful morning at the National Gallery enjoying an exhibition of four woman impressionist painters, and then I popped into the museum of archaeology to see many many gold torcs and bracelets. Erika had been inspired to book a walking experience through Airbnb, so in the afternoon we toured with Seán and his mandolin, as he showed us Temple Bar, the castle, the two cathedrals and more, with a generous dose of Irish history and excellent singing. What a wonderful way to see the city. We ended up in a pub, naturally, so we had a drink, then a Japanese-y meal at a little restaurant, and then back to Dun Laoghaire on the Dart. It was one of those days when I felt very pleased and proud to have sailed here. Or motorsailed anyway.