The window banging in the wind woke us up at 530 am.
The light outside was very soft and put a magical mist in the air. I remember Archie telling me about the early morning light the day before and I agreed with him.
I wedged a little of piece of wood, that I found on the window ledge that seemed to be made for that purpose, in between the window and the frame and went back to sleep until 730.
We got our things ready and had a breakfast of fruit and soda bread with tea and coffee. Maureen went on the computer until the bus came. I took photos of our ever so colourful hostel.
We caught the bus and he took us on a tour of the island, well a road that we had not walked down yet before we got to the dock to catch the ferry.
We had found out last night that there were actually two ferry companies operating. One was a great asset to the island as it provided service year round and the other, we called it the pirate ferry, only operated in the summer high season and took lots of passengers away from the good ferry guys.
We realized that, on the way over to the island we had actually caught the bad ferry and that was one reason they were in such a rush to help us out. I thought that we had been on time and still had a half an hour ahead of the ferry. if we had not caught the ferry we did we would have caught the right ferry, the good ferry.
The return tickets we bought were no good for the good ferry. We told the fellow on the ferry that we had been taken advantage of by the bad ferry and that we wanted to support the good ferry and we must have looked very sad as he was a sweetheart and only charged us for one ticket between the two of us.
If I win the lottery I will make it worth their while for being so nice.
On the ferry we talked with the locals who were going to the mainland.Sylvia owns the property across form the hostel. She comes from California and only spends 6 months of the year on the island.
She complained a bit about mold being a problem. Two ladies told her that you have to be there on the island and living in the place to make sure it (mold) doesn’t take hold. Sylvia told me about the mother of the boy who died in a traffic accident just 2 weeks ago off island.
She was taking care of her 90 year old father and her mother who had a heart attack when she heard the news. They lived at the three farms at the end of the lake road.
Other than that it was a smooth passage
Thanks for your visit to and comments regarding Cape Clear Island.
ReplyDeleteI am the manager of what you describe as the 'bad ferry service' and I am also pretty sure I met you during your visit as I was( together with Ed Harper) the organizer of the storytelling you describe in the Social Club and also one of the musicians and tried to get around to everyone that evening to make them feel at home.
I am very proud of our company and friendly crew and especially ofour incessant efforts to promote our beautiful island in every way possible.
I hope that you come back to visit us again and see us as the human beings we are, both good and bad, and perhaps we might mischievously, remind you of the old Gaelic proverb " Ná tabhair breith ar an chéad scéal go dtí go mbeireann an dara scéal suas leat", Dont judge the first story until the second story catches up on you.
With kind regards,
Séamus Ó Drisceoil
http://www.cailinoir.com
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI was delighted to be forwarded your blog link as it is always lovely to hear another's view of our beautiful island, though I may be biased in saying so, having been born, bred and brought up on Cape.
Having worked on the ferries to Cape with ney on 7 years and since I am one of the only two female crew I may assume that it may have been me who helped carry your bags. I work on the Cailín Óir ferry with crew who have serviced the island for the last 40 years with unbroken records, and in fact carry on a long family tradition as my grand uncle brought the very first state subsidised ferry to the island back in 1937.
I can assure you, like every other member of the crew, my aim is promote Cape Clear and encourage visitors to come see our home for themselves, however they chose to travel, and ensure always to give all information of all ferry times, of all ferries. Perhaps in your haste that day you did not take that information in. Nonetheless I apologise if you were not satisfied in the service we provided. It has always been our motto to provide a top class service with the best interests of every passenger at heart.
It would be remit of me at this time not to mention, that it is irresponsible journalism to report on a story when one clearly does not have all the facts. It reminds me of an old Irish saying - "dúirt bean liom, gur dúirt bean leí, gur dúirt bbean eile lei...". In other words, Chinses whispers never carry the message they begin with!
I hope you shall visit our island again some day and continue to tell others of the unspoiled and natural beauty Of Cape Clear.
Regards,
Niamh Ní Dhrisceoil
A Dennie, a chara,
ReplyDeleteAn Richie here, I host the hostel on Cape with my wife Sinead. I must say that your photographs are so much better than mine, which always turn out so dark, and the description you use of the island is a delight to read.
It is true to say that the ferry situation on Cape has been a very touchy topic for a few years now. However, by the 1st March 2010 the problem should be solved because the company managing the orange & white coloured ferry, The Cailin Oir, will be taking over from the current ferry operator. The Cailin Oir is doing this at very short notice and with a huge amount of commitment and effort; otherwise we might just have been left without a suitable ferry for the remainder of the winter and early spring.
We are luck here on Cape because the weather is so often kind to us. Although this winter has been the coldest that anyone can remember, today it is spring like and absolutely gorgeous. The sea is as flat and calm as a mirror and the sky is blue and cloudless – it is a perfect day for gardening and perhaps a walk over the hills and then, in the evening, as the darkness arrives, we will have the most fantastic views of a clear, dark and star filled sky – this is the beauty of remote places; so little man-made lighting to spoil the view.
When you have the time visit our website where I hope to be updating our newsletter as the weeks move towards the summer: www.cape-clear-island.com
Bain Sult as an la
Warm regards,
Ríchie& Sinead
Cape Clear Hostel
Brú Chléire, Seanstáisiún Garda an Chósta, Inníor.
The Old Coastguard Station
South Harbour
Cape Clear Island
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteAgain as has been already been said its nice to get a vistors opinion on what they thought of Cape Clear.
I'm disapointed that you refer to the "bad Ferry" because in fact it is the complete opposite.
This ferry for the past 3 summers has run from end of April to end of October.This ferry is seasonal beacuse unlike the other ferry it doesn't receive a government subsidy of nearly 260,000euro a year to run.with the tourist season so short it just wouldn't pay to run during the winter.
This bad ferry company you refer to was set up in 2007 by members and investors from the Island.This service was started when a few members of the community lost their previous jobs on the other ferry when the "sweetheart" you refer to took over.The ferry was started to give back the jobs that were lost and to give Islanders more freedom and choice to come and go.Islanders didn't want a monopoly of the same person owning 2 pubs,holiday homes, ferry etc.
This ferry service that only started in 2007 is a credit to the people who are involved.They have worked very hard and invested so much to promote their service and thankfully it has been a success. Everyone one who uses this service is made welcome from the minute they step on board.
As has already been mentioned i think you might have only heard one side of the story and you need to do a bit of research and then you might understand whats good and whats bad.
Never judge until you have the full facts.
Thanks for visiting Cape clear and hope you'll return again.
Ciaran P O Drisceoil.
Ciaranp22@hotmail.com