Day 3- Skelling Boat Tour! AKA: places I didn't expect to get a Sunburn #1: Ireland

Greetings from Portmagee (in Gaelic, is "Failte an caladh Portmagee"), or as the locals say, Latha math dhuibh. Which I have heard but admit that I had to google to type. That means, "good day to you all" in Gaelic.

Well friends, today was another INCREDIBLE day here on the Emerald Isle! We had the great opportunity to go out on a boat ride (1 hour each way) to the Skellig islands.
It was a wet ride, I'll tell you that much! They gave us these ponchos, and we were the lucky few that arrived with our clothes mostly dry. These ponchose alone are enough to show you, mom, that this trip would not be good for you! Just wait until you see the hike we took and then you'll be absolutely sure that you didn't miss anything today that you would have liked to do.

The Skellig islands are 2 island about 15 km off the west coast. The smaller of the two Skelligs, aptly named "little Skellig" is a bird sanctuary where we could not land, but we rode past, scared some birds (well, the boat scared the birds- we were respectful, promise!) and took some pictures. Here it is: You might think that Little Skellig is covered in snow, perhaps the salts of time? Oh no, my friends- it is covered in white sea-gull type birds (with 6 foot wingspans!) and their excrement. Yep. I said it. Heather got pooped on.

After our bird sanctuary experience, we continued our trek about 10 minutes to Big Skellig, or Michael Skellig (why it is called that I haven't a clue). Michael Skellig is home to more of the gull-type birds, but also the home to the incredible Puffins, which are famous for their multi-colored beaks.
These birds are not afraid of people, which is just the strangest thing- this picture was taken without a zoom. I was literally 2 feet from these birds and closer all the time. They were incredible- but I overhead someone saying that their friend had been to Michael Skelling last month and saw but three Puffins! We literally saw hundreds-- probably because the weather was so nice.

Now, Michael Skellig's highest peak is more than 715 feet above sea level, and there are about 650 steps to the verrrry tippy top. At least, that's when I stopped counting. Heather and I climbed all the way up and, wow, there are some incredible views. Michael Skellig was once home to a Monastary that built these bee-hive huts all the way at the top, as well. In the 5th century, the king of Munster, who was being chased by the king of Cashel, fled to Skellig. Then, the group of Monks who created these beehives persevered here despite Viking raids.How those big 'ol drunken vikings got up those 650 steps, I have no idea- it's a wonder they were successful at all!

This is me and Heather about halfway up-- a pretty good place to stop and have a look around. And maybe give up, like the woman in the blue vest had done.
Fortunately for her, as you can tell, there are still amazing views even from 350 feet. Kara: Heather says that you will be proud of us for workin' it out on this trip! We don't have to do lunges for 2 weeks after we get home- our legs are on the mend for now!

In case it's hard to tell how ginormous Michael Skellig is, here is a picture on our way out afterward. See that very top little tip? Imagine us there, doing the Rocky dance for like, 2 hours.
On our way back down, we saw these two Puffins having a discussion, and as Ian, who researched the Puffin, will tell you, they sound like an empty stomach when they talk- I wonder if that means they were arguing, or joking around?

Again, just notice how close they are- and how uninterested in us they seemed!

At the end of the day, what does a true Irish(wo)man do but throw back a pint of St. James's Gate (or Guinness, as we Yanks call it)? It's like St. Patrick's Day every day over here!!

Well, OK, I didn't drink the whole thing- it was so filling! But definitely tastier closer to the source than it is in the States! Cheers!

If you're sad that the blog is over, just come on back in 20 minutes or so and the one from today will be posted, too!! So glad that blogger is behaving nicely again (c: