Skellig Michael
For quite some time, I've wanted to visit Skellig Michael. It's this tiny, craggy island that juts out of the Irish sea. Once the home of local monks, there is so much history on offer.
Well known for its appearance in Star Wars, the tour has gotten really expensive. Which is unfortunate for non-fans, at €100 per person! The tours run May-September on the weekends, 2 weeks on, 1 week off. There's only around 15 boats that have permits to land on the island, and only 5 landing slots per day.
With such limited spots, the tours sell out really fast once they are released online. There's no specific release date, so I had to keep checking the website daily until they were up. And once they were, I had to act quick and book my tickets before they were gone!
Spoiler: It was so worth it.
The tour starts in the small town of Portmagee. Which is also where we stayed in an AirBnb. We loved the place we stayed - the service was great and the view of the water was gorgeous! You can check it out here.
From the port, it takes 50 minutes to get to Skellig Michael. On the way out, the boat trip is an hour and a half though, because they take you to Little Skellig to see the 35,000 Gannets that call it home. The island in the picture below is white from all of those birds! It was definitely a unique experience.
Killian even spotted 4-5 seals in the water enjoying the break in the sunshine! It was supposed to be an overcast day, but the sun was out in full force. I didn't get a great picture of them because they were in and out of the water so quick, but you can see a little glimpse of them in the two pictures below (there were a few more on a stretch of rock near the water!)
Luckily the good weather also meant fairly calm water. Considering the boats are so small and the ride over was a bit rocky as is, I can't imagine with a bit of wind! Medicine is a must for anyone who gets motion sick, even just to have on hand as a precaution.
The closer we got, the more puffins we saw in the water and flying by. And let me tell you, I was mostly prepared to pay €100/person solely for the puffins. A bird that looks like a penguin, but cuter, and mini?!
Finally, we were at the island. Below you can see the original steps that the monks carved into the stone all the way up to the top. They had multiple paths like these all across the island, some of which were blown out by dynamite when a lighthouse was added to the island much much later.
There's a short walk up and around the first bit of the island before the true hike begins. The views are stunning from the get go.
We were greeted by the birds of the island. There were so many species flying around the entire time. It felt like an aviary!
The puffins lived up to my expectations 110%. Short and stubby, these little guys hopped about and posed for the camera like little models. I wanted to hang out with them all day, but the island had more to offer.
The steps up are pretty steep and uneven, but with so many places to stop and take photos, the climb up wasn't too bad.
There's only one section of the island that's open to visitors with ruins. When you get to the top where the section is, the door to enter is really small. How short were these monks?! It's probably the only time I've felt tall.
Like in Glendalough, a monastery, there was a carved cross just inside the entrance to the site, signalling that we'd reached a holy site and found sanctuary
Skellig Michael is known for its beehive huts. The monks built them using dry stone methods (which is a fancy way of saying they're just balanced together) to sleep in. They're remarkably strong, and about 90% of the structures remaining are untouched by help from caretakers of the site. It's insane to me that they were able to chisel these rocks out of the island, carry them to the top, and balance them just right to withstand themselves, weather, and time.
They also built channels for the water to run down away from the site, and areas for the rainwater to collect for them to drink.
It's really special to be able to visit this amazing piece of preserved history. It's a trip I will never forget! To see the rest of our weekend in Kerry, click here. To get a notification when I post, sign up below!