Great weekend!

Thank you all for the good times we shared in Kerry!

Check out my set of pictures of the trip on Flickr.

2010-04-02 20.49.19, originally uploaded by martapiqs.

3 sessions in Kerry

It's Sunday evening, and the wind has been hauling since about 11 today. It might be it for my surf sessions this week, but my Easter trip is not quite over yet!

Today I didn't surf, but it was nice to hang out at the beach and relax at home, have lunch with my roommates and take a little walk in the afternoon. We also had a couple individual reading sessions were everyone was reading their own thing (paper, book, magazine), chatting about it every now and then. After some rest and snacking (berenar), we are now heading out to dinner at the pub, and then a fancy dress party, theme E! I'm Easter decoration.

Saturday I had a great time with Úna. We had a nice and slow start at the house, and ended up with a fully packed day! While we were checking the surf at Dumps we got a report from another beach in the Brandon bay nothing was working due to the wind. Given the direction of the wind, L. suggested we head toward the tip of the Dingle peninsula to find more secluded spots, or spots that would get offshore wind. Exploring new land sounded like a good plan, and if we couldn't find waves, we would still enjoy the visit of what we heard was a beautiful area.

We crossed over to Dingle on Connor pass on what was a windy and foggy morning (videos). We left Dingle behind and continued on R559, a loop road that takes you along fantastic places. We were amazed by the views and kept repeating ourselves that the drive was worth it, despite being longer than expected. At the edge of the mountain range, where the land meets the ocean, the road was narrow and winding, and the weather miserable.

I tried taking pictures from inside the car, without much success. I then stepped out and took a few shots, while U. stayed in the car, and I think I killed my Nexus One with the rain :(  Later on the sun would come out and would make the scenery look even more amazing. From that view point, I spotted a perfect looking wave and a beach with lots of white water. We drove over to take a closer look at it. We were before a gorgeous little beach at the bottom of tall cliffs in front of the Basket islands. U. said she wasn't going to surf because the white waters had no power and the waves were too fast for her, and she was happy to walk around and be on her own while I surfed.

OMG, I had my best waves of the weekend, practically on my own, in that paradisiac secluded beach. Two guys were out but they weren't doing much. I changed, did two sun salutations, paddled out and caught a fantastic right. It was long and it had power: so much fun! After that first wave, the conditions started to change and I shifted over to the rocks by the cliff, to try and catch the wave breaking further to the right. I noticed there were two different swells, and because of the incoming tide, waves were becoming less consistent. I caught another fantastic wave, and only another couple of okay ones.

The sun was coming and going throughout the session, the color of the water turquoise. In spite of the small number of waves I caught, the setting, the quasi-solo surfing and the quality of the waves made that session the best session of my trip. U. had a good time watching the surf, walking on the shore and chatting on the phone. I got out of my wetsuit and we continued our route.

We then stopped at the Interpretative Center of the Blasket islands, which focuses the life in the islands, and Gaelic (Irish) language has a significant weight in the center too. Quite a few people used to live there, they had a school and everything, they fished and farmed. A video showed one of the younger kids to have lived there until the age of 5, and he recalled that they had everything they needed, but it was a solitary place and the weather was very rough --they sometimes had to stay home for a week at a time because the strong winds would have just blown out the house door had they opened it. They moved away from the islands at the beginning of WW2. The center is located in Dún Chaoin.

We had lunch at the cafe of Louis Mulcahy pottery studio and shop, looked at the art, and continued our route. We crossed through Dingle, bought produce for dinner, and headed back on Connor's pass, where we stopped to climb up to a little lake near the road. The sky was very clean now, with clouds flying passed by, letting the sun shine every now and then. The scenic views down to the valley were now incredible.

We got back to the house and cooked dinner for everyone, including roast beef (for them), roasted veggies, caprese salad and apple pie with ice-cream (dessert was from Frank). We hang out at the house a little longer and headed to the pub for a drink or two.

On Good Friday I'd surfed Inch reef, a famous spot that can get really good and form perfect right-handers that roll down for over a minute. It wasn't working great then, but there were some waves to be had.

Inch reef and the spot I surfed seem to be very tide-sensitive: when I got to Inch reef it didn't look great --two of the guys went out and caught a couple of waist-to-shoulder high rather fat waves, but that was it for quite a while. The good side of it is that there were only a handful of people out. Then the push of incoming tide and possibly the swell we were expecting kicked in and it started to look much better. I decided to go out and a bunch of locals arrived --of course, they knew when the wave would be at its best! Some went out before me, and those who arrived just after I'd made my decision to surf got ready at the same time I did. I let them go first on the complicated path down the cliff, which involves muddy stretches and a rock climbing section that you can do grabbing a rope. I followed them on the rocks to get out. The rocks were very slippery but I made it without breaking my board, or my head.

Paddling out from that angle was easy if you timed it right. I let the first wave go for one of the locals to have it, and I waited for the next set. I caught a nice-looking over-head wave, started going right, but unfortunately it closed out on both my sides, so I had to go straight for another couple seconds, until it broke behind me. It was exciting because it was massive, but it didn't last long... I jumped off my board trying to avoid being dragged by the white waters too long, but I got caught inside anyway. I duck-dived many waves in a row and I was continuing to get pushed down; I realized it would be very hard to go back out paddling at that point, so I caught some white waters to go back to the rocks at the bottom of the cliff and I walked back to the starting point (if you can call rock skipping 'walking' :)

I only caught one nice long wave, powerful but not too steep. I rode it for a while and pulled out when I had to. This time I came back out paddling with no problem, but soon the wind picked up and chopped the surf, plus the incoming tide started to make it less consistent. I got cold and went back in quite satisfied after a challenging session in a well-known spot.

We got back in time for another surf on the north side of the peninsula, but I was tired and plenty satisfied with my surf in Inch, and the evening session wasn't very promising wave-wise. I went back to the house with Gearoid, stopping at the grocery store in Castlegregory (thanks!). We had a super nice dinner prepared by Judith, and Don and company let us know that they were having a party at their house. Most of us headed over there but I was super tired! To my relieve, Conor said he was very tired and achy as well, from the session at Inch reef :D My roommates wanted to come back early too, so we drove back together, to get some sleep before the next session on Sat.

Easter surf trip

We are staying in Fahamore, near Castlegregory, in Maherees, Co. Kerry. It's so beatiful!!! There are several peninsula-like points, and you can drive along, with water nearby on both sides. Dry long grass on the side of the road... so cool! :)

The drive down here was very nice. Mostly sunny, and beautiful views. Hardly any traffic because we left before 2pm. I got a lift from Marcus, and I really enjoyed it.

Checking the surf at Dumps

When we were in the vicinity, we went straight to look for surf because sundown was approaching. We surfed nearby, surrounded by snowy mountains and moving dark clouds, and we caught nicely peeling waist-to-chest high waves under a gorgeous sunset.

It was dark when we finished changing and we took off at 9:15, starving! We went back to meet with the rest and found our houses. Dropped stuff off and headed to the pub. More and more people joined us at the pub, as they were arriving from their cities at different times. Since it was the night before Good Friday and it is forbidden to sell alcohol in Ireland on Good Friday, the pub closed at midnight (last drinks call at 11:30), so we continued chit-chatting at Marcus, Florian and Paul's place.