September 11 – Portmagee to Skellig Island (11 miles by boat) back to Dublin (230 miles drive).

The Skellig Islands are two uninhabited, rocky islets off the southwestern coast of Ireland. Skellig Michael is known for its well-preserved early Christian monastery. The site, reached by more than 600 steep and monk-hewn rustic steps, includes stone beehive-shaped huts, oratories and crosses. Thousands of puffins breed on Skellig Michael during the warmer months. To the northeast, the island of Little Skellig is home to a large colony of gannets.

Little Skellig

Is the summer home to 70,000 Gannets. Their wingspan is up to 6 and 1/2 feet. They dive for fish from up to 100 feet high, reaching 60 mph when they hit the water.

They have no external nostrils; they are located inside the mouth, instead.
They have air sacs in the face and chest under the skin, which act like bubble wrap, cushioning the impact with the water.
The position of their eyes is far enough forward on the face for binocular vision, allowing them to judge distances accurately.

Skellig Michael

We backtracked a bit on this second trip to Ireland. Our original ferry ride to Skellig Michael a month or so ago was cancelled due to weather, so this was our rescheduled date. Skellig Michael is the western most point on the Sacred Line of Saint Michael that has been one of our pilgrimages-within-a-pilgrimage. Skellig means “splinter of stone”. The island consists of about 54 acres of rock and is recognizable by its two peaks and a valley known as Christ’s Saddle.

Fascinatingly, the establishment of a hermitage on the island is recorded as ordered by Aristobulus who was appointed and ordained Bishop of Britain by St Paul! The purpose of the hermitage was the preservation of doctrine and protection of sacred texts of the Culdee church consisting of the full canon of the Essenes which as brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea in AD 37. WHAT!! There is much more history recorded for this fascinating little island including a Viking attack in 836 where the abbot was kidnapped and then starved to death.

Some wealthy families sent their sons to monasteries because the priests could teach them to read and write. Some of these young men became the next generation of monks to live on the Skellig.

History records Skellig as largely uninhabited until a group of Augustinian monks built the monastery there. It is thought that no more than twelve monks and an abbot lived at the monastery at any one time. They lived in the beehive structures seen in the pictures below. They also constructed a chapel and cleared an area for a garden. There is also the ruins of the community grave yard. Written records definitively note the site had been dedicated to St. Michael since at least 1044, but probably as early as 950 when a new church was added to the monastery and called Saint Michael’s Church. A thirteenth-century German source claims that Skellig was the final location of the battle between St. Patrick and the venomous snakes that plagued Ireland.

Skellig Michael has been a regular destination for pilgrims since the early 16th century. To protect the island, Ireland limits the number of visitors to 180 per day, or about 11,000 folks a year, during the summer months. Because of the local climate and rough terrain, the crossing from the mainland to Skellig Michael is difficult. Our ferry captain told us the trips are cancelled almost twice a week due to rough seas. We had to time our lunge off the ferry onto a small deck with the ocean swells. (See the first picture below with the blue boat pulled up close to the island.) The steps are still rugged with no added guard rails. Once grounded, we found the island just as described: steep, unprotected, and dangerous. We climbs over 600 medieval, monk-hewn stone steps up to the monastery and ruins of the Augustinian community. This remoteness and inaccessibility apparently discourages some visitors, so the island is exceptionally well preserved. Children under ten are not allowed. We didn’t see any children the day we went.

The island is famous for another thing – at least three Star Wars movies have scenes filmed from the island. Of the 180 folks that we joined on the trip today, many came to check this out. We passed several people brandishing light sabers and posing for pictures extremely excited to be at the exact spot of a Star Wars scene.