Clare Island

Today we decided to go take a ferry to Clare Island and hike around it. We had an interesting decision to make once we arrived at Roonagh Pier....to buy our ticket from the O'Grady family ferry company or the O'Malley family ferry company. Both ticket offices are beside each other with a person touting for your business at the door of each. It was embarrassing because you had to disappoint one or other. Both families are natives of Clare Island and have been in and out of the courts to try to resolve their differences, but to no avail. So now the tourist suffers, as do the inhabitants of the Island who are split in their loyalties between the two families. One company claims that they have provided the service since 1880 and the other boasts direct lineage to the infamous Grace O'Malley (Granuaile), the pirate queen of the 16th century.

We went with the O'Malleys in the end whose boat's name was 'Island Princess'.

Our hike around the island yielded incredible views such as this.