All aboard: Buoy your spirits with a lighthouse visit in Ballycotton

It only takes 15 minutes to get to Ballycotton Island by boat

Mon, 08 May, 2023 - 15:01

Caroline Delaney

It's almost a shame to arrive in Ballycotton and jump on the next boat out of the village — but when it's a quick trip over to the lighthouse island then it's totally worth it.

Ballycotton Sea Adventures has launched its summer season 2023 and the tour includes a climb to the top of the lighthouse itself. The crossing takes less than 15 minutes each way and you'll be torn between watching the iconic island loom closer and closer or getting a fresh angle on gorgeous Ballycotton and the nearby cliff walk.

The trip leaves from Ballycotton pier and you might even see a friendly seal — the one that loitered around to watch us was only massive.

And Ballycotton Sea Adventures also offers tours of the lighthouse in the Polish language. Tour guide, Iwona Zulawinska, lives in east Cork and is delighted to see Polish people joining the tours.

Ballycotton Lighthouse started operating in 1851 and is now automated: the last lighthouse keeper left the island in the early 1990s.

Eddie Fitzgerald, tour guide & former lighthouse keeper, Ballycotton Sea Adventures. Picture: Michael O'Sullivan /OSM PHOTO

The Ballycotton Sea Adventures guides have a wealth of information about the lighthouse and the area and absolutely love their work and the area. One of the guides, Eddie Fitzgerald, is a former lighthouse keeper who actually lived on this island. And you'll get an idea of how important their work was when he brandishes a map clustered with red dots, each marking where a vessel was wrecked over the years.

National Monuments Service: Wreck Viewer

Lighthouse keepers and their families lived on the island for almost 50 years, and their children were rowed across to the mainland for school. From 1899 onwards the families left the island to live in Ballycotton where they became central to life in the village. Nowadays the lighthouse is operated remotely by Irish Lights HQ in Dun Laoghaire.

The island itself is carpeted with wildflowers and there are resident goats as well as thousands of rather large seabirds.

The walk up from the landing spot to the lighthouse is a pretty steep but manageable stroll — the views really are worth it so make sure you have flat shoes and a bottle of water with you.

John Archer, Tour Guide, Ballycotton Sea Adventures. Picture: Michael O'Sullivan /OSM PHOTO

Ballycotton Sea Adventures offers tours of the lighthouse in the Polish language and also provides other coastal experiences such as fishing trips off the bay and private charters off the coast of East Cork that includes whale and dolphin watching.

View of Ballycotton from Ballycotton island. Picture: Michael O'Sullivan /OSM PHOTO

Then, when you're back to Ballycotton you totally deserve something tasty, don't you?

For food options, there's the Michelin Guide-listed restaurant and guesthouse Cush, as well as the stunning Sea Church, a restored church which is home to the ‘Ballycotton Sessions,’ which has aired for two seasons on RTÉ. There's 'eating and drinking' in the view from the huge picture window in the Sea Church restaurant.

John Archer (Left), and Iwona Zulawinska (Right), Tour Guides, Ballycotton Sea Adventures pictured with Mary O'Neill, Waterford; Bernadette Cogan, Donoughmore; Seamus Whelehan, Midleton, and Joe Barrett, Cobh, on a tour of Ballycotton Lighthouse with Ballycotton Sea Adventures.

The Ballycotton Lighthouse Tour is suitable for ages 3 and over. The whole trip takes about 90minutes and costs €27 per person (€16 for ages 3-11 years) with family tickets for €80
There is a talk about the history of Ballycotton Lighthouse with former lighthouse keeper, Eddie Fitzgerald, and local historian, Derry Keogh, at 7pm on May 12 at Sea Church. There are no advance bookings needed and all proceeds from this go to the RNLI.

Other news:

Maybe while you're visiting Ballycotton you'll get some great shots to enter in a photo competition...

Clean Coasts’ annual Love Your Coast Photography competition

Bring your camera with you when you are exploring our coast, and submit your best shots for a chance to win from a prize fund of €6,000

A new ‘Protectors of the Coast’ category has been added to the competition which will showcase what volunteering on the coast and community spirit is all about. The Underwater category, which was temporarily removed during Covid due to restrictions around diving, has been reintroduced.

The competition’s categories this year are: Wildlife and Coast, Coastal Landscape,People and the Coast,Coastal Heritage,Underwater, and Protectors of the coast.

Closing date: 9am on August 28

https://cleancoasts.org/our-initiatives/love-your-coast/

World Bee Day Photographic Competition

Take a digital photo of a native Irish honey bee — on camera or phone — and send it to the Native Irish Honey Bee Society.

Rename the photo with your name, eg Joesoap.jpg and email it to nihbs.secretary@gmail.com by May 31.

First prize is €100; Second prize is €50. Rules and more info here: nihbs.org/2023/04/14/photographic-competition/

And here is some other Outdoors news...

Rhododendron Walking Festival 2023: June Bank Holiday weekend

Rhododendron Walking Festival. Bay Lough - Tipperary. Picture: vee.ie

The Galty Vee Valley, in south-west Tipperary: local guides will take you on completely off-road walks and trails and there is a two-course meal with musical entertainment afterwards in both Ballyporeen and Clogheen Community Halls.

On Saturday, June 3 there are three new walks from the
Ballyporeen base: the 23km Bay Lough to Bally hike taking in the Three Doons Waterfall; the 12km Three Doons Waterfall Loop; and the more gentle paced 10km Sheep Hill Loop.

On Sunday, June 4 there are three walks to choose from the Clogheen base: the 13km 3-4hours
Rhododendron Loop; the Grubbs Monument Loop with stunning
scenery across the Galty Vee Valley; and the Bay Lough Downhill Walk where participants are bussed up the Vee and virtually all their walking is downhill.