Day 10: Portmagee to Glengariff Skellig Michael Tries to Kill the Craic Pack

Our day in Portmagee started off in chaos. It was Bébhinn's last day with us, but our sadness about that was overshadowed with panic about the day's itinerary. 

Most of the group, save for me and Jan, were headed out to Skellig Michael, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a craggy island previously home to monks. 

Amber is super brave, much braver than me, and she was going, but she was pretty nervous as we got ready in the room beforehand. She'd signed up for the trip before we even got to Ireland, under the condition that she'd only go if she felt safe with our group after meeting them. She didn't want to climb the stairs unless someone had her back;  thankfully, our Vagabonders proved they did. 

I immediately opted out when I read the description of the trip, which included these helpful tips:

• The boat ride over is very rough, bring pills if prone to seasickness. (Hello, me.)
• The trip is approximately six hours, and there are no amenities on the island, so bring food and water if you want to eat or drink anything. (No water?? Or food, after I've thrown up my breakfast on the boat?)
• There are no bathrooms on the island. (See above, six-hour trip!)
• If the ocean is rough, you may have to jump to the dock to disembark. (Because, yeah..I'm good at jumping from a rocking boat to a concrete dock in giant swells!)
• There are 600 stone steps to the top of the island. They are slippery when wet, steep, have no safety railings, and are very dangerous if it's windy. If you are out of shape or afraid of heights, don't attempt to climb the stairs. (Hi, have you met me? I literally trip over my own feet walking down an empty hallway, and I am TERRIFIED of heights. And let's not even talk about my shape...)
• People have died on Skellig Michael. (I'm out.)
• There is a puffin rookery on the island. (PUFFINS!!!)

That last point made me squeal and for a moment I thought about going and staying at the bottom of the island. But the boat ride, no bathrooms, and fear of heights ideas did me in (and my wonky knee once I got there didn't help), so I happily stayed behind.

(Also, I hesitated saying no because Skellig Michael is in the new Star Wars film, so it would be cool to say "I was there!" Every time you said "Skellig Michael," the Irish people told you about Star Wars. They are very proud!)

Skellig Michael is about an hour out to sea--a rough, unforgiving, swell-y sea--the trip is extremely weather-dependent, and it wasn't until breakfast they finally got the okay to go.  

That was the good news, which you'd think the Vagabonders would be happy about. Instead, they were nervous, anxious, barely able to eat breakfast. They'd all seemed so excited about going before, but not anymore.

As we gathered for breakfast, Brian approached Bébhinn for reassurance. He wanted to make sure the trip was safe, and that he wasn't gonna die.

"Yeah, it's good," Bébhinn told him. "There's the captain right there."

She pointed at an older man with a hunched back, white hair, and hearing aids. He was slowly ambling toward the coffee dispenser.

"THAT'S the captain?" Brian said, immediately breaking into a sweat. "He's 90 years old!" 

Bébhinn walked away, leaving Brian in a panic.

We all convened at the table. 

"I don't know what to eat," Amber said, worrying over the menu. She was supposed to eat enough to fuel herself or six hours, but not too much, in case of seasickness. 

While everyone worried over what to eat, Margie quietly soothed Brian, trying to allay his fears, while Nate ribbed a sleepy Ben, and Mary handed over Bonine to Ashley, who downed them.

About 15 minutes later, Ashley asked if the Bonine had a particular ingredient in it. Mary said no, knowing that Ashley is highly allergic to that ingredient. 

"What happened when you took it last time?" I asked.

"I passed out for two hours," Ashley said. "I ended up at the hospital, but they just thought I was drunk."

"Oh God!" I said. Climbing the stairs up Skellig Michael was NOT the place to pass out!

"Oh God!" Mary repeated, carefully reading the Bonine container. "It's in here!"

"I knew it," Ashley said. "I feel really weird." She took a bite of her breakfast, then said under her breath, "I'm still going."

"Can I have one of those?" Brian asked. Mary handed it over, then he asked if he could borrow my motion sickness bracelets as extra insurance. I handed them over as well.

Suddenly, Ashley got up and ran out of the room. 

"Oh my God!" Mary fretted. "I killed my daughter!" 

Poor Bébhinn watched the madness all around, unsure of what exactly was happening or what to do. She looked at Mary.

"I gave her a seasickness pill," Mary explained. "But she's allergic to one of the ingredients. I can't believe I didn't look! My poor baby! I've killed her! I'm a terrible mother!"

Which confused Bébhinn even more. 

"She took a pill?" asked Bébhinn, who grew up on island, and shuttled across the ocean to school every day. "To go on the sea?" 

Clearly, Bébhinn felt she was missing something here...

I wandered outside, where I found Brian pacing back and forth along the dock. 

"Where's the car?" he asked. "Do we have to drive far to the boat?"

"The boat's right there in the harbor," I said, pointing down the dock. "You're not driving anywhere."

I meant to be calm and reassuring, but actually had the opposite effect on Brian. 

"Those tiny little boats?" he said. "I thought it was a big boat! I thought we'd drive out to the boat, look at the ocean, and I could decide then if I wanted to go. I can't even see the ocean from here!" He took off in a full panic. 

I turned to see Ashley nearby, taking big gulps of air. 

"How are you doing?" I asked her, and she shook her head.

"My eyes are getting big, and then they're getting little," she said opening them wide and then narrowing them down. "I feel pretty dizzy."

"Your pupils are dilating?" I asked, panicking a bit myself. There are no emergency services out on Skellig Michael, no doctors or even any buildings at all.

"I'm fine," she said stumbling away from me. "I'm still going."

Linda walked up to me, totally oblivious to all the drama going on. 

"Everybody is freaking out right now," I told her. "You okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm great," she answered. "Not worried at all. If I die, tell them to bury me holding a Skellig Michael brochure in my hands. That'll be my last little joke!" We both cracked up at that.

Amber came outside carrying a sack lunch.

"You got your hands full," I warned her, nodding at the various panicky people. "Be careful out there!" She promised she would be.

Captain Old Guy was ready to load up the boat, but I stopped everyone as they passed.

"Group shot with Bébhinn!" I said, and they complied, glad to think of something else for a few minutes.

They hugged Bébhinn good-bye, and all of us were very sad.

"Have we been good craic?" Brian asked her, using the Irish word for "fun" or "good times." Bébhinn just laughed out loud.

"The best!" she told him. "You're mad craic! I'll miss the Craic Pack!"

And that was how we got our name--the Craic Pack. It was so appropriate and fitting!

Everybody hugged Bébhinn, and then ran off to the boat. We waved and watched them pulling away into the harbor.

"They're all gonna die," I told Jan, still smiling and waving.

"I know," she answered back.

It was much quieter after the group left. Bébhinn had all sorts of ideas for Jan and I, who were both perfectly content to have a low-key day. Bébhinn said she could take us hiking in the nearby hills, or for a coastal walk. I counter offered with a trip to the local chocolate factory, and Jan seconded that suggestion.

The factory was a good 20 minutes away. But the drive was beautiful, up the hill, overlooking the green, quilt work-patterned peninsula. Bébhinn stopped first on one side, where we could see the harbor connecting the two strips of land, and all the lush green fields throughout.

Then she pulled to the ocean side, where we watched a surfer and and his dog playing with a giant stick. It reminded me again how lucky animals are to live in Ireland--no leashes, no collars, just a giant stretch of beach and water to run all along. That was the happiest dog I've ever seen!

We also had a great view of the Skellig Islands. They seemed so close. We wondered how our group was faring, and sent them positive thoughts.

 

Bébhinn pulled the Land Rover into the chocolate factory, and I clapped with delight. This was a good day already, and an even better day when I saw the adorable calves grazing out front!

 

The factory was empty inside, so the girl working there was excited to see us. 

"Step up for a tasting!" she said, so we happily did.

 

She was so excited to help us. She explained the history of the factory, showing us photos of when it burned down, and how the new building was open so that we could see the people making the chocolates right in front of us. 

She showed us the two-step process of making the chocolates, holding up a filled mold. 

"You really enjoy your job," Jan said, and she blushed a bit, but heartily agreed.

"I love it! It's the best job in the whole world!" she exclaimed. "That's why they put me up front here. I'd eat all the candy if I worked back there!" She was adorable!

Then, she brought out a mat, and placed a handful of chocolates onto it. She described each kind, cutting it into small pieces to taste. 

"This one's my favorite," she said, clapping her hands. "Strawberries and Champagne!" 

And indeed, it was fantastic. You could really taste the strawberry jam inside, and the hint of Champagne.

We tasted some other flavors that were also unusual (lime and pepper dark chocolate, key-lime chocolates, and even a whisky-filled chocolate) but equally delicious. It was an awesome morning!

We filled up on samples, and made some purchases. (Fine. Many purchases. A LOT OF PURCHASES. Happy?) Then Jan and I found this hilarious cut-out (chocolate-covered babies!), and Bébhinn took our picture.

Bébhinn tried again to take us hiking, but once again, we declined. Jan and I were digging our restful day! 

We agreed instead on a trip to the Skellig Michael interpretive center. Just because we didn't go out to the islands didn't mean we couldn't learn about them! (Plus, there wasn't anything else to do in town!)

Bébhinn drove us over and walked us right inside the center. I was super sad, because this was officially our good-bye. I was going to miss Bébhinn, her sense of humor, and her great stories about Ireland and the Irish people. It really felt like we'd been touring Ireland with a friend, not just a guide, and I was sad to see our friend go. (She had to because Irish driving laws say guides can only drive 6 days in a row.)

So we bid Bébhinn farewell, and promised to email her once the Craic Pack safely returned.

"I'm kinda worried about them now," she said, and we nodded in agreement. 

The interpretive center was small, and we finished the whole thing in about 30 minutes. They also had a movie, so we followed a big group of German tourists into the theatre to watch.

The funniest part was that 10 minutes into the film, one tourist pulled out his camera and snapped a photo of the movie! He even used a flash! I started to giggle, and then another tourist did the same thing! As we watched the whole film, three or four tourists took photos of the show. I could barely focus on the movie after that.

When we were done, Jan and I walked back to town. It wasn't far, maybe a mile over a straight, flat bridge. But once we walked over the water, the wind flared up, hard, pounding us with freezing air. We couldn't talk or hear each other, so we just flipped up our jacket collars, covered our faces, and walked single file to the other side. Where, amazingly, the minute we were over land again, the wind immediately stopped. That Irish wind is crazy!

By the time we reached the other side of the bridge, we were chilled to the bone. We had about 90 minutes until the boat returned, so Jan suggested lunch and I was down with that.

We picked an adorable little cafe on the water's edge. (Not a difficult decision--the only other restaurant in town was the pub attached to our hotel.) It was warm inside, and we found a table next to the window with a great view of the bay.

We ordered coffee and hot chocolate, and enjoyed our handmade sandwiches. As we ate, a heavy, sideways rain began to fall outside, and we watched it through our picture window.

"We definitely made the right decision today," I said, shivering, and Jan wholeheartedly agreed. 

We lingered as long as we could in the cafe, but soon enough, it grew really crowded (there were only 5 or 6 tables inside). We decided to wander around town a bit until our fellow travelers returned.

But as we walked by the dock, we saw them pulling in 30 minutes early. We waved wildly at them, and they waved back.

I watched Margie get off the boat first. She saw us, and raised her fist triumphantly in the air.

"Margie conquered the stairs!" I said, and Jan nodded. We could tell she was super proud of herself, and we were proud, too!

Mary and Ashley disembarked, and then Amber. Even from the dock, I could see Amber gingerly lift her leg over the boat, and onto the stairs.

"Oh no, Amber hurt herself!" I said. We watched her walk slowly up the dock to us.

I wanted to assemble the group together to take a photo for Bébhinn, but they all ran right past me and into the warm pub across the street. I felt Bébhinn's pain all week, trying to herd this group of runaways together.

Amber gave me the lowdown on the trip.

"How was it?" I asked, hoping to hear "GREAT!!"

"You would've hated EVERY MINUTE of it!" she said, and once again, I thanked my lucky stars, and my gut instinct for staying behind.

Apparently, the boat ride over was pretty hairy. It immediately started raining as the boat left the harbor--as you can see in this pic with the captain, George, and Brian.

Just then, a nice young man walked past us, and Amber nodded hello.

"I sat next to him on the boat," she whispered, then mimed him upchucking. "I'm pretty sure he had Irish stew for dinner last night."

Which made me gag a bit, myself!

Amber said the swells were HUGE and the Craic Pack got drenched. George felt fine, and talked the whole way out, but the rest of the pack was deathly silent (I didn't think that was possible!). Amber said the ride was very rough, and she was glad I wasn't aboard (I don't do well on boats).  She said that she held on to the tiny boat for dear life, because they rolled over every swell, and then fell, and got pounded with water on the way down. She said at one point Mary was near the edge of the boat, about to get sick, and Amber was convinced she'd have to grab the strap on the back of Mary's jacket to keep her from going overboard.

But they all came back alive, even Ashley (Mary was soooo glad she didn't kill her with the seasick pills.) Linda did not drown, but King Brian also threw up. We decreed him an honorary member of the Irish Hurling team, since he hurled right into the Wild Atlantic Way.

The group did alright climbing up the stairs, but it rained once they got to the top, because it's Ireland and that's what happens when we go hiking. Poor Amber slipped on the wet stairs and hurt her knee, so Mary helped escort her down. Amber is a tough New England girl, so she applied some of Mary's magic cream on her knee (we passed it around to everyone at some point!), and kept on. (She tried to play down the pain, but turns out she sprained ligaments in two places--ouch!) 

Amber took lots of great shots of Skellig Michael...this was the stairway to the top of the mountain!

Nate the Great escorted a little old lady who was having trouble up the stairs, because he is such a nice guy. He also stood by the captain on the ride out, who informed him they almost cancelled the trip this morning due to the weather.

 

I see those stairs and all I can think is, "That's where I would've tripped and died." Skellig Michael is not for klutzy, unbalanced people like me!

Puffin!!! This is my one regret...I really wanted to see the puffin colony on the island.

Have I mentioned how proud I was of the Craic Pack?? Look at this path!

Like I said, the whole group ran past me after disembarking, and I found out later it was because they were wet and freezing. They rushed into the warm pub and immediately ordered hot soup all around. 

We figured our new driver, Darren, would arrive around 1:30 or 2, but by 3, there was still no sign of him. I felt really bad for the group, who was exhausted from the boat ride and stairs, and because they were still wet. Their dry clothes were packed away in the luggage trailer. Eventually, they just went up to the hotel lounge and crashed out on the floor.

Darren finally showed up around 3:30. He shook all our hands, and said we'd have introductions later, then said we were ready to go. He didn't offer up dry clothes for the group, just led us out into the rain, where we walked long enough to get completely soaked all over again. The group was not happy about it.

"Bébhinn would have brought the bus to us," Brian grumbled, and he was right!

Darren also had a different driving style than Bébhinn--he zoomed down the wet, windy country roads at a breakneck speed, oblivious to the pelting rain or rocking Land Rover. I feared I might actually get motion sick over the next few days, and a couple times, Amber and I exchanged frightened looks when he took the corners too sharply. But Brian saved the day again.

"Hey Darren, we're not in a hurry," he said. "We'd rather get there alive, so if you could just slow down..."

"Right!" Darren said, immediately laying off the gas. 

Amber and I, in the front row, enjoyed the sights, including a rainbow out the front window. But the rest of the group was very quiet--we couldn't figure out why, until I snapped a group selfie. They were all fast asleep!

Darren stopped about 45 minutes later to show us a ring fort. He tried to explain what a ring fort is, but the microphone stopped working, and as he was fiddling with it, it started raining outside. 

"I'm not going," Margie immediately said, and Mary agreed with her. They were done with the rain.

Amber and I hopped out, zipped up, and trudged through across a wet field and a flowing river overtaking it banks.

We walked into the middle of the ring fort, where Darren was telling us more about it.

I turned to look at all the walls, but when I turned back around, Amber was gone. 

I saw her huddled with Nate under the doorway.

"You okay?" I asked, and she just shook her head. 

"I'm done," she said in the most un-Amber way ever. (Amber is always excited and positive, but this rain was the last straw for her.) She turned and walked away, Nate right behind her. They were moving so fast, I could barely keep up with them!

We re-grouped in the Land Rover, where Darren tried to work the microphone again. It never really picked up, so eventually we just passed out snacks, buckled up, and headed off to our final destination for the night.

It was a 90 minute ride to our final stop, Glengarrif, but it was a lovely little town when we got there! We didn't have much time before dinner, but Mary, Ashley, Amber and I managed to check into our rooms and sneak in a little shopping before eating.

Dinner was lovely, but quiet. Everyone was just thankful to be warm and in dry clothes, so we ate quietly.

Darren went off to fix the microphone after dinner, so I busted out the box of chocolates Bébhinn bought the group as a farewell gift. They were really touched, and we raised our glasses to toast her.

I was full and happy when dinner was over, but not quite ready to call it a night. We hadn't even seen the town outside, other than the gift shop next to the hotel, so Amber, Linda, Brian and I decided to go for a little stroll. 

Little being the operative word here...we walked about two blocks down the street, and suddenly, we reached the end. Of the town! There simply was no more! I'm not kidding when I say we stayed in tiny little towns!

So we changed our plan, and walked back to the nearest pub instead. It was actually two pubs--one entryway, but two different doors splitting off into two different pubs. We walked into the door on the right. 

We chose wrongly, and ended up at someone's private wedding reception! We thought about leaving, but before we could, the barmaid took our order. There was a guy playing live music, and no one seemed to mind, so we figured we'd stay for a few songs and a drink before going.

We carried our beers over to an empty table. People were moving all over the pub, going in and out the front and back doors. But I was most surprised to see this guy, who made several rounds through the pub.

That's right, they let dogs in the pubs! 

They also let babies in, too! This little guy looked like a baby leprechaun, and he was totally busting a move on top of the pool table!

It was all kinda crazy, and yet, not. Welcome to Ireland, where everyone's allowed in the pubs, even dogs and babies!

And with that, we were out. It'd been a long day (longer for the Skellig Michael crew!) and we were tired. So back we went, to rest up for tomorrow, and whatever adventures that day would bring.