Ireland 5: An alternative day to the scheduled puffin boat trip. Tetrapod footprints and a mountain hike.

   When we arrived the night before, our bed and breakfast host warned us that she had heard that the Skellig island boat tours had been shut down until Sunday due to something with the water.  We called the boat company and they said that they would let us know in the morning.  I woke up to an email confirming that the trip had been cancelled, so I went back to sleep.  The Skellig Islands have puffin colonies as well as ruins that were used for filming on the last two Star Wars movies.  

View from our room.

  The entirety of our day would take place on our tiny island of Valentia.  A quick drive away and we arrived at the Geokaun Mountain.  We took a twenty minute circular walk around the top.  

  We also took the short walk to see the Fogher Cliffs.

  Another short drive away and we were able to walk down to rocks along the water to see tetrapod footprints from 385 million years ago.  

  Our final event of the day was a two hour hike up to see the Bray Head Watchtower.  At the top, we had a conversation with an older Irishman that told us about supposed plans to revitalize the watchtower, which was originally built in 1815.  We continued hiking up the mountain and back down the other side.

  We enjoyed viewing the cows on the way down.

  Miles spotted what he believed to be a dung beetle.  I had initially wanted to continue walking, but he insisted that I take pictures, so I did.

  We ended the day by going back into Portmagee, hoping to catch the food truck.  Unfortunately, it was closed, so we ate at a local cafe.  I had an avocado, tomato, and pepper melt.  Miles had fish and chips.