We arrived in Ireland on July 6th. Over the last six weeks, we’ve been exploring Ireland’s western shore. To say that we have fallen in love with Ireland would be a massive understatement. I am so glad we decided to take a more rugged path, sailing along the shores of the Wild Atlantic Way. 

The Wild Atlantic stretches around 1,600 miles along Ireland's western seaboard—running between the historic harbor town of Kinsale in County Cork in the south to the Inishowen Peninsula (starting at Malin Head) in County Donegal in the north. 

We hated to leave Inishbofin. It is probably one of our favorite stops in Ireland so far! But the time came to move on again. From Inishbofin, we sailed to Clare Island, a quaint small island positioned at the mouth of Clew Bay.

Our first stop was the 3-story tower house of the famous 16th-century pirate queen, Grace O’Malley. Tower houses were often three or four stories high, with a vault over the ground floor, and were protected by a parapet over the entrance, allowing stones or other objects to be dropped directly onto attackers.