Dún Laoghaire - 53° 17' 52" N 06° 08' 19" W

After a brief stay in Arklow, it was time to continue north along the coast.  We needed to rise early because we wanted the extra push of the tidal current up towards Dublin.

Early morning departure

We managed to back off the pontoon and back into the part of the river that was a whole TWO metres deep, instead of the 1.5 metres where we had been tied up.  Exiting the Avoca River was peaceful and quiet as we slipped into the early morning greyness.  The skies did eventually brighten, revealing a danger we often weave through - crab pots!

If you look closely enough, you will notice two black objects in the water to the right of the picture.

Crab (or prawn, or lobster) pots are actually a line of bread-basket-sized traps that sit on the sea floor to attract and catch crabs/lobsters/prawns.   Usually, several of these traps (we have seen up to eight) are tied together, four to eight metres of prop-snarling rope between each, with the last one tied by a long sturdy rope to a floating marker (buoy) or two.

They seem innocuous, but running over one by accident brings the risk of having the 8,000-pound-breaking-strength line wrap around your propeller shaft - even if you are under sail.  Yikes.  That would mean (at best) a dive into 8 degree celcius water with a knife between your teeth to cut Chinook loose.  Often the buoys are bright coloured, but in along this coast, they seem to favour BLACK as the standard.  Double yikes!

The current is running at 1.6 knots in the picture above - enough to pull the buoy down and back and make them sit very low in the water.  It is a good reason why the helmsperson needs to keep a careful lookout.

Happy to be under sail

Timing the tides beautifully and under glorious blue skies, we had a wonderfully fast sail from Arklow to Dún Laoghaire (pronounced Done Leery).

The marina is very close to Dublin proper.

We were very pleased with the location.  We did not have to sail ALL THE WAY up The Liffey and contend with the commercial vessels that ply that river.  This marina just south of Dublin is very sheltered from swell and had great facilities (showers, power, fresh water, etc.).  It was also a five minute walk from the train that ran straight into the heart of Dublin.  Perfect!

We tied up, did a quick reconnoiter of the first 500 metres from the marina, found a grocery store and bought fresh milk for our tea, then relaxed for the rest of the day.

The promenade around Dun Laoghaire

We decided that Dun Laoghaire did hold a few attractions of its own.  The promenade east of the marina was lovely and inviting, and lead towards a literary landmark ... especially if you are a James Joyce fan.

The opening chapter of Joyce's book, Ulysses, takes place at Martello Tower.  The tower is along the beach at a swimming spot known as Forty Foot.  The tower has been turned into a museum of James Joyce memorabilia.

After a day of exploring around Dun Laoghaire, we caught the very efficient train to the heart of Dublin - The Liffey - and walked along its banks.  We both noticed the international feel of the pedestrians - many different languages being spoken, with many groups and different ages walking about.

Look at the height of those bridges.  Good thing we left Chinook in Dun Laoghaire.

The pedestrian promenades used to be working docks

Good signage and plenty of street art

Actual, proper shops.

We stopped into a pub to have our first pint of Guinness ... in a while.

We spent an afternoon at the General Post Office or GPO - an important landmark to the Republic of Ireland becoming independent of British rule.  The Easter Rising, World War I and the Irish War of Independence all happened in the space of a decade and the exhibition at the GPO described what led up to the Uprising and the concurrent events.  It helped us to understand why the current Irish sentiment is decidedly anti-British.

We love this sort of historical background info

One of our highlights of travelling around the world is getting to visit friends (and kids of friends ... and parents of friends) that we have scattered around.  Dublin is no exception.  Sydney (who visited us in Arklow) is a transplanted Albertan who lives in Dublin now along with her husband, Thomas.  As they have been here for a few months, they have already found a community of Canadian ex-pats and invited us to an Irish-Canadian Friendship Society Pub Quiz night.

Typical blurry pub picture.  What fun!

We also had Nancy, a native Dubliner and mum of one of Kate's besties.  She met us aboard Chinook and entertained us with stories, the whole while acting suitably impressed with Chinook.  She asked some very thoughtful questions about how life aboard was different from living in a house back in Melbourne.

Cuppa tea with one of our Nancys (Kate's mum being the other one)

Close by the marina is a maritime museum - a very popular attraction for us.  Housed in a beautiful former church, it has room for some really big artifacts - including an old lighthouse light and full-size fishing boats.

We were entertained for hours!  Look at that focussing lens!

Very appropriate for Chinook, whose tonnage is 11.56 (and will likely be tested by Kate's rellies!)
Tonnage is a measurement that we were required to provide to Transport Canada in order to register it as a seagoing vessel.

On one of our last days in Dun Laoghaire, we brought out Napoleon and Josephine, our Brompton bikes, for their first Irish outing.  We chose to ride south, along the coast we had just sailed up.

Rather pedestrian compared to the Rocky Mountain rides we are used to doing, but keep in mind we are on bikes with 16 inch wheels.

Dalkey Island and some very, very expensive real estate.

When we used to live in Canmore, we alway thought the best sandwiches were at the top of mountains but here is one at sea level!

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Along with all the fun and exploring, there is still boat jobs to be done.  A task that we had not yet done was a bit daunting - a drill of starting our Volvo engine if all of the electronics should fail.  On this topic, a bit of background is required.

Diesel engines for boats of our size have been favoured over gasoline engines for a long, long time.  The two main reasons are:

• diesel has a higher flash point than gasoline and is safer to store
• a diesel engine is simpler, using compression of the fuel to ignite it rather than a spark (and complicated spark timing system).

Once a diesel engine is started and given clean air and clean fuel, it can run for thousands of hours at a constant load.

The series of Volvo Penta marine engines that is in Chinook has a "feature" that we do not like.  It has a MDI, or Motor-Digital Interface, that takes readings from thermometers, pressure sensors, flow sensors and other gauges on the engine and will prevent the engine from running if all is not within the operating specifications.  This ensures the engine doesn't try to run in an overheated, or oil-less, or fuel-overly-rich or -starved status.

Electronics bolted where they will be constantly heated and vibrating.  Not so smart. 

It also means that the MDI will prevent the engine from running if it THINKS all is not within the operating specifications.

If a gauge or pressure sensor fails or sends a value outside of the MDI's acceptable range or if the heat and vibration cook the delicate electronics inside the MDI, the engine will not start or run, even if everything is actually OK.

This can and HAS happened to more than one of our acquaintances during maneuvers in port and when coming into port.  And while near rocky shores.  Garcia has developed a procedure to bypass the MDI and all of the on-motor electronics.  We thought it would be good practice to try and start the engine with this bypass in place.

Our engine with the MDI removed and bypass jumper cable in place

One bad thing about the bypass cable is that it renders the Start/Stop controls at the helm useless and the engine has to be started with the manual "Start" button on the solenoid and the stopped with the "Stop" lever, underneath the fuel pump on the other side of the engine.  Keep in mind that when you are doing this, the engine is likely hot and you are panic-ing about hitting a rock or another vessel.  Maybe it is dark, too. 

Try not to burn yourself on the engine or coolant hose while you are terrified and doing this for the first time.

See that yellow lever? Reach under and hold that down, but don't make contact with the 110 amp alternator right above it!  You'll get a nasty shock.

We are happy to say that we can both remove the MDI, get the bypass cable in the correct (and now marked) connection points, start and stop the motor manually.

Aren't we clever!

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