After spending two weeks at Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, we departed on the last of the ebb tide and traveled 74 miles south to Dublin, Ireland. Conditions were beautifully clear and calm in the Irish Sea, with generally positive current, and we reached our berth at Dun Laoghaire in time to enjoy Happy Hour in the cockpit.

We were in the exact same berth as our previous visit in late 2017, inside the harbour’s huge protective piers where dozens were out for a stroll. It was great to be back in Ireland and to have made another step on our return trip to the US.

After the difficulty we had entering Scotland exactly following their published requirements, we contacted each of Irish immigration and customs directly before arriving to ensure that our understanding of the rules was consistent with theirs. Immigration came to clear us through within hours of our arrival at Dun Laoghaire, and we now are officially back in the EU.

Below are highlights April 13th, 2021. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.

Dusk Position: 54°22.65’N, -5°39.31’W Dusk at the anchorage in the Quoile River in Strangford Lough. Conditions look wonderful for our run to Ireland today.

Killyleagh Position: 54°23.54’N, -5°38.15’W Passing Killyleagh, with the 19th-century navigation aid Town Rock prominent in the foreground.

Audley’s Castle Position: 54°23.00’N, -5°34.00’W A final view to 15th-century Audley’s Castle as we depart Strangford Lough.

Strangford 2 Position: 54°22.41’N, -5°32.93’W Wouldn’t you know it, we arrived off the ferry terminal at Strangford exactly when the ferry Strangford 2 departed to cross for Portaferry. The ferry skipper kindly slowed and took our stern.

12 Knots Position: 54°22.50’N, -5°33.02’W The current in the narrow entrance to Strangford Lough can reach 8 knots and produce the Routen Wheel, one of only two named whirpools in Ireland. We are riding the end of the ebb out of Strangford Lough, about an hour before low water slack, and are making 12 knots through the channel. This timing will give us a ride out, plus five hours of positive current en route to Dublin. Whirlpool and edddies are visible on either side of us, but the flow in the the main channel mostly is laminar.

Angus Rock Position: 54°19.85’N, -5°31.22’W The current is diminishing as we near the exit of the Strangford Lough channel near Angus Rock, but strong flow still is visible on either side of the channel.

St. Patrick’s Rock Position: 54°18.56’N, -5°30.59’W St. Patrick’s Rock outside Strangford Lough, with the Mourne Mountains visible in the background. We’re still making over ten knots even well outside the Strangford Lough channel.

St John’s Point Lighthouse Position: 54°14.46’N, -5°32.72’W St John’s Point Lighthouse with the Mourne Mountains beyond. The light was completed in 1844 and at 131 ft (40m) high is the tallest onshore lighthouse on the Irish coast. Fastnet light is the tallest offshore light at 177 ft (54m).

Calm Conditions Position: 54°4.77’N, -5°38.20’W Wonderfully calm conditions in the Irish Sea as we head south from Strangford Lough to Ireland.

Cleaning Synology Position: 54°1.28’N, -5°40.16’W The Synology DiskStation that we use as a file server on Dirona was really dusty. We pulled it out from under the salon settee, removed the drives, and gave it a good clean.

Adria Kvarne Position: 54°1.16’N, -5°40.23’W The Eco Flettner rotor sail on the cargo ship Adria Kvarne is prominent a long way off.

Traffic Position: 53°58.77’N, -5°41.59’W Traffic has generally been pretty light all day, but got quite busy off the RO-RO terminal at Warrenpoint.

Seatruck Position: 53°57.85’N, -5°42.11’W The cargo ship Seatruck Performance departing Warrenpoint for Heysham in Lancashire, England.

Spitfire Position: 53°56.23’N, -5°43.01’W Today’s calm conditions are Spitfire-approved.

Q and Courtesy Flag Position: 53°49.07’N, -5°47.03’W Raising an Irish courtesy flag, and a yellow quarantine flag to indicate we require clearance.

Rockabill Lighthouse Position: 53°35.63’N, -5°54.55’W The Rockabill Lighthouse just north of Howth was first lit in 1860.

Baily Lighthouse Position: 53°22.40’N, -6°1.91’W The Baily Lighthouse on the southeastern tip of Howth Head was built in 1814, but a lighthouse has stood on this site since the mid-1660s to mark the entrance to Dublin. Visible beyond is the Stena Horizon departing Dublin.

11.2 Knots Position: 53°22.32’N, -6°1.96’W We’ve been in mostly positive current the entire run, and it’s picking up again to carry us towards Dun Laoghaire at 11.2 knots.

Epsilon Position: 53°21.57’N, -6°2.50’W The RO-RO ship Epsilon departing the port of Dublin.

Stena Position: 53°21.41’N, -6°2.63’W The Stena Horizon en route from Dublin. Traffic is notably higher in this area.

Howth Head Position: 53°21.25’N, -6°2.77’W Looking across the Baily Lighthouse to Howth Head. We hiked all through this area on our previous visit to Dun Laoghaire.

Liffey Position: 53°19.78’N, -6°4.23’W The skipper of pilot boat Liffey seemed as interested in us as we were with them as we took pictures of each other.

Entering Dun Laoghaire Position: 53°18.00’N, -6°8.19’W Inside the outer piers at Dun Laoghaire as we approach the inner piers. Our berth is just beyond.

Power Card Position: 53°17.97’N, -6°8.34’W Shorepower in this region is often pre-purchased on a card that is then used to top up the shorepower pedestal. Since the office would likely be closed by the time we arrived, the marina staff pre-loaded a card for us and brought it down shortly after we arrived. That was super-helpful of them.

Thermal Failure Position: 53°17.97’N, -6°8.34’W We were lucky the marina staff came down to personally deliver our power card. The wierd thing is it didn’t work. The marina staff dug into the problem and found that a relatively new socket had been so seriously overheated that one of the conductors had melted away. They went and got the tools and parts they needed, and had a new socket installed and us operational in under 45 minutes. It’s rare that anything in a marina can get fixed that quickly.

Dun Laoghaire Berth Position: 53°17.97’N, -6°8.34’W Our berth at Dun Laoghaire marina, with 32-amp power, in exactly the same location as our previous visit four years ago.

Passport Stamp Position: 53°17.97’N, -6°8.34’W After the difficulty we had entering Scotland exactly following their published requirements, we contacted each of Irish immigration and customs directly before arriving to ensure that our understanding of the rules was consistent with theirs. Immigration came to clear us through within hours of our arrival at Dun Laoghaire. In a bit of a throwback to our travels in the Schengen area, where Jennifer’s British passport was not stamped as an EU citizen, Ireland doesn’t stamp British passports either so only James got a stamp.

Happy Hour Position: 53°17.97’N, -6°8.34’W Enjoying Happy Hour in the cockpit at Dun Laoghaire marina. It’s great to be back in Ireland.

Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise. On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.