Having sat in one place for a record two weeks (!) catching up on business and personal chores and relaxing, a combination of calm weather and the start of a beard on our waterline has us itching to move – anywhere. We’ve been told that the most interesting cruising in Ireland is back along our track to the southwest, so we are headed toward Bantry Bay.

As we are getting the hook up, the Kinsale Life Boat service comes by. They use a large RIB, and we have seen numerous "cruising" versions of these boats as well. The locals tell us they are particularly well suited to the awful sea state in which they sometimes cruise.

With almost calm conditions (just a three-foot/one-meter swell) we’re running close to shore to check out the sights. There are light houses on each promontory…

…as well as watch towers from the olden, more warlike days. We are told the round towers date to Napoleonic times. The round shape was harder to build, but tended to deflect cannon balls. The square towers are from earlier epochs.

This Custom’s launch gave us a look. Cool, bare aluminum finish. We’re guessing this is probably a self-rescuing design, and we like the lines.

Bantry Bay has a long, finger-like shape, with several small towns around its coastline. We decide that Glengarriff with its landlocked harbor looks like a good bet, since another gale is forecast.

The area reminds us a lot of New Zealand’s Bay of Islands.

This being the end of the local cruising season there are not a lot of yachts about. But we are not lacking for company.

The path from the town wharf where we leave the dinghy into the village meanders through the forest. We are prepared to deal with trolls, and wary of evil spirits, but the passage is without incident.

Glengarriff is a one-street village.

There are the usual array of small bed and breakfast establishments, several restaurants, two art galleries, numerous pubs, and several Irish crafts shops, and WiFi at anchor.

There is also a local police station. This establishment must be on the short list for the annual police landscape awards.

The combination of friendly locals, bucolic setting, protected anchorage, and quiet has us thinking Ireland is well worth the visit.

One of the things which has struck us about this part of the world is the warlike history. We studied European history, of course, in school. But reading about it and then visiting the country is not the same. For the last couple of thousand years (at least), with brief exceptions, the human condition has been continual warfare. Everywhere you go there are examples of the bloody history.

A plaque in the center of Glengarriff tell us this is where a group of Irish, 1000 strong, fell back after defeat by the British from one of the battles at Kinsale.

When these folks finally made their way to Northern Ireland there were but 35 left.

We are happy to report things are, for now, peaceful. But we are looking at history with a new appreciation, and thinking that maybe the many conflicts one sees around the world are just humans acting like humans, depressing as this concept may be.