Seafood, Sunsets and Best Buddies as First Mate 🐾

Cruising sailing our amazing coastline with friends, family and of course puppies is full of adventure and discovery.

Cruising sailors are really stretching their wings this summer and taking the Stay Outdoors message seriously. The Irish coastline has never been so busy with cruising boats exploring the many harbours, coves and bays or simply anchoring up for a cup of tea in their local harbour.

Every trip is an adventure and discovery in some way, so we thought we would share a gallery of sunshiny days, cloudy days, chillaxing days and thrilling days ... on and some essential seafood delights ... all are Great Escapes.

Here is one short sailor's tale from Cruising Association of Ireland sailor, Simon Parker ... "After the hustle and bustle of the CAI Whistle Stop Tour ending with a musical evening in Malahide Yacht Club, Sue and I were in no hurry to bring Asile home to Arklow. So the next afternoon we made our way in the direction of Skerries, and pulled in to Loughshinney about 17:00. We anchored in 3.5m a little north of the deepest pool. I took a dip, then we watched the pier jumpers and admired the folded rocks ashore. 'Asile' took the ground for a while on her bilge keels and we dined in the cockpit as the sun descended."

It is simple pleasures like this that make cruising our amazing coastine such a joy. Every anchorage has something new to enjoy.

Thanks goes out to the members of Cruising Association of Ireland for sharing their adventures ... more next week.

If you are interested in cruising you may like a browse at the basic Cruising Route information pages we have created with local Yachtmaster Instructors and Norman Kean of ICC Publications. If you plan to cruise we highly recommend investing in the books and charts of course.

We continue to communicate with the coastal engineers for updates on the visitors moorings and updates will be published as they come in HERE.

And if you are looking for a cruising school to improve your navigation and sailing skills, then head over to our Find a Centre pages here.