Basking Sharks near North Harbour of Cape Clear Sunday 16th May 2010.

We are pleased to report that the Basking Sharks are back. What appeared to be a mother and her young were seen feeding a little way before the opening to the harbour. A real treat for the visitors arriving on the ferry.

Basking sharks have appeared in the south harbour in June and July over the last few years.

Irish Language Students:

June 3rd/4th sees the arrival of around 180 Irish students to the two Irish Language Colleges on Cape Clear. They spend three weeks here at a time being immersed in the Irish Language. It certainly brings a summer feeling with the brightly coloured clothes that they all wear these days and with the laughter and joy as they all go swimming in the South Harbour for the first time.

Dipper spotted; only the third siting on Cape Clear Island

7.30am: Outside the Cape Clear Island Hostel, near the waterfall. It was spotted by John Kennedy, a member of the Cork Kerry Cycle Group. He will be writing it up for the Bird Observatory.

Apparently only the third ever siting on Cape.

Always First with the News but sometimes not.

Conor O'Driscoll has arrived back in Cape with his new fishing boat, Atlantic Freedom. It is a grand craft with a great name and we wish you and your crew safe home from every trip.

Rare Bird Spotted in Cape Clear Island Hostel Gardens

An Icterine Warbler, a very rare visitor to these areas, was spotted in the Cape Clear Island hostel garden yesterday, resulting in birdwatchers dashing from all corners to see it; visit Wikpedia for info on 'The Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina) is an Old World warbler in the tree warbler genus Hippolais . It breeds in mainland Europe except the southwest.'

Campsite:

Today sees a change in the management of the Cape Clear campsite and the erection of the first two of the American Indian style tents. Currently they don't sit too well in the view because they present a huge, white, jarring, triangular profile, which draws the eye from the natural beauty of the South Harbour - here's hoping that they mellow with age. I am guessing that we will get used to them in time. We wish the best of luck to David & Sally with their new business.

Ferry Strike:

The Naomh Ciaran II will stop sailing for the day on June the 4th, however, Cape Clear's other ferry, the Cailin Oir, will be sailing as normal, click the link for the sailing schedule: http://www.capeclearislandferry.com/

Music in Club Cleire

May/June holiday weekend (May this year):

Friday 29th, Traditional Session

Saturday 30th, Cameroon are back again - yes the entire country is playing in the Club.

Sunday 31st, Free Beer (Don't get your hopes up, the band is called 'Free Beer')

Native American Medcine Man, Gary Whitedeer.

Sunday 25th May: Gary joined the throng in An Club and told the story of the financial help given by the Choctaw Indians to the people of Ireland during the famine. The session continued into the early hours with music and song from Cape musicians. The evening was rounded off with a lovely walk back to the house in the calm and tranquility of the island.

Free Internet Access

Cape Clear Library  - Oileann Chleire Library offers free internet access to members. All you need to do is to join and become a member for just €2.50 and then you can book some time and surf for free - must be pre-booked.

All are welcome. Yes this includes tourists, visitors, and even actual islanders.

Seisiún Cheoil le Comhaltas Ceoltóire éÉireann Sciobairín.

This session has been cancelled in respect.

Presented by Cork County Library & Art Services as part of their Bealtaine Festival

Venue: An Club, Cape Clear Island

Dé Sathairn 16^th 3pm – 5pm

 

Fáilte Roimh Gach Aoinne

 

All Welcome

Pinhole Camera Course

It just goes to show that the old suff can be the best. A simple tin can with a pinhole in it and some photgraphic paper and you can take the most wonderful images.

The course runs on Sunday 3rd May on Cape Clear. Shellagh, the lady running the course has her own blog so click the link to discover more:

http://sheelagh-na-gig.blogspot.com/

Basking Shark Siting

Nuala, a hostel guest, reports seeing a Basking Shark on the 5.30pm ferry trip to Cape. Photographs from onboard the ferry by Nuala.

Pierce Hickey - RIP.

Sad news with the passing of a lovely man, Pierce Hickey. He was admired by all who knew him. His funeral was held in Skibbereen on 9th April and attended by his many friends from around the county. He will be sadly missed by us all in Cape Clear. Only last year he could be heard playing his trumpet in the club while Fionnghuala sang - a real triumph and a privelige to hear pierce play and Fionnghuala sing.

I met Pierce for the first time when I visited the island back in 2002. Pierce was doing a little gardening at his house up the Glen and stopped to talk to us, I was on a day trip with Sinead. He regaled us with his love of Cape and it was this meeting that encouraged us to swap our life in an English city and move to the island. We will always be thankful to Pierce for his kind words and taking the time to stand and talk -  a true gentle-man.

The Mystery of the balls on the gate.

Cape Clear Hostel has opened its new entrance gates, replete with enourmous green balls (which originally were fishing floats which washed up on the beach). A local dignatry, Danny Stewart, a musician of some renown, was pleased to be invited to officially open the new gates. Danny stepped in at the last moment when President Obama pulled out claiming other work committments - it just goes to show that you can't trust any politicians - altough we will give him the benefit of the doubt for a while longer. We did also try quite a few other people from Madof to a passing flounder to Bertie. But Bertie has opened so many things, usually wrapped in brown paper, that we thought better of it. Someone said that 50cent wrapped in brown paper might not be appreciated and would probably illicit lots of comments from him, unlike earlier amounts which failed to get him talking at all. We were really hoping to get a fresh face but couldn't find one in time so we settled on a crusty, old, wrinkly face instead. Thank you Danny for taking the time to open our gate.

Easter Weekend

The weather was sunny for much of the time, evidenced by the many red flushed faces dashing about the place.

The Easter Egg Hunt was played out on the Camp Site with one of the toughest quizes anywhere - makes your head spin just to think of the questions, let alone work out the answers. Gorgeous cakes, snacks & drinks, made and supplied by various islanders, were devoured by the hungry mob. This is a lovely tradition on Cape and thanks must go to Fiona, the organiser, and her helpers for making such a great success of this annual event.

There was also a pub quiz and raffle which raised €400 for island causes.

If you have children then make plans now to bring them to Cape next Easter they will love it and you too will become regular visitors.

Dolphin Washed up on Beach.

A Rissos Dolphin, around 10ft in length, was washed up a week or so ago on the Glebe beach down beyond the North Harbour. Not a pleasant sight.

Annual Cape Canoe Club Meeting

The club had its annual meeting on Monday 21st July at the http://www.CapeClearHostel.com/ in South Harbour.

Annual Camping Trip
Dates: The camping trip will take place on Tuesday 12th August with the proviso that if the weather is bad on Tuesday the trip will be moved to Wednesday 13th.

Destination: The destination is hoped to be the Middle Calf Island.

Cost: €12 per person, adult or junior.

Restrictions: Children must be accompanied by a parent or an adult assuming resposibility for them.

Health & Safety - Checking Health & Safety Status at Departure:
Life Jacket must be worn. Wet weather gear must be brought. Each individual is responsible for bringing their own tent, food, & water. Each individual is responsible for ensuring that they have a berth in a tent.

An Ri-chie will be checking to make sure that each person has the required equipment as they clamber aboard the Karycraft. Please note: you will not be allowed to go if you do not have the required gear. If you don't have your own lifejacket or wet weather gear or tent, then please tell us in good time because we can always help.

Training: Weekly gathering for canoe practice and training in the South Harbour, I believe on Friday.

Canoe Club Subscriptions
Prices for 2008/9 have been set at:
€10 per child
€20 per adult
€60 maximum per family.

Topaz Dinghy
An exciting new arrival which needs to be treated with care and respect. Plans are afoot to store it near the lake and, perhaps, to move some of the boulders at the margin of the lake to make it easier to land.

Booking Topaz Time: Idividual users need to communicate with each other to agree the best time to use the dinghy.

Topaz Costs: We need to create a fund specifically for the maintenance and repair of the Topaz. We have agreed that €40 per family would be fair.

Topaz Restrictions: At least one senior user, over 16 years of age, with a minimum of two weeks suitable experience, must be in control of the session.


Insurance, Health & Safety
It is important to note that, essentially, the Canoe Club is actually and simply a collection of families working together to create facilities for the individuals of the families to use. The canoe club does not assume any responsibility for any of the users of the equipment and it is agreed by all the members that children must always be in the care of their own parents or another adult who has specifically agreed to assume responsibility for those children.
The canoe club does not have insurance and it is agreed by all members that it is up to individual members to make their own minds up on this issue.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Littering on the Beautiful Cape
On my walk back from the lake to CDM's this week I picked up a Coke can and filled a small bag with chocolate and sweet wrappers, with a similar result on the road from the South to the North Harbour.Well, one thing I know for sure, it is not any of us islanders doing the littering. How do I know? The appearance of litter coincides with the mass arrival of children to the island.The good thing here is that it was a relatively small amount of litter, which points to a startling fact - the majority of children do not litter and have a healthy respect for nature; the ones that do litter make up a very small minority; hanging on to this positive thought gives me hope for the future.

Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival September 5th -7th, 2008.

A report is not needed, instead click the link and visit the new web site for a wealth of information regarding the festival. Some superb storytellers are booked and should not be missed. This is the festival that people come back to year after year. Don't leave it too late to book - still some beds remaining - check the accommodation list on the festival web site.
http://www.capeclearstorytelling.com/