Sea – Page 2 – In Photos dot Org

Queen Elizabeth 2 in Cobh

The QE2 docked in Cobh last Thursday. This was shot at the bottom of steps down to the water where seaweed made footing precarious. I saw a few people venture down the steps but none went further than half way down. The tide was well out so I was maybe 3m below the quayside, standing in wet and slippery seaweed. The risks I take to get a photo!

Oh yeah, there’s already something gone bust in my new Canon 40D. The pop up flash refuses to pop up unless I prise it open with a fingernail. It tries a few times, gives up and issues an Error 99 and needs to be switched off and on. The same happened to my Canon 20D, but I’m surprised the 40D didn’t last a bit longer ..

Aperture	ƒ/8
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	21mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/125s

Cast Off in Bantry

A small ferry casts off and heads out of Bantry Harbour with lots of hunting dogs and their owners. This was last February and I watched with interest wondering where they were going.

More QE2 photos to come, when I have time to work on them!

Aperture	ƒ/6.3
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	10mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/100s

QE2 Leaving Cork

The Queen Elizabeth 2, or QE2, flagship of the Cunard Line, docked for the last time in Cobh yesterday and left this evening just after 6pm. Here she is after turning in Cork Harbour and seconds before she increased speed and left the harbour for good.

In 2009, she will become a floating hotel in Dubai. A fitting ending for a luxury ship that has plied the waters of the world for the last 39 years.

I took over 300 shots of the Queen Elizabeth 2 today and filled almost 4GB of space with RAW images. In hindsight, many of the images would have been fine as Jpeg files but I had the space, so I used it. I hope to upload a gallery of my favourite images tomorrow.

Aperture	ƒ/5.6
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	18mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/80s

Tir na nOg ar Oilean Chleire

Tir na nOg is the house on the right of this photo. It’s a house that Colaiste Ciaran, an Irish summer school on the island, rents during the summer and where I spent a number of weeks years and years ago. The long, low building attached to the left is a canteen.

An Oige have a large hostel further down, near the stony beach. I remember looking with curiosity and longing at the kayaks in a nearby shed. Us students never got anything quite as exciting as those!

Aperture	ƒ/9
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	18mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/200s

Tractor at Allihies

A tractor in the carpark at Allihies Beach in Co Cork.

Aperture	ƒ/10
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	10mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/250s

The cars of Cape Clear

Cape Clear Island, or Oilean Chleire, is only 3 miles long and 1 mile wide, but it’s only 40 minutes by ferry to the mainland so it’s fairly easy to bring out vehicles. In fact, I saw many more cars on the island than I did on my last trip.

As you may have guessed by the photo above, once the cars get here, they really don’t go anywhere else, and many of them are in a bad state of repair. On a previous trip, my father and I were driven up a very steep hill above the harbour in a multicoloured VW Beetle that was literally falling apart with rust. I’ll post a photo of the hill in a few days.

There also isn’t a police force on the island. I don’t think cars here are insured or taxed and you can forget the NCT ..

Apart from the two taxi vans sitting on the quay when we arrived, the newest car was a 1999 model. The oldest was a 1986 Renault. The taxis were had 2004 reg plates and in good condition.

I’d love to how or why the van in the far background got to the Island. It looks abandoned now.

Aperture	ƒ/7.1
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	18mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/125s

Cape Clear North Harbour

The north harbour in Cape Clear is the main harbour on the island. There’s a south harbour as well but there’s only a small beach there, and a long quayside where the occasional small boat ties up.

To the left you can see the Club which is a small shop/cafe on the ground floor, while around the corner and upstairs is a pub. Last time I was in the pub was many years ago when I was at a book launch with my father. Up the hill is Cotter’s Bar. Never been in there, despite the fact we holidayed on the island so many times.
Finally, a new bungalow sits on a patch of land bordering the road. This wasn’t there the last time I stayed on the island for any length of time, about 15 years ago.

Aperture	ƒ/9
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	48mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/160s

Speeding Boat

A speedboat, at speed, races past the more sedate Naomh Ciaran II on our way to Oilean Cleire, or Cape Clear. You can see the island itself in the background!

Aperture	ƒ/8
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	106mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/320s

Mulroy Bay II stranded in the evening sun

Another shot of the Mulroy Bay II as it lay in shallow waters in Baltimore Bay.

Aperture	ƒ/11
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	125mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/50s

Warning sign in the wilderness

Another shot of the Electric Wires warning sign I posted yesterday. This one gives you a flavour of the landscape in the area, and the desolate, remote location of the sign.

Aperture	ƒ/8
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	125mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/200s

Electric Wires

If you’ve ever taken the Naomh Ciaran II to Cape Clear Island this sign will be familiar to you.

WARNING
ELECTRIC WIRES
60 FT (18 Mtrs)
OVER HIGH
WATER LEVEL

PS. The cheezburger are the latest blog to use the Thieving Duck. Hope they link back to the original post.
PPS. They did, saw a trickle of hits from there.

Aperture	ƒ/8
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	200mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/160s

Naomh Ciaran II

Naomh Ciaran II, the Cape Clear Ferry for many a year is still going strong. Here she is tied up at the pier in Baltimore, Co Cork, Ireland. The last time I boarded her (probably 15 years ago) and travelled to Oilean Cleire she was painted green and white, but it seems she has had an eventful history since then.

Traditionally, for many years up to 2001, the provision of a ferry service to Cape Clear Island was handled directly by the State. The State (The Department of the Gaeltacht) owned the vessels that were in use – Oileán na nÉan and the Naomh Ciarán II. The service was managed by a committee that comprised representatives of Cape Clear Island and the Department of the Gaeltacht.
In 2001, a decision was made to transfer the service to a private company – Naomh Ciarán II Oileán Chléire Teo – that had been established by the skipper of the service. A contract was agreed with this company and, as part of that contract, it was agreed that the State (The Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands) would lease the vessel, the Naomh Ciarán II, to the company and pay an annual subsidy of €104,126 for a period of 5 years, from June 2001 to June 2006.
As part of that arrangement, and under the terms of the contract agreed, the State made redundancy payments of €190,691 to the four crew members who were employed by the company before the transfer.
Unfortunately, the new company’s principal, who was skipper of the ferry service, died suddenly during the term of the contract. Comharchumann Chlére bought the company and continued to run the ferry service under the contract that was in effect

Aperture	ƒ/8
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	10mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/125s