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Displaying items by tag: New maritime museum

#NEWmaritimeMuseum – Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum reopens today, this will be the first 'full' season to include the maritime section of the visitor attraction since its launch last September, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As previously reported, the maritime museum tells the story of one of Ireland's great maritime assets... the River Shannon. On display are exhibits detailing the geology, personality and mythology of the estuary stretching from Limerick Dock down to Loop Head, marking the mouth of the Shannon at its seaward limits.

As well as interactive technology displays, there are views overlooking Foynes and the port from the recently reinstated control tower that was used for the trans-Atlantic flying boats.

The tower has a balcony (equipped with binoculars) where shipping activity can be directly observed from. Inside the tower there is a photo-montage outlining the various landmarks of the village and estuary.

Also to be seen are Foynes Yacht Club and facing opposite Foynes Island and in the distance Europe's largest alumina refinery plant, the Rusal-owned Aughinish Alumina.

The jetty offshore is where vessels such as Arklow Mill and her sisters are regular callers to the plant.

Published in Shannon Estuary

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago