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Displaying items by tag: Spring 2021

A new ferry will be Ireland's largest domestic passenger ferry when the 40-metre 'Saoirse na Farraige' arrives in Galway Bay this October.

As Independent.ie writes the ferry constructed in Hong Kong with a capacity of 400, is expected to enter service next April with Aran Island Ferries.

It will operate from Rossaveel, Co Galway to all three Aran Islands, taking 45-minutes to reach Inis Mór, 50 minutes to Inis Meáin and 55 minutes to Inis Oírr, the company says.

'Saoirse na Farraige' is the sixth ship for a company owned by the O'Brien family of Connemara, who first began carrying passengers to the Aran Islands on a Galway Hooker, under sail, decades ago.

"We know it’s an extremely difficult time for businesses in many sectors (ours included), but we hope this will brighten up Galwegians’ spirits and that when we travel again, the ferry will have a positive impact on tourism in the west of Ireland," said Sales and Marketing Manager, Áine McLoughlin.

For furthermore on this newbuild ferry click here. 

Published in Ferry

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.