Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Coastal Development in Ireland
#Whitegate - The parent company of Whitegate Oil Refinery, has confirmed it may yet be sold, is significantly loss-making according to its most recent annual accounts. Texas-based Phillips 66, which owns the refinery in Co Cork, confirmed to the Irish…
Sofa retrieved off Whiterocks
#Portrush - RNLI lifeguards on Northern Ireland's north coast who spotted a suspicious object in the sea on Thursday afternoon (2 July) recovered an old sofa that had been dumped in the water. Senior lifeguard Bosco McAuley and lifeguards Bruce…
Benone Strand lifeguard unit
#Benone - The RNLI beach lifeguard unit on Benone Strand on the North coast has been vandalised for a second time in a week. During what is traditionally one of the RNLI lifeguard’s busiest weeks of the year, the charity’s…
#CoastalNotes - Doolin expects to double the number of visitors on its ferry route to the Aran Islands after the opening of its new €6m pier last week. As the Irish Examiner reports, it's envisaged up to 200,000 people will…
#CoastalNotes - 'Poor' water quality off Youghal have seen the Cork town's beach subject to bathing advisories for the remainder of the summer season, as the Irish Examiner reports. Stricter EU regulations on bathing water quality have prompted Cork County…
#doolinpier – The new €6m Pier at Doolin, Co. Clare, has been officially opened today by Brendan Howlin, T.D., Minister for Public Expenditure & Public Reform. The new 65-metre pier, the development of which was led by Clare County Council,…
#dunmoreastdredging – The dredging works underway at the entrance to Dunmore East harbour means visitors to the south–east fishery centre will be severely restricted this summer and visitor berths most likely be limited to swinging yacht club moorings. The largely…
#MaritimeART – The Port of Cork Maritime Collection is to be hosted by the Bantry Bay Port Company writes the West Cork Times. The exhibition of maritime themed paintings and models is now open at Bantry House, West Cork. Visitors…
€6m Dunmore East Harbour Dredging Works Commence in June
#dunmoreeast – The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, today announced details of a €6m dredging project, which his Department has awarded for works at Dunmore East Fishery Harbour Centre. The contract to complete the works…
RNLI Lifeguards Help To Bring Sand Dune Fire Under Control On Benone Strand
#RNLI - RNLI lifeguards on the Causeway Coast helped to bring a sand dune fire under control at the weekend. Lifeguards Jenny Thompson, Liam Mullan, James Walton and Jordan Burns were patrolling Benone Strand near Coleraine on Saturday afternoon (16…
Baltimore Pontoon Installed for West Cork  Summer Sailing Season
#blatimoreharbour – The new Baltimore harbour pontoon that was first installed in February and later removed is now back in situ for the coming season. Tweeters have sent us the latest photos from the West Cork harbour above. Afloat.ie first…
Largest Ever Coastal Clean Up Planned
#cleancoasts – A call for volunteers to join Ireland's largest coastal cleanup was made today by Clean Coasts Ambassador Easkey Britton. Clean Coasts Week 2015 takes place from May 8th to May 17th and everybody is invited to get involved…
'Fireball' Mistaken For Coastal Distress Flare Excites Astronomers
#CoastalNotes - The video above is not a coastal distress flare, but a 'fireball' from space burning up as it enters the atmosphere far above Ireland. A flurry of reports from concerned members of the public received by the Irish…
'Excellent' Result for Clare Bathing Areas in EPA report
#clarebeaches – A newly published report by the EPA on Bathing Water Quality around Ireland has found that County Clare's 11 designated bathing areas were adjudged to have "Excellent Water Quality" during 2014. The marine environment news has been described…
94% Of Irish Beaches Meet Stricter Bathing Quality Standards
#CoastalNotes - Ireland gets an 'A' for seaside bathing, as 94% of beaches have met the EU's new stricter water quality standards. And as RTÉ News reports, three out of every four Irish beaches have been rated as 'excellent' on…
Skerries Named Among 'Most Beautiful Cities In Europe'
#CoastalNotes - TheJournal.ie might not take the news entirely seriously, but it's true – Skerries has been named among the 10 most beautiful cities in Europe. The North Co Dublin coastal town and fishing port might only have a population…

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.