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Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Sailing holiday

Good news for Irish sailors planning a Greek sailing holiday. Go-ahead UK firm Wildwind, based in Vassiliki and run by Simon Morgan, is now offering free supplemental flights to London and accommodation at the Hilton Hotel in Gatwick during the early weeks of the upcoming school holidays!

Unfortunately, there are no direct flights from Scotland or Ireland to the local airport in Greece, Preveza. The bulk of Wildwind's charter flights are with British Airways on Sundays leaving London Gatwick at 8 am (arriving in Greece at 1 pm) and returning at 4.35pm (you'll leave from Greece at 2 pm). This means that most of the clients travelling from Scotland and Ireland need to stay overnight in London in order to make the morning outbound flight. Usually, you will have a convenient onward connection on the return portion of your journey.

There are very good low-cost flights to Gatwick from a number of regional airports including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and Dublin. Wildwind recommends to stay the night in London and have a night on the town at the start of your holiday. They have even made a deal with the Hilton hotel near the airport to offer Wildwind guests discounted rates.

During the period of June 30th to July 20th, Wildwind will pay for both your flight and your hotel accommodation at the Hilton or another hotel of your choice, up to a maximum of £200 per adult and £150 per child, on the basis of reimbursement of expenses for regional travel and overnight accommodation.

More information by calling the Wildwind booking team at 01920 444 091 or emailing [email protected].

Published in Aquatic Tourism
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A luxury 'glamping' holiday in France with a choice of watersports right on your door step sounds like an ideal mix for a family watersports holiday in the big sailing region of the Vendee.

Original Camping and Alain Dominique Perrin attracted many foreign tourists last season on the island of Noirmoutier with their concept of glamorous camping, Glamping with plenty of waterports on tap including: Kitesurfing, Windsurfing, Sailing, Jetsking, Kayaking.

The only sport that you can’t practice on the island is surfing because the waves aren’t big enough. 

Canvas and wooden accommodation facing the Atlantic ocean charms water sports enthusiasts as well as lovers of relaxation, beautiful landscapes and pampering.

The site also boasts a Teens and Children's Clubs with 'quadrilingual' staff that, the owners say, has won over parents and children of all ages.

The advertised price for four people for one week starts at €1,199

Published in Sailing Holidays
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Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!