An afternoon with the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Ireland

The Royal Cork Club, Ireland, is the oldest club in the world. Following the newly found hobby of sailing, when he was presented with a yacht,by King Charles 11 in 1600, it is believed that Murrough O’Brien, the 6th Lord Inchiquin (Murrough of the Burnings) took the interest of sailing to Cork.

The pastime became so popular that the Lords great grandson and his friends created the ” The Water Club of the Harbour of Cork,“ now known as the Royal Cork Yacht Club. The club became the pinnacle of local society with many membership applicants being disappointed.

Notable members included Prince Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria, later to be Emperor of Mexico and Sir Thomas Lipton. Today, after occupying a variety of buildings The Royal Cork Club can be found at Crosshaven, not far from Cork, from where it organizes many famous yachting events, including the Admiral’s Cup and the popular Cork week.

Our group was most privileged to be visitors at The Royal Cork Yacht Club, and our sailing adventure will be on the next blog.

Syndey - warm winter magic

Sunday June 20, 2012 Sydney, Australia, no matter the time of year is a great city for travellers to wander around. Even the old haunts, such as the the Sydney Opera house with its clean timeless architecture, the Circular Quay for people, busker and boat activity watching, the ferries come and go, the Rocks historical precinct, and Darling Harbour with its soothing water gardens and walkways. It is an ideal place to stop off on the way to ones oversea’s trip, to transfer one’s mind from work and, packing and ‘I am sure I have missed packing something!!’ mode into a relaxing and ‘sniffing the air’ one. Sydney turned on a warm, blue skied day for us on this winter Sunday. So balmy it was, that a lovestruck person wrote a “I’m Sorry, I love you’ message in the sky. OWe immediately booked to trip out to see the Humpback Whales just outside the Syndey Harbour heads. It was so easy to book online, and instead of printing off a booking form, all we had to do is show the booking form on our iphone. NOTE - if you are planning on going - make sure you book on http://www.whalewatchingsydney.net/ - a large and very comfortable vessel with plenty or viewing platforms. Every year from about June to November about 1200 humpback whales make an over 5000 mile trek from their breeding grounds in the north following the EAC current down Australia south to Antarctica to feed. As the current passes about 2 - 3 miles from the coast at the Sydney heads so it is very easy to find the whales. Within an hour of crusing through the many yachts Sunday racing on the Harbour we were out on open waters and our knowledgeable captain had us within the precint of three small pods of whales. Almost as soon as we arrived at the 100 metre allowable distance the whales started performing. Two whales swam close together, breathing simultaneously, like a chorus, while the third frequently breached, launching itself straitght up and completely out of the water at times so that we could see its whole white underside. it rolled around, waving its long flippers then breached, again and again. Atfer this awe inspiring adventure we slowly came back to earth by strolling around to the hstorical Rocks shops, bars and cafes - a must, we believe, for all travellers to Sydney.

Monaco - boating paradise in the sun

We travelled by rail from Nice to Monaco. We emerged from the railway station, which is modern, marble paved and set in the middle of the mountain into sunshine, warmth, to a scene crowded with wall to wall boats on the blue waters and wall to wall hotels and apartments piled up against the mountains. After strolling along the waterfront admiring all the yachts we moved on to inspect the Monaco Yacht Club's Racing Mark Laying boat. Instead of using anchors to secure the marks on the ocean floor, we noted that concrete blocks on the end of twine are used. Presumably the twine is cut and the blocks remain on the ocean floor! I wonder what the archeologists in the year 5000 will make of these when researching it for clues of human activities in the year 2009! After retiring to the very modern, classy Monaco Yacht Club for refreshments, we walked to the top of the old town and visited the Aquarium. Built by Prince Albert of Monaco, a passionate ocean and wildlife exporer in the late 1800's, the building hosts many acquariums of unusual and endangered fish and sealife. While inspecting the exhbition, and finding out about the research techniques carried out by Prince Albert and his team, one wonders if these practices would be acceptable today. However the sealife exhibits talk a lot about conservation, preservation and of the aquarium's most successful breeding programme for overseas aquariums. If you ever venture to this neck of the woods, the Aquarium is well worth a visit.

Out into the sunshine again we strolled, and relaxed at one of the cafes near the palace, where royalty still live, to enjoy Monaco's award winning beer. Then, somewhat reluctantly, we wended our way to the beautiful Monaco railway station back to Nice.

Oh, that's right - it is Saturday! Time to watch the New Zealand All Blacks play the French!! And to enjoy the conviviality of the Hotel bar where there is a wide screen TV!

And then, tomorrow, to sunny, exciting Cannes....... uh oh - don't like the look of the clouds - surely that cannot be correct????