Displaying items by tag: 4 cruiseships to visit in 3 days!

12th May 2016

Four Cruiseships in Three Days! to Visit Killybegs

Boudicca, one of four cruiseships due to call in three days to Killybegs this weekend

#4calls3days - Donegal Now writes that four cruiseships in three days are to visit Killybegs making for a busy weekend.

On Saturday, May 14, two ships will be in port together. The MS L'Austral is due to arrive at 7am and an hour later, at 8am, the MS Albatros is scheduled to berth.

On Sunday, at 2.30pm, the MS Boudicca will arrive and, on Monday, 16th, the prestigious MS National Geographic Explorer will tie up at 1.30pm.

Ann Dorrian, who welcomes visitors at the Killybegs Information Centre, said: "This is going to be a very busy few days but we are delighted to see such an interest in Killybegs by the cruise companies."

She added: "Many of the passengers and crews book our Hidden Gems tour up Sliabh Liag and along the spectacular coast road. They are never disappointed."

Saturday will be the big day in Killybegs in more ways than one. As well as the two ships, L'Austral with more than 260 French visitors and the Albatross with 830 Germans, the town will be host to a bus load of American visitors, courtesy of the Cork-based company, EIL Intercultural Learning.

The newspaper has more here.

Published in Cruise Liners

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour