Skellig Michael

Sometimes, depending on the weather, people can't get out to the skelligs since you have to go like 9-12 miles by boat but we were able to get out to Skellig Michael. Skellig Michael is a rocky island off the coast of Ireland in the Atlantic Ocean found by St. Fionan (or at least that is who historians think founded it) around the 6th century. Monks wanted to live a life of seclusion and putting yourself out on a rock 12 miles into the ocean sounded like a very good way to isolate oneself. Very little is known about the history of Skellig Michael, it's mentioned several times in books and logs in places around Ireland. In 490 AD it is said that the King of West Munster (in Ireland) named Duach took refuge on the skellig when he was being chased by King of Cashel. In 812 and 823 AD Norse raided the island and those records are found int eh Annals of Ulster. in 956 AD Olaf Trygveson was supposedly baptized on the skellig before leaving to introduce Christianity to Norway. (Rachael thinks that there's a Veggie Tales version of this out somewhere which might be worth looking into). After the Skelligs were abandoned, people began to pilgramage to them and eventually a taxation was placed on that pilgrimage. It was 20 shillings to go up to the church on the skellig and 13 shillings and 4 pence to just get out to the rock. In 1538 Henry VIII dissolved all monasteries but historians believe that the skelligs had been abandoned by then, and eventually a merchant named Richard Harding came to own the skelligs and called it the Ballinskellig Estate.

Anyway, we did manage to get to Skellig Michael. The waves were huge swells, huger than what I am used to so in the last ten or so minutes of the ride I was slightly queasy though I did not throw up for which I am thankful.

Skellig Michael basically looked out of the ocean. From the boat it seemed to rise up from the Atlantic and the mist like some sort of beast lurking about, waiting for us and when we left it, it stood there in stony silence (no pun intended) until it simply disappeared once again into the shrouding mist.

Skellig Michael just made me feel very poetic.

On the skellig we had to climb up some really stepp stairs that the monks carved intot he rock. Once we made it to the top we were able to explore part of the monastery that remains, which includes two chapels and several beehived shaped cells that use (what I call) Puzzle Piece Archtitecture since no mortar was used to build them and the cells are still relatively waterproof.

There was also a gravestone marking the graves of two young boys who died out on the skellig when their father was lighthouse keeper back in the 1800s.

The whole thing was amazing. It was as if you had stepped into a different world, as if you weren't on Earth...really truly amazing.
We had a late BBQ lunch. It had begun to raid when we got back to the mainland so we drove a bit looking for shelter to cook our food but couldn't find any so we stopped on the side of the road and hamburgers were cooked inside the trunk of the bus. Kyle Long got me my hamburger. That was nice...he and Ryan both decided that they would get soaked to the skin in order for us girls to stay dry.