A busy season for Skellig boatmen

BUSY SUMMER LEADS TO MORE CALLS FOR SEASON TO BE EXTENDED

DESPITE a rockfall that threatened to stop the island opening at all and poor weather that stopped many trips at the dockside the boatmen who operate tours to the Skelligs have reported a very busy season.

The Skellig Michael visitor season drew to a close on September 31 and the world famous UNESCO world heritage site is now closed to visitors for the winter.

The islands role in the last Star Wars movie and its appearance in the next film in the blockbuster science fiction franchise has ignited greater international interest in the island.

This increased interest was simply expressed in the number of tourist clamouring for the limited places available on the daily boat trips.

Many boatmen said trips and boats had been booked out several months in advance with the only difficulty being how to let tourists know in advance if a trip had been called off due to poor weather.

Currently there are 15 boat licenses that allow boatmen to bring 12 passenger per day to the island.

While poor weather led to around 30 days when conditions were to poor to make the trip – including 16 days in September alone – it is thought most boatmen managed 100 to 110 landings during the season.

If all boats were operating and were at least three quarters full that would equate to about 13,500 visitors which is exactly how many people the OPW said had visited the sixth century monastic island this season.

If that figure is accurate – and it could well be below the true figure – it would represent an increase of about 1,000 on last year.

In light of the increased visitor numbers and the number days lost to bad weather the boatmen are again calling for the season to be extended into April a move they say would benefit the entire regional economy.