‘The teardrop of Ireland’ - An amazing trip around the Fastnet Lighthouse this morning with Cape Clear Ferries. Beautiful weather and incredible to see this feat of engineering close up.

Fastnet Lighthouse stands 54 metres (177 ft) high on the isolated Fastnet Rock in the Atlantic Ocean, marking the most southerly point of Ireland. The rock lies 6.5 km (4 mi) southwest of Cape Clear Island and about 13 km (8 mi) off the Cork coastline. It is the tallest lighthouse in Ireland. Often called “Ireland’s Teardrop” as Fastnet was the final glimpse of home for Irish emigrants in the 19th century as they set off to make a new home in North America. Until it was automated in 1989, lighthouse keepers lived there for weeks at a time, often cut off by storm and often low on supplies as they could only be delivered in calm seas.

Gerry Butler who was a light keeper on Fastnet talked about what it was like for some of the huge waves there. “The light is 163ft over sea level and the sea would leave it for dead. It would easily go 34 to 50ft over it depending on what the storm was like. When that happens and you’re inside in the lighthouse, everything is locked up now and you’d hear the explosion with the way of doing its business and then you’d hear the rush of water coming up. Also, you’d feel the air compressing inside the tower … Then the wave would come right up and wash over the tower, maybe at that point or a little less than that point, the tower would vibrate”