Last week I joined the crew & passengers of the MV Sylvia Earle aboard their Luck of the Irish cruise around Ireland, which is run by Aurora Expeditions. I felt like I was following in the footsteps of my seafaring Joyce ancestors!
Although the voyage started in Dublin, I actually took the train across Ireland and joined in Galway, heading up to Donegal, Derry and then disembarking in Belfast, before a final evening’s fun in Howth, back in Dublin.
As you can imagine, my job aboard was to talk about Irish ancestors, how to trace your family, DNA tests and be a general ambassador for Ireland! The Sylvia Earle has a beautiful round lecture theatre that is used every night for port talks and socialising. I had many great conversations with the passengers over the course of the week.
I also got to see some beautiful sites. Donegal’s Sliabh Liag cliffs – three times the height of the cliffs of Moher, were very impressive.
We also went to see the Giant’s Causeway, which I think might be the law when visiting Northern Ireland! We drove across from Derry to it so I didn’t actually get to stop in the city.
We disembarked at Belfast in glorious sunshine and bussed back to Dublin. The last event of the program was an evening at the Abbey Tavern in Howth, where we enjoyed music and Irish dancing with dinner.
Overall, a fun week with lots of great genealogy chats: who could ask for more?!