The Aran Islands

This past weekend I took my first trip with the rest of the group to the Aran Islands. The Aran Islands are three small Islands off the West Coast of Ireland, consisting of Inish Maan, Inish More, and Inish Eer. We spent our time on the largest of the three islands Inish More, and spent most of the time there walking and touring the island. The best part of touring the Island, in my opinion, was being able to walk along the cliffs that are there. 

I had never seen the sea or cliffs like this, and they were absolutely stunning. There are few things that make you feel as small as seeing the sea rush up, hit the cliffs, and then a second later feeling the ground under you vibrate ever so slightly from the pounding of the sea. 

We spent around a half hour on the edges of cliffs, admiring the view and watching as waves crashed against them hundreds of feet below ourselves before moving on. We were all fairly well speechless. It was terrifying and beautiful all at the same time. The sea was not calm, and somehow I am thankful for that. If the sea was calm, I would not have been in awe as I was, or realize just how dangerous it can be.

After we had spent some time at the cliffs near some old grounds, our guide moved on to show us a natural formation that seemed completely unnatural. If you have ever seen video's of Redbull Cliff Diving competition, this is where it was done. There is a link here is you want it. This formation is called the Serpent's Lair in English, and I cannot remember what the Irish name was for it.

The picture above shows part of the formation. The square you see there is completely natural, even though it looks like a man made Olympic swimming pool. The water rushes over the top and down into it, creating a pool that is nearly 70 feet deep, if memory serves correctly. The other odd thing about this is that it has a hole out to the sea that water can drain from and is normally hidden from view under the water. This lets the water be circulated, and animal life to come and go as they please. Seals are even found playing around the hole when the sea is calmer, our guide said.

Other than the amazing view of the land that I got there, I got insight into what it would be like to live on an island like this. We talked to our guides for quite awhile through our trip about how it was different from living on the much larger island of Ireland. Everything they have there is shipped in, minus most of the stone they use to build up their fences. This makes like much more difficult and expensive while they are there. Their power, most of their food, and even the materials used to build their houses come in on a ferry from the main land. It made me think about how easy we have it in America at times, and how much people like to complain about certain things. It made me realize just how much we take for granted.