The film's final scenes (and if this is a spoiler to you, you've had four years to see the film!) feature the main character, Rey, completing the search and finding Luke Skywalker atop a craggy, mysterious island.
The best thing is that the island is real, and you can visit it.
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| "I see it... I see the island." -- Kylo Ren, The Force Awakens |
Quick Index - Visiting Skellig Michael Parts I - IV
- Basic logistics and background: Getting there, where to stay and eat, and booking a landing tour (this post)
- The crossing and logistics of the hike on Skellig Michael
- Touring the island and its Star Wars sites and sights
- Reenacting the final scene of The Force Awakens
The Island: Skellig Michael
Skellig Michael, also known as the Great Skellig, is located a bit over seven miles from the Kerry coast of southern Ireland. Today a UNESCO World Heritage site, Skellig Michael was home to a small monastery dating to the fifth or sixth century. Though it later became a destination for religious pilgrims, the Great Skellig had been abandoned by its monks by the early thirteenth century. |
| Ruins of the 10th century church and the "beehive" huts |
The Weather and When to Go
Irish weather is somewhat--nay, very!--fickle. The entire nation is so green for a reason: The Emerald Isle receives a ton of rain, with the western portions of the island (of which the Kerry peninsula is part) getting upwards of 50 inches of annual rainfall. The sunniest months are May and June, but there can be rainy stretches throughout the summer, with storms picking up in the fall and into winter. Remnants of hurricanes from the Atlantic season bring rain and winds to Ireland after they batter the Caribbean and the United States and cross the ocean, so keep in mind that the deeper into hurricane season you get in the late summer and early fall, the more you risk poor weather in Ireland, too. |
| It had been sunny just 10 minutes earlier, I swear! |
Right off the bat, this limits the time of year to visit to May 15th through September 30th, and a typical year sees the boats only able to operate 75% of the season (100 of the 130 days available); a particularly stormy summer or autumn can reduce that even further.
Shoulder season if you want to include a tour of the island (and you do if you're reading this post, right?) is thus mid-May and late September--that's it, as the boats do not operate from October through April. June, July, and August, corresponding as they do to the summer holidays in most of the western hemisphere, are the peak tourist season by far.
We went in mid-September to reduce costs a little bit; lodging is somewhat cheaper, and the crowds are lower as well. Over the course of a week, we had appreciable rain pretty much every day except for one, though the sun did peek through on all but a couple of soaking days.
Regardless, keep in mind that the weather changes and changes a lot! We had one morning where we started out with plenty of sun and did a hike out along the coast just across from the village of Portmagee, and the weather turned to mist and fog to steady rain. By the time we finished the hike and took a drive out along the Ring of Kerry, it had turned sunny again. Before we stopped to get dinner, it had turned to an all-out downpour.
One other consideration is whether or not you want to see the puffins, which inspired the adorable porgs in Star Wars: Puffins are typically only present from late April through early August, making May or June the best times to see them. A few may linger as late as September, but there were none when we visited--although there were a ton of other seabirds around.
Getting There
Skellig Michael sits off the Kerry coast in southwestern Ireland. The nearest major airports are Shannon (SNN), about 3 hours away; and Cork (ORK), about 2.5 hours away by car, both of which offer several options via major airlines arriving both from North America and Europe. Kerry Airport (KIR) is much closer at just over an hour, but has limited flight options: AerLingus from Dublin, or Ryanair from London and "Frankfurt" (the latter in quotes as Hahn airport is 75 miles outside of the city proper, halfway to Luxembourg).You'll almost certainly have to rent a car; though there are bus services, they require multiple connections, even from Kerry itself and span dozens of hours of travel. I suppose you could take a regular tourist bus to the Ring of Kerry and depart it there, and perhaps rejoin another tour a couple of days later, but the logistics strike me as rather burdensome. I shudder to think what a taxi or shared ride service would cost.
Car rental in Ireland is easy and relatively inexpensive, though you should invest in the full insurance coverage for your rental and watch the road shoulders: There is a reason for the ubiquitous tire (tyre) shops you'll see everywhere in the countryside. The roads are narrow, visibility poor, and dropping off the shoulder even by an inch will shred your tires. (I know. It happened to us.) And it requires driving on the left, although honestly, that's not as big a deal as most Americans seem to think it is. Pay attention and use common sense, and drive as slowly as you feel you need to--the majority of drivers seem to go under the posted limits, mind you, and others can pass--and you will be fine. Most cars take diesel fuel, and the majority are standard (stick-shift) transmission: If you need an automatic, reserve in advance, and expect to pay a premium. That said, I recommend an automatic even if you regularly drive stick, as the fact that you'll be driving while sitting on the right side of the car and would have to use your left hand to shift is one more distraction than necessary.
The Ring of Kerry is the primary road through the area, and it runs in a loop along the Kerry peninsula. The Ring in and of itself is a bit of a tourist attraction, with tour buses and much traffic throughout the day as people rush through on their way to kiss the Blarney Stone or visit Killarney National Park to the north or to visit this or that set of ruins. Most of the tour buses travel counterclockwise around the ring, so the typical suggestion to visitors is to go clockwise to avoid them and their crowds--though there's no avoiding the fact that the buses do take up in places a white-knuckle-inducing amount of the roadway!
Once you're in Kerry proper, there's only one way to get to Skellig Michael: by boat. More on this in a moment, after we get situated and figure out where to stay and eat while in town.
Staying There: Portmagee
The village of Portmagee is the most convenient place to stay, with its limited lodging options literally directly across from the harbor from which the Skellig tours depart. There are several other small towns nearby along the Ring of Kerry, including Cahersiveen (about 15 minutes away) and Waterville (about 20 minutes), and a few other options along the Skellig Ring (Ballinskelligs, 20 minutes). |
| The village of Portmagee as seen from the Skellig Experience visitors center |
Before we get much further, let me say one thing: Book more than one night in Portmagee (we stayed three nights). This has to do with the particulars of the Irish weather which I touched on above and the boat transportation to Skellig Michael. The weather changes frequently, and tour operators absolutely will not go out to the island in poor conditions. I'd hate to come all the way to Ireland and then have my one night in Portmagee end watching the rain and wind from my hotel window rather than from atop Skellig Michael. Again, more on the boats momentarily...
In Portmagee, lodging options are a bit thin. There's The Moorings, with the most rooms available (16) and the most convenient to the harbor itself. There are also a couple of B&Bs and guest houses nearby. That's it. What this means is that you need to book early, particularly if you're coming during high season (summer).
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| The Moorings and adjoining Bridge Bar pub |
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| Mushroom and cheese toast, I think |
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| Local fish in cream sauce |
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| Seafood sampler at Fisherman's Bar |
There's plenty else to do in the vicinity of Portmagee despite it being a small village; I'll come back to this in a later post, highlighting some of the things we did when we weren't visiting the island.
The Boat to Skellig Michael
Remember, Skellig Michael is an island, and getting there involves a boat. Ireland limits the number of visitors to Skellig Michael to only 180 people per day to help preserve the historic and cultural treasures of the island, and correspondingly limits the number of tour operators as well. Like your hotel, book early to avoid disappointment, and may also want to reserve more than one crossing date in case of bad weather.There are 15 licensed tour operators, all of whom have similar boats and charge similar prices to visit the island. Thirteen of them operate out of Portmagee (see why you should stay there?). Licenses are awarded by the Irish government every other year, which can make bookings a bit tricky, as no one operator is guaranteed to win a license. In fact, as I write this in March of 2019, the licenses for 2019 and 2020 have not yet been awarded, and no operators are able to take bookings for the season yet!
Most operators offer two different tour options: a "nature" or "eco" tour or cruise, and a "landing" tour. What you want is the landing tour, which actually goes to Skellig Michael and lets you explore the island for a few hours. The nature tours simply go out and around the rocks, giving you a tantalizing view of the island and its wildlife. They could be a nice consolation prize, I suppose, if you didn't get to land at the island, and they do operate more frequently through the day as well, which might offer the chance for a tantalizing sunset view of the island (an experience we didn't attempt when we visited, but which I'd love having subsequently seen The Last Jedi and its poignant penultimate scenes of the island).
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| A typical boat returning from the landing tour |
As you can see from the photo above, these are not exactly large boats. I cannot state often enough that the authorities limit visitors to Skellig Michael to a maximum of 180 per day, and yes, because of Star Wars, the demand to visit the island is very high, particularly with the extended Kerry and Skellig Michael footage in The Last Jedi. Book early! Some of the tour operators will let you sign up to be notified when and if they receive a license for the year and are able to start accepting bookings, which I highly recommend.
Also, you may consider making reservations for multiple days. All of the operators I checked with do require payment in advance (some a few days before the tour, some at time of booking), which means you will be paying for multiple tours... but you really want to go to the island, don't you? If your scheduled booking ends up cancelling due to weather, you'll get a refund--but getting onto a different tour at the last minute is nearly impossible due to the demand. As fickle as the weather is, don't travel all the way to Ireland, stay several days in Portmagee, and be disappointed due to your one chance to visit the island falling through.
We made reservations 2 days apart, figuring that if the weather canned our first booking, there would be a better chance it would clear up in two days rather than one. We discussed this with our tour operator, and they agreed, though they did remind us we'd be paying in advance for both tours. We ultimately did receive a refund for one of the bookings, as the subsequent trip did not get to run due to weather--leaving our successful outing the only one to operate within a 10 day span! Worst case assuming no weather cancellations would be making more than one trip to the island, which honestly wouldn't be a bad thing.
Finally, have a cell phone, or at least the contact info for your room at your hotel, because the night before and then early the morning of, your tour operator will confirm whether or not they'll be able to go that day--and in our case, SeaQuest advised on the morning of our reservation that they'd be leaving a half an hour earlier than scheduled to catch a break in weather. Some operators will re-confirm with you starting 2 days before your scheduled tour, and failing to re-confirm can lead to cancellation.
Summary
The website SkelligMichael.com offers a great overall summary of what to expect and how to plan (which I came across well after I started writing my own post); you may wish to visit their guide for more information, and of course use Google judiciously as well. To summarize my own points here:
- The season typically runs mid-May through the end of September
- The best weather is in late May and June
- Crowds are lowest later in the season
- Fly to Shannon (SNN), Cork (ORK), or Kerry (KIR) and rent a car
- Stay locally (Portmagee is my suggestion--13 out of 15 tour operators depart from there)
- Expect to pay 85 to 100 euros per person for the landing tour of Skellig Michael
- The weather is fickle--have backup plans to save disappointment! Consider multiple days' bookings, and stay in the area for several days to maximize your chances of success.
Next time, I'll talk about the logistics of the actual island visit (what to wear and bring) as well as the crossing--and yes, the crossing is a big deal!
Until then, may the Force be with you.
Quick Index - Visiting Skellig Michael Parts I - IV
- Basic logistics and background: Getting there, where to stay and eat, and booking a landing tour (this post)
- The crossing and logistics of the hike on Skellig Michael
- Touring the island and its Star Wars sites and sights
- Reenacting the final scene of The Force Awakens
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