When we departed Portmagee we couldn't yet see the island, just the top. While we made our way the island kept rising from the sea and we felt as if we had entered a fantasy story. Think Mordor in Lord of the Rings.

I had tied me getting tickets for the island to a friend's proposal to join him on a road trip of Ireland. My friend was aware of my peculiar priorities in travel, so he understood. And when we stepped off the boat onto the island, he fully appreciated the efforts I had invested into getting us there.

The island now houses plenty of birds that don't seem care much for those few pesky visitors each day. We got to see plenty of puffins up close. They also left lasting nasty imprints on my rain coat (definitively recommend to bring and wear). Apart from the birds, during visiting season there are also several guides on the island. They will provide some background information on the birds and monks. It's fascinating imagining the monks rowing out to the island and living in their beehives.

To me it's a bit weird that this was inscribed only as cultural site. The remoteness and the landscape were key reasons for the monks to settle here. You also now have a unique bird sanctuary. If this doesn't justify a mixed inscription, I don't know what should. No matter what, this is truly one of the great sites of the list.

Reservations

Thanks to recent Star Wars fame getting onto the island has gotten infinitely more difficult than it had already been before. Apparently, loads of the 180 places (15 boats with 12 passengers per day) are reserved one year in advance. Some operators, though, only open reservations in March for the year, so this should help. In any case book as early as possible. Season runs from May to September. For the rest of the year landing on the island is not possible due to the rough seas.

In my case, I visited in shoulder season (end of May), but still had a hard time getting two places on a boat three months in advance. I ended up contacting multiple operators via mail. After an additional phone call with Pat and Pat taking out his notebook and marking me down, I had my seats. And just to be on the safe side, I called a few days in advance to confirm. I don't trust oral confirmations all that much, but all worked out fine. By the way, Pat was complaining about calls from all over the world at very strange hours, so be mindful of the timezone difference. Lucky for us, Pat owns the fastest boat and even though we started late we were the first at the island.

To get a seat you may have to be flexible on your dates. You should contact as many operators as possible. Those that have a website (not paper notebooks) sell out the fastest, so your best bet may be to call up those that don't. If you call, do this during normal hours for Ireland. In the case of Pat, his office hours were in the evening or while his passengers are hiking on the island (11:00 GMT). Turns out there is cell reception on the Skelligs, at least in some parts. You may also want to try operators not departing from Portmagee. I think there are 1-2 other ports from where you can take the tour. If nothing else helps, you can always take the ecotour. You will miss out on the monastery, but still get a look of the pristine land- and seascape and the birds.

Finally, not all hope is lost. On our boat we had two passengers who had booked the same week. My hunch is that if you go to the pier before the boats depart (9 a.m.) and ask around you may get lucky that day or a few days later. I am not sure how many no shows they have, but it must be some. Supposedly some customers reserve multiple consecutive days to be on the safe side.

Getting There and In

We came the night before by car, the preferred mode of transport for the area. I think there are also daily buses to Killarney I presume, but you would be missing out a lot without your own transport.

In Portmagee the boats all depart from the same pier. At first, it's a bit confusing, as most boats depart around the same time, so it gets quite busy. But the operators are a close knit community so you can just ask around. Indeed, the locals all know each other as we had found out the previous night when having dinner at Fisherman's Bar and Skelling Restaurant "Ah, you are going with Pat from Waterville?". The restaurant comes highly recommended. They are situated just in front of the pier and the sea food platter is epic.

The island has no toilets and the boats only have an emergency one. So it's best to take care of that before you board the boat. There is one breakfast place in town, so grab a coffee and make use the opportunity. On the boat you will get rain gear if you haven't brought your own, and the usual safety gear. The rain gear is compulsory as you will get quite a few showers along the way.

While You Are There

Portmagee is on the Ring of Kerry, one of the classic drives in Ireland. On the Southern side of the Ring of Kerry you can visit one of the stone forts (Staigue). While Staigue is interesting it's Dan Aengus on the Aran Islands you want to visit. You will also drive through Killarney National Park, a former site. Apparently not WHS material, but it's still pretty nice.

If you are on a road trip, driving to Dingle Peninsula is a must including a stop at Inch Beach, one of the prime surf spots of Ireland.

Looking on potential sites and near misses for me, Valentia Island on the other side of Portmagee is planning a submission. The first transatlantic telephone cables were laid here in the 19th century.