Dublin Boat Tours

"We took the late afternoon sailing out of Dún Laoghaire and spent a good twenty minutes drifting beside Dalkey Island while grey seals surfaced around the hull. The skipper cut the engine so we could hear the swell slapping the rocks and the gulls overhead. Bring a windproof layer even when the pier looks calm, because it is a different world once you clear the breakwater."

"Seeing the red and white Poolbeg chimneys from the water completely resets your sense of scale, and the Great South Wall looks far longer than it does on foot. We had our dublin boat tours tickets sorted a week ahead and still managed to grab the open stern bench, which is where you want to be for photographs. The lighthouse at the end of the wall is the shot everyone leans over the rail for."

"The crossing out toward Ireland's Eye was rougher than I expected and spray came over the bow twice, so the open deck emptied fairly quickly. The gannets circling the cliffs and the Baily Lighthouse catching low sun more than made up for damp sleeves. If you feel motion easily, sit midship rather than at the back."

"Starting on the river and sliding under the Samuel Beckett Bridge before the harbour opens out is a clever way to string Dublin landmarks together in one run. Our guide pointed out the Bull Island sandbanks and explained the Dublin Bay Biosphere designation without it turning into a lecture. Herons on the mudflats, container cranes on one side, green headland on the other."

"On paper the dublin boat tours tours all read much the same, but this one went properly tight under the Howth Head cliffs where the rock goes rust-coloured. Evening light, cormorants on every ledge, and the skipper easing the bow into the mouth of a sea cave until the engine note echoed back at us. My partner, who usually hates boats, stayed out on deck the whole way."

"Almost no wind, water like poured glass, and the Sugarloaf ridge sitting clear on the southern horizon. Of the Dublin Bay boat tour options we compared, this one ran the smallest group, maybe fourteen of us, so everybody had a stretch of rail to themselves. We spotted a pod of porpoises about halfway across."

"Thick sea fog rolled in off the Irish Sea and we never really saw Ireland's Eye, which is nobody's fault but made for a flat couple of hours. The crew were straight with us about visibility before we left the pier and handed out blankets once we were out. I would happily try again on a clearer day because the stretch we could see was lovely."

"Our turas bád Bhaile Átha Cliath ran along the Great South Wall and brought us right under the Poolbeg Lighthouse, white and sharp against heavy grey cloud. Terns were diving all around the channel marker and the wind carried the smell of diesel and seaweed together. Wet hair, cold hands, very happy."

"We used a skip-the-line Dublin harbour cruise option and walked straight past the queue at the Dún Laoghaire pier gate, which made the whole morning calmer. Out on the water the city skyline sat low behind us while Howth rose ahead, and the crew handed round binoculars for the seal colony. Two hours went quickly."

"Low afternoon sun turned the bay pewter and made the Dún Laoghaire breakwater look like a long dark pencil line across the water. The dublin boat tours running that late in the season still filled most of the seats, and the cabin was warm enough between stints on deck. Hot drinks on board were a small thing that mattered a lot."