July 18: Malahide to Grand Canal Dock, Dublin

The first leg of our adventure required moving our boat from her home of the last two years in Malahide, down to the Grand Canal Dock in Dublin. This involved entering Dublin port and the well-trafficked Liffey. We also had to make it past the Eastlink Bridge, one of the main traffic connections between North and South Dublin. To schedule a lift, I called the port and they scheduled us for an 11:00 lift. This put us on a schedule.

I arrived at the boat early in the afternoon on Friday. I was meeting Seamus,  the mechanic who has worked on our engine. We wanted a quick once over. When I arrived, he delivered the bad news, that the starter batteries were dead. After a quick call to the amazing Colin Coady, there were replacement batteries waiting for me at a store down towards Dublin. I quickly rented a car, and dashed off to pick them up. Within two hours, the new batteries were installed. That just left fueling up, which only took a few minutes. Now I was ready to go.

Modi in Malahide

Our friend Johnny kindly volunteered to help me make the trip. He estimated that it would take three hours, so he suggested we leave at 7:30. I woke up early to calm drizzly weather and staggered up to Tesco (the only shop open in town) for a coffee.

I met Johnny at the main gate on my way back to the boat. I got the engine started while he got the lines ready. It wasn't long and we were under way. The boat was happy to be moving, and we made close to 6 knots all the way around Howth Head and down towards the mouth of the Liffey. 

We had been using the autopilot all the way down from Malahide. As we motored up the river we passed an old fueling depot. Just at this point, the autopilot suddenly decided to steer us hard to port -- right for the fuel dock. I quickly turned it off, and scrambled to get us back on course. Johnny suggested that the coupling with the tiller might have come loose. I would have to check it out, but it would be a long time until we needed it again.

Sea route from Malahide to Grand Canal Docks, Dublin

Our rather clipping pace meant that we arrived early and slowed down as we motored up the river. Johnny radioed the port and found out that there was a lift at 10:30 for a local ferry. We hovered close to the bridge as the ferry quickly approached. Once she passed us, I moved as fast as I could to follow her. We could see cars and bicycles watching us from the bridge as we passed.

Safely past the Eastlink Bridge

Sarah had been planning on coming down to watch the bridge lift at 11:00. I called to tell her that we would be going through at 10:30. She ran all the way down to the river with the dogs and Andrea in the stroller. She missed our going through, but we were still waiting outside the lock when she arrived. We motored back across the river to say hi.

We ended up waiting for another boat which came through at the 11:00 lift before we entered the lock. By noon we were at our berth in the basin and went to grab a bit to eat and a strong coffee.

Mission accomplished!