I got to know Chris O'Grady very well in the 1970s. In the 1960s, geologist Adrian Phillips did his doctoral thesis on Clare Island, comparing what he found at that time to the original Clare Island Survey. As a geology student in TCD in the 1960s, we spent two weeks on a field trip in the Louisbourg area and at that time, I first visited Clare Island. It was a very different place in those days but I was completely smitten by the sheer beauty of the place and after my marriage in 1972, I spent the next seven years holidaying on Clare Island always for the last three weeks in June. Chris and his wife ran the Bay View Hotel at that time and always made us very welcome. I spent a lot of time with Chris on his boat as he guided us to dive sites on the nearby islands and sea rocks including Bill's Rock some twelve miles to the west. At the end of many dives, I would attempt to mount the sea rocks and gather rock samples which I would pass on to Adrian Phillips who was still in TCD and continuing his research. I remember well the friends I made on the island including Micheal Joe O'Malley who seemed to have a sixth sense which told him when I arrived on the island and he would come to the hotel bar to seek me out. I have fond memories of sitting in his cottage in front of the fire drinking his gorse wine and home-made 'guinness'!! The last time I saw Chris was when he brought his Clare Island ferry to Dublin to shuffle visitors to and from the JFK aircraft carrier. I was also in touch with him after the fire in the hotel during which destroyed his family photos. and I sent him some I had taken of him and his father during the St. John's Day celebrations on the island.. If I could go back in time, it would be to those days spent on Clare Island
I got to know Chris O'Grady very well in the 1970s. In the 1960s, geologist Adrian Phillips did his doctoral thesis on Clare Island, comparing what he found at that time to the original Clare Island Survey. As a geology student in TCD in the 1960s, we spent two weeks on a field trip in the Louisbourg area and at that time, I first visited Clare Island. It was a very different place in those days but I was completely smitten by the sheer beauty of the place and after my marriage in 1972, I spent the next seven years holidaying on Clare Island always for the last three weeks in June. Chris and his wife ran the Bay View Hotel at that time and always made us very welcome. I spent a lot of time with Chris on his boat as he guided us to dive sites on the nearby islands and sea rocks including Bill's Rock some twelve miles to the west. At the end of many dives, I would attempt to mount the sea rocks and gather rock samples which I would pass on to Adrian Phillips who was still in TCD and continuing his research. I remember well the friends I made on the island including Micheal Joe O'Malley who seemed to have a sixth sense which told him when I arrived on the island and he would come to the hotel bar to seek me out. I have fond memories of sitting in his cottage in front of the fire drinking his gorse wine and home-made 'guinness'!! The last time I saw Chris was when he brought his Clare Island ferry to Dublin to shuffle visitors to and from the JFK aircraft carrier. I was also in touch with him after the fire in the hotel during which destroyed his family photos. and I sent him some I had taken of him and his father during the St. John's Day celebrations on the island..
If I could go back in time, it would be to those days spent on Clare Island
Nice:)