Last year The Irish Times asked people to write about their favorite places to “Go Wild In”. This entry gives you a feel for this place. :)     For me,  going wild in Ireland is:  Time spent in my special places around Ballylickey, Bantry, West Cork. Stepping out of the car and feeling the first taste of a salty Atlantic wind in your face, while looking at the magnificence that is Bantry Bay, Taking the bikes on the little ferry from Bantry and cycling on rarely used roads on the sleepy Whiddy Island,  (and enjoying a delicious chowder afterwards in the islands only pub. ) Collecting cockles and mussels at Eagle Point in Ballylickey and eating them, straight from the shell off the BBQ. Getting up early to spot the otter at Snave, and feeding the swans under the falls at the Ouvane in welly boots and raincoats. Daily morning swims followed by a feast of Lucys Cupps buttery scones, [...]

One of the main early attractions, at Eagle Point in the 1940/50s was the Eagle Point Seine Salmon fishery. This traditional fishery, had been run for several generation of our family, from the 'Salmon rock', the big rock off the main beach. A crew of four men, three in the seine boat and one on the rock, would wait, watching the water for a salmon to jump. The men in the boat, on seeing this, would row out, throw out a net in a semicircle formation, and row back to shore. The net, then  would be pulled in and the catch sorted, boxed and made ready for collection later in the day.   In those days, a sustainable living was made from the fisheries, and the rivers teemed with fish. At least three generation of our family lived off the fisheries but that all stopped with the era of drift nets in the 1970’s. The drift net fishing boats decimated [...]

Hello to everyone we know and to those we have yet to meet.  We are Siobhan and  Elizabeth Sullivan and we run Eagle Point Camping. Those of you, who know Eagle Point, know that this piece of land is on a peninsula in the inner waters of Bantry Bay, where 2 rivers meet the sea. The Ouvane River flows in on the south side and the Coomhola River on the north side.   We are blessed to be surrounded by water, and to look out over magnificent Bantry Bay and the Caha mountains.   This fortunate accident of geology and nature, created a wonderful bit of land. Our father, Willie David Sullivan, created this campsite, Eagle Point Camping in the 1940s, and our Mother, Hannah Sullivan carried it on. It passed, in turn to us and we are delighted to be able to continue the tradition of inviting people to enjoy this wonderful place, that over the years has given, and continues [...]