Waterville

Maybe it was just the nice light at the end of the day (the same day we weren't able to visit Skellig Michael due to the morning's bad weather), but this beach turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Which meant I took a lot of pictures.

The town faces out across Ballinskelligs Bay toward the open Atlantic and I suspect it can get pretty exciting sometimes. The community is oriented toward the beach, with a nice park, and is protected from those nasty storms by either a high gravel berm or by some very impressive stacks of riprap (much of it red sandstone).

AERIAL VIEW

The beach has the red tone I saw on a lot of these local beaches and that I suspect reflects the oxidized Devonian source for much of this material. There were steep eroding bluffs in both directions, exposing what appeared to be glacial drift (it doesn't look much like the drift we see on Puget Sound).

Northeast of Waterville, beyond the short stretch of bluffs, lies Inny Strand. Unlike Waterville, Inny is a spit with a well-developed set of dunes (and therefore a well-developed golf course). The golf course is protected from the sea by more riprap.