Another day in Ireland and this morning the M/S Endeavour slipped from the open Atlantic into the serene waters of Bantry Bay in County Cork, and continued for twenty miles to an extremely sheltered anchorage among wooded islands where the rhododendrons were still in bloom. As we went ashore in the Zodiacs we paused to view several common seals hauled out on the rocks. They viewed us too, some of them dark and wet having just hauled out of the rising tide, while others, still quite dry and on higher rocks were a very light shade of buff.

Later we took a bus ride to Bantry House, a magnificent 18th century mansion radiating a faded grandeur which in this century can only survive through the income derived from tourism. We made our own contribution.

The gardens are on the grand scale as befits such an imposing mansion. At the moment the outer reaches, which had become overgrown over the years, are bring brought back into pristine condition, especially the great walled garden.

Among the surrounding trees a song thrush sang while somewhere in the background the coo of a stock dove could be heard. A pair of spotted flycatchers, returned from Africa, made repeated sorties to snap up insects beside one of the logs.

We later spent some time in the town of Bantry with all its brightly colored houses.

In the afternoon we visited the Italian Garden on Garinish Island in the inner bay. Magnificent is the only word to describe it and its superb flowering shrubs from the warmer parts of the world. A gardener's delight - and a botanist's too. Another wonderful day in a superb setting.