Coral Beach and the Connemara Seaside
26 September 2018
One of the highlights of our honeymoon trip to Ireland was following the advice of a local and finding ourselves at the amazing Coral Beach. It was a great time, and made for a really great story. Cruising along the Connemara coastline brought us back through the little town of Carraroe and down to the Coral Beach.
We learned the secret of Coral Beach last time, so there was less of the shock of discovery as we stepped back onto that crunchy sand. Still, the place has a sense of magic about it, and the beach is just as wild and beautiful as it was before. Those little micro-environments were scattered all through the rocks, with tons of sea life clinging to the edges just under the surface of the salty water. The colors and textures of the beach are unlike anything else, and the lack of surprise this time didn’t do anything to lessen our appreciation. Sometimes, when you travel back to places you’ve been, there are things you know you can skip and things you will always return to. This is one spot where we will always return, no matter how many times we come through here.
I did learn something a bit new, however: the “coral” on coral beach is not actually the coral that forms reefs underwater. Rather, it is a type of seaweed that hardens as it dies. The hardened plants then wash ashore, where they strongly resemble the coral living in the sea. But it is not the same thing. I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed when I first found this out, but as I thought more about it, I came to appreciate just how much more unique that makes this spot.
We drove up further through Connemara to find more beaches! Heading up R336 had us pass a sign for a café. We figured “hey, we could use more coffee.” Then we almost skidded off the road as the turn came up much faster than we expected! We really have to work on our sense of how far away 200 meters is! That being said, it was a nice little spot in the middle of nowhere, with a nice lady running it, and Aran sweaters draped over some tables if you wanted to buy one. This is a great part of the country, no shortage of adventures for sure!
We wound our way down a tiny little dirt road looking for another beach that we just gave up finding, but did manage to find our way down to the coast along a few other spots, including a nice beach in Derrygimla called White Strand, which had some of the most amazing rock features. The way they swirled with the shapes and colors made them look like a natural appreciation of the movement of the sea. Spectacular!
