Dursey Island Stock Photography

Dursey Island lies at the southwestern tip of the Beara Peninsula in the west of County Cork in Ireland. Dursey Island is 6.5 km long and 1.5 km wide. The island is separated from the mainland by a narrow stretch of water called Dursey Sound which has a very strong tidal race, with the submerged Flag Rock close to the centre of the channel. The island has just six or so permanent wintertime residents, and is connected to the mainland by Ireland's only cable car. Dursey has no shops, pubs or restaurants. The island has a number of nesting colonies of seabirds, and dolphins, whales and basking sharks are sometimes seen in the seas surrounding the island. The island and cable-car are popular with day-trippers and walkers during the summer months. There is waymarked section of the Beara Way which loops around the island. Spanning Dursey Sound, the aerial tramway is Ireland's only cable car, and one of the only cable cars which traverse the sea in all of Europe. It is one of the island's main attractions. Dursey Sound is also one of the signature discovery points along the Wild Atlantic Way - a coastal touring route which stretches along Ireland's Atlantic coastline.