Sruthan Quay is located on the west side of Cashla Bay on the northern shore of Galway Bay, about twenty miles west of Galway Docks. It offers a drying quay in a remote setting with good anchorage off its head and visitor moorings.

The anchorage affords good shelter and protection in most conditions though sometimes it can be subject to swell and best avoided in developed southerly conditions. Safe access is possible in all reasonable conditions, at all stages of the tide, night or day via a well-marked and dredged approach channel.

Keyfacts for Sruthan Quay

Position and approaches

Haven position

53° 16.258' N, 009° 34.833' W

this is the position at the head of the quay.

What is the initial fix?

This is the position in the North Sound of Galway Bay midway between Inishmore (Aran Islands) to the south, and Golam Head (Lettermullen Island) off the mainland to the north.

What are the key points of the approach?

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What's the story here?

Sruthan Quay is located on the northwestern shore and near the head of Cashla Bay which opens to the north side of the North Sound approach into Galway Bay. It is a drying quay with a large slipway at its head. The quay dries to its head and there are visitors’ moorings off the quay as well as a good anchorage. It is used by small and moderately sized open fishing boats, leisure craft and local Galway Hookers, a distinctive form of native Irish sailboat.




Sruthan Quay has good shelter and protection in most conditions. The narrows between Curraglass Point and Lion Point provides the upper part of Cashla Bay with good protection. It can sometimes be subject to swell, even in calm weather, and is untenable in south or southeasterly gales. During these times it is simply a matter of crossing over to Rossaveel.




There are 8 visitors’ moorings are available off the quay, yellow buoys moored in 3 metres LAT and rated to 15 tonnes. Many of the visitors moorings will here have local boats on them. If occupied there is a good anchorage about 100 metres off the quay in about 2.5 metres depth.

How to get in?

Offshore details are available in southwestern Ireland’s Coastal Overview for Mizen Head to Loop Head for seaward approaches and the Rossaveel Harbour provides directions for local approaches.

Do not be tempted to cut directly in for Sruthan Quay from the head of the narrows between Curraglass Point and Lion Point. There are two awash pinnacle rocks, marked by the port Sruthan Buoy, in this path. These lay at the outer end of a spit that also extends from the western shore with a number of unmarked below water rocks.

The safest approach to avoid all of these is not to turn for the quay until abreast of the last starboard buoy marking the turn-point for the approach to Rossaveel. At the top half of the tide, with a sufficient rise, a shallow draught craft may however pass over the below water rocks lying between the outer pinnacle rocks and the western shore.



Pick up a visitor mooring or anchor according to draught 100 to 200 metres off the quay at Sruthan.




There is also the opportunity to temporarily come alongside the quay although it dries at low water. Vessels that can take to the bottom can dry out where space is available. If coming alongside keep an eye out for small stone pillars that can be left in the water as a support for the outer bilge of a hooker when work is being undertaken on a boat here.

Why visit here?

Sruthán Quay, in Irish Céibh a Srutháin, takes its name from its stream. 'Sruthán' is a common term for a 'stream' with a streamlet, often called 'sruffane'. The sound of 'th' is often changed to that of 'f' in the Galway area, converting its sound to 'sruffan' or 'sruffaun' in common use.




Cashla Bay is covered in the Rossaveel Harbour entry. What Sruthán Quay offers is the potential to moor up close to the bay's classic working boats, the Galway Hookers. The quay is an important centre for this type of boat. Obvious jokes aside, Galway Hookers, Irish 'húiceár', are Galway’s traditional wooden sailing boats, that featured on the city’s coat of arms. In their day they were known as 'pucans' and 'gleotogs' and the term 'hookers' was an English description.




The iconic vessel has a broad jet-black hull, due to the pitch used for waterproofing, while the sails flying from a single thick mast are typically a distinctive rust colour. Small, tough and highly manoeuvrable, these wooden boats were the basis of local seafaring during the 19th-century and they continued to be used into the 20th-century. During this period the Galway Hooker was the primary method of transport between the Aran Islands and the mainland. They were also used along the Atlantic coast to ferry peat, cattle and beer. Nowadays they are mainly heritage vessels built and maintained by enthusiasts who keep them in a beautiful state of repair. The vessels are raced in numerous regattas along the Connemara coast and present a glorious sight when under sail.




From a boating perspective, Sruthan Quay had all the advantages of Cashla Bay, one of the most sheltered anchorages on this part of the coast with easy access in reasonable conditions. However, being in a completely out of the way location it does not have the busy fishing boats and high-speed ferry traffic associated with Rossaveel across the water.

What facilities are available?

There are limited facilities at Sruthan Quay but freshwater is available, with a petrol station and a shop close by. At nearby Carraroe (1-mile southwest) and Costelloe (1.5 miles east), there are further grocery shops, post offices, and pubs and hotels. Rossaveel, opposite, Fresh Water, Diesel, Marine Engineering.

A local bus service connects Carraroe to Galway city approx. 25 miles away.

Any security concerns?

Neve an issue know to occur at Sruthan Quay.

With thanks to:

With thanks to Padraic O'Toole, Rossaveel Marina.