
Portmagee is a pleasant harbour that affords good protection from all wind and sea conditions off the quay. Access requires normal navigation with due diligence. Although there are no specific dangers in the entrance, in fair conditions, once inside Reencaheragh Point the channel contracts and has off-lying rocks and reefs. The chart should be studied carefully on the approach to the quay. There is also an alternative northern approach via Portmagee Sound from Knightstown for shallow air draft vessels.
Keyfacts for Portmagee
Nature
Considerations
Protected sectors
Summary* Restrictions apply
A good location with attentive navigation required for access.Nature
Considerations
Position and approaches
Haven position
The pierhead at Portmagee village near the bridge.
What is the initial fix?

What are the key points of the approach?
Not what you need?
- Knightstown - 2.4 miles NE
- Ballinskellig Bay - 3.6 miles SE
- Cahersiveen Marina - 3.8 miles NE
- Great Skellig (Skellig Michael) - 5.8 miles SW
- Darrynane Harbour - 6.9 miles SE
- West Cove - 8.4 miles ESE
- Ventry Harbour - 8.5 miles N
- Great Blasket Island - 8.8 miles NNW
- Dingle Harbour - 9.5 miles NNE
- Sneem Harbour - 11.2 miles ESE
- Knightstown - 2.4 miles NE
- Ballinskellig Bay - 3.6 miles SE
- Cahersiveen Marina - 3.8 miles NE
- Great Skellig (Skellig Michael) - 5.8 miles SW
- Darrynane Harbour - 6.9 miles SE
- West Cove - 8.4 miles ESE
- Ventry Harbour - 8.5 miles N
- Great Blasket Island - 8.8 miles NNW
- Dingle Harbour - 9.5 miles NNE
- Sneem Harbour - 11.2 miles ESE
Chart
What's the story here?

Image: SYGAL 93 via CC BY-SA 2.0
Portmagee is a small village and fishing harbour situated at the west end of Portmagee Channel. The channel opens immediately to the south of Bray Head and at the seaward end of the strait that separates Valentia Island from the mainland. The anchoring area is 2½ miles east of Bray Head in Portmagee Sound, between the mainland where there is a pier and Valentia Island.
Portmagee offers a secure anchorage off the pier in 5 metres, opposite Skelling Heritage Centre. The pier is best avoided as it is mainly used by fishing vessels and subject to strong tides. There is a pontoon with limited depth close east of the pier but it has 2 meters on outermost berth at LW.
The pontoon is usually busy with tourists boarding tour boats from 9am - 7pm. This is something to note about Portmagee in general, although remote, it can be a busy spot during the summer with Skelling Tour boats flying up and down creating an uncomfortable anchorage during the day.
How to get in?

Image: Fáilte Ireland
Nevertheless, it is a ¼ of a mile wide and free of obstacles.

Image: Tobias Abel via CC BY-SA 2.0
Pass into the narrows of Portmagee Sound positioned in midchannel between Reencaheragh Point and Scughaphort Reef. Here you will see rocky islands to the north off Valentia Island and a reef fringing the mainland shoreline.
Once the narrows open continue east-northeast on a midchannel route until you see Quay Brack abeam to port. Care required east of Reencaheragh Point, on the south side due to its rocky ledges. Continuing up to the harbour pass midchannel between Valentia Island and Loughan Islet, 4 meters and surrounded by foul ground, which lies off the mainland shore. From here the pier and village will become visible.

Image: rst999

Image: Tourism Ireland
Alternatively, by anchoring off the north shore you will avoid the worst of the current, the tour boat wash and be less of an obstruction to manoeuvring fishing vessels. Avoid the section close west of the pier where an underwater cable runs to Carriglea Point.

Image: Doug Snider
There is a road bridge across the channel at Portmagee. The original eleven-metre wide opening span is no longer operational and the bridge is now permanently closed. Hence only shallow air-draft vessel may pass under the bridge to anchor further up the Portmagee Channel.
The channel provides a high water depth of 4.6 metres up to Knightstown but local knowledge is required as the channel is obstructed by rocks and the navigation is challenging.
Why visit here?
Portmagee, known in Irish as "An Caladh", or 'the Ferry because of the once constant traffic back and forth between the village and nearby Valentia Island. It is a quiet picturesque village and southwest Kerry’s main fishing centre. Today, the two are linked by the harbour road bridge.
Image: Doug Snider
The English name ‘Portmagee’ comes from a notorious 18th-century smuggler Captain Theobald Magee; originally it was known as Magee's Port. Theobald Magee was a retired officer from King James' army who became a merchant trader shipping goods between Portugal, France and Ireland. Owing to the difficulty of policing the intricately jagged southwest coastline, his trade opportunistically turned to extremely profitable contraband spirits, textiles, tea and tobacco. He married Bridget Morgell, the widow of a rich Dingle merchant and daughter of the then MP for County Kerry, Thomas Crosby.
Being related to the best smuggler in Ireland placed Crosby in a difficult position and he managed to have Magee exiled to Lisbon. Magee subsequently died in a Lisbon monastery and the suspicion was that Thomas Crosby was the author of his departure. That, however, was not the end of the smuggling as his wife Bridget and their sons continued the family trade.

Photo: Fáilte Ireland
Access to Valentia Island is now via the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge from Portmagee. Today Portmagee is the main departure point for boat trips to the Skellig Islands
Interestingly, Portmagee is the holder of an unusual 160-year-old tradition called the "Old Year", a parade that is held on New Year's Eve.
What facilities are available?
Limited quantities of provisions can be obtained from this small remote fishing village. Fresh water is laid on at the pier, and there are pubs and a good restaurant and in the vicinity.Any security concerns?
Never an issue known to have occurred in Portmagee.With thanks to:
Burke Corbett, Gusserane, New Ross, Co. Wexford. Updates with thanks to Mike Medcalf and Joseph Kiernan.


_HarbourSarah Gallagher cc by sa 2.0.jpg)



An aerial view Portmagee
Add your review or comment:
Mike Medcalf wrote this review on Aug 4th 2014:
pontoon berths now available in the harbour - moorings have been removed
Average Rating: UnratedJoseph Kiernan wrote this review on Jan 11th 2019:
Very busy spot during the summer with Skelling Tour boats flying up and down creating an uncomfortable anchorage during the day. Limited depth at pontoon with tourists boarding tour boats from 9am-7pm 2 meters on outermost berth at LW.
Average Rating:




Michael Harpur wrote this review on Apr 3rd 2019:
Thank you Mike and Joseph,
I have added your insights to the main body.
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