After last years short cruise on the River Shannon with Emerald Star, the crusing bug stuck with me and in the latter half of 2016 I booked a week long cruise from Portumna for April 2017. For this trip I also persuaded the family to come along as well.

For my second trip with Emerald Star, I had booked one of their "Shannon Star" Class of boats which is a 25 year old veteran of the River Shannon. Click here for full details.

Two weeks before the start of the cruise, I received a phone call from the Emerald Star sales team informing me that my booking had been upgraded to their brand new "Horizon 3" class boat. The Horizon 3 is being launched into service for the 2017 season across the Emerald Star / Le Boat bases in Ireland / UK and Europe and is part of the Horizon family of boats which also include the Horizon 1, Horizon 2-S and Horizon 4. Click here for full details of the Horizon 3

The Horizon class of boats are built by Delphia Yachts in Warsaw, Poland to the Horizon 1150 and Horizon 1350 specs with different internal layouts to suit the various sleeping arrangements of the "1", "2-S", "3" and "4" type of Horizon boats.

Day 1: Saturday 15th April 2017:
So on Easter Saturday our party arrived at the Emerald Star base in Portumna a little after 1330. Berthed at the dock waiting for us to board was a Horizon 3 Class boat No. 2, which was the second Horizon boat to be built to the bigger 13.50 metre design for Emerald Star / Le Boat. We quickly got our supplies onboard the boat and checked in with the Emerald Star staff. With our induction done by 1450 we cast off from Portumna and headed out to the Shannon and waited for the bridge to open at 1500.
Once through the bridge we headed south to Lough Derg and after a rather choppy run in places we arrived into Garrykennedy a little before 1730. The Horizon boats have bow and stern thrusters and this made docking at Garrykennedy against the wind a doddle. Hopefully it be the same for the rest of the week!

Day 2: Easter Sunday 16th April 2017
The second day on the Shannon was a short 22km cruise from Garrykennedy to Killaloe with a lunch time stop at Mountshannon on the Clare side of Lough Derg. Berth space was at a premium in both locations. The Shannon is busy this Easter weekend.

Day 3: Easter Monday 17th April 2017
For the third day we had a long haul journey of 78km from Killaloe to Shannonbridge, a journey of 10 hours! We left at 0700 and headed to Terryglass for an early lunch and arrived there just before 1100. We left at 1200 and made the short hop to Portumna Bridge to wait for that to open at 1230.
Once through the bridge we dropped into the Emerald Star base to top up our diesel and empty the waste tanks on the boat. Once that was done we headed direct to Shannonbridge where we arrived at 1730.

Day 4: Tuesday 18th April 2017
We left Shannonbridge at 1000 and headed northwards to Athlone, passing Clonmacnoise 45 minutes later. The sun was out, no wind and it made for a lovely trip to Athlone sitting up on the flybridge watching the world slowly go by.
Arrival into Athlone Lock was at 1215 and once through that we docked at the nearby town marina for a long lunch break and walk around the town and also to pick up some supplies for the latter half of the week.
Departure from Athlone was at 1610, slightly later than planned as the engine wouldn't start! After fault finding by the crew, the issue was rectified and we were soon leaving for the 60 minute voyage to Wineport Lodge to dock for the night. As Wineport Lodge is a private jetty to overnight there you need to have a meal in the hotel's restaurant. I had booked this several days prior to departure. Beware if there is a wedding at the hotel the restaurant is closed. My original plan was to overnight here on Thursday but there is a wedding taking place on that night so the cruise schedule was amended.

Day 5: Wednesday 20th April 2017
We departed from Wineport Lodge at 0930 and made our way through Killinure Lough into Lough Ree, going to the east of Hare Island before heading directly to Lanesborough for lunch. After lunch it was a three hour 30 minute cruise to Dromod, with stops for two locks and bridges at Tarmonbarry and Roosky.
On arrival at Dromod we emptied the twin waste tanks on the boat using the pump out machine and then berthed the boat for the night ahead.

Day 6: Thursday 20th April 2017. We set off from Dromod at 1000 to begin our long journey back towards Portumna. Progress through Roosky took longer than planned as the bridge was slow in being opened (waiting 15 minutes), then we stopped for supplies at the local Centra before heading to the lock where we had to wait a while to get through the lock.
Due to the Roosky delays we didn't make it to Tarmonbarry in time for the lock keepers lunch so we tied up on the North end of the bridge with another Emerald Star cruiser and went to Keenan's pub for some lunch.
After the lock keeper had his lunch break we were able to proceed directly to Hodson Bay for the night and we arrived there at about 1730.

Day 7: Friday 21st April 2017 Our last full day on the boat saw us set off from the Hodson Bay Hotel a little after 0950 heading for Athlone. I held the boat a short while just to the north of the railway bridge to photograph the 0815 Ballina - North Wall IWT liner crossing over. After that we proceeded through the lock and headed to Clonmacnoise for lunch and a tour of the ruins.
After Clonmacnoise we headed straight to Shannon Harbour to moor for the night, I was suprised to see another boat moored at the jetty, thankfully there was still enough room for us to moor.

Day 8: Saturday 22nd April 2017 An early start this morning to clean the boat in preparation for handback to Emerald Star. We left Shannon Harbour just before 0900 and made great time to Victoria Lock thanks to a strong current. Leaving the lock at 1010 and not required to be back at Portumna to 1200, the throttle was set to half power and we did a sedate 7kph all the way to Portumna arriving on base at 1145. The end of the voyage. The end of a great week.