066-915 0530 || 
Tuesday, April 24, 1984.
Another fine sunny day. Weather more like July than April and the area busy with tourists.
Heard that Tim O’Mahoney, the Toyota man, is planning to stage a marathon in the Ballyferriter area next year with up to £30,000 in sponsorship.
Wednesday, April 25.
What a day! The heatwave goes on. The tar is melting on the roads and everyone wearing shorts. Closed the art exhibition at Siamsa and delivered paintings to artists and buyers.
Getting ready to go to Washington re the St Brendan trans-Atlantic yacht race and have had some very generous contributions to my trip from local businesses and individuals.
Thursday, April 26.
The fine weather continues and news this morning of a big fire in the Killarney woods with reports of two square miles of trees destroyed. Can this be true?
A man working on the stone wall around the old school in Ballyferriter found a spud stone in the wall and was about to break it up but I rescued it.
The Stations were held in the Hannafin family home in Beenbawn tonight.
Friday, April 27.
Another fantastic day - real summer weather and never saw the likes of it in April. Should be hearing the cuckoo any day now. Went for a pull around the harbour with Hutch and Paudo after tea.
Saturday, April 28.
Another brilliant day and if it keeps up we’ll have water rationing and the grasslands will burn.
Bought a fine suitcase from Foxy John for £28 then home and began packing for Washington.
Sunday, April 29.
All packed and headed to Tralee. Met photographer Michael Digging who gave me a lift to Shannon airport.
I hate flying so took Tim O’Mahony’s advice and had a brandy before boarding. We took off at 1.30pm and touched down in New York at 2.30pm local time. Former world champion boxer Floyd Patterson was on our flight to New York and spent most of the time signing autographs. Had to wait six hours for a plane to Washington. It took over half an hour for the plane to taxi into the take off position. The flight to Washington took 35 minutes. We were met by members of the St Brendan committee. We loaded our cases into a station wagon but lost one off the roof rack on the road. Drivers coming behind us flagged us down to tell us about it. So we turned back and located the case which had been trashed by passing traffic!
Monday, April 30.
Spent the day sightseeing and visiting the Smithsonian Institutes. No admission charges and everything spotlessly clean.
Am staying with Jim Ruland and family. He works in the Pentagon and is the chair of the St Brendan committee here. Later we went to a pub, The Irish Times, owned by Hugh Kelly who was in school with me in Gormanston many years ago.
Tuesday, May 1.
Went to a reception in the Irish Embassy where I met other members of the Irish group, 25 in all, including Billy Granville, Eoin Keane and Matt Britton of the Dún an Óir Hotel. I had to leave early to give an illustrated talk on the heritage of the Dingle Peninsula to the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Wednesday, May 2.
Arrived for a tour of the White House at 8am. Later visited the Air and Space Museum and saw the Wright Brothers plane, plus the Spirit of St Louis. Had lunch with Billy Granville and Breandán Feiritéar of Radio na Gaeltachta.
Went to a reception for our group in the Capitol building where Tip O’Neill was the special guest. He was delighted when Eoin Keane, like a magician, pulled out a vacuum packed smoked salmon from inside his jacket and presented it to him.
Thursday, May 3.
Visited Arlington cemetery which covers around 600 acres of beautiful parkland. Saw JFK’s grave and also that of his brother Bobby.
Later drove to Annapolis on the coast of Maryland and another reception in the Governor’s mansion. There’s great interest in the whole St Brendan story here.
Friday, May 4.
Had a tour of the naval academy in Annapolis which has over 4,500 cadets. Saw the sarcophagus of John Paul Jones, the credited founder of the American navy. But many of our hosts disagree with this and contend that it was Wexford man John Barry who founded the service.
Later, went to the dockside and met the local currach team who had one of Monty O’Leary’s canoes. It was an unexpected sight on Chesapeake Bay.
Saturday May 5.
Regatta day in Annapolis, mainly sailing but also some currach racing. There were three canoes in the four-man race, namely, Annapolis, New York and Boston. The Boston lads made a bad start, lost an oar and ended up cursing and swearing at each other. The race was over two miles. New York won easily and the crew were all West Kerry men.
Later, I rowed in the two-man race and we came second.
