Skellig Michael

A twin-pinnacled crag of about twenty-two hectares, 11.6 kilometres west of the Iveragh Peninsula, rising to 218 metres at the Spit with a central valley called Christ’s Saddle between the peaks. It and Little Skellig were formed some 374 to 360 million years ago in the same mountain-building episode that raised MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, and rising water later cut them off from the mainland. The Gaelic monastery founded here between the sixth and eighth centuries survives in unusually good condition. Gannets, puffins, razorbills and around fifty grey seals live on it.