Ryan Tubridy was on the Wild Atlantic Way route all this week and decided to pop into The Moorings on Friday to broadcast his morning show live from Portmagee. It was a wonderful boost to have the Radio One crew in the village.
Ryan tried to visit Skellig Michael the day before but the weather was not on his side. However by the time he arrived at The Moorings last night, the sun magically appeared and he enjoyed a drink and bit of relaxation out in the gorgeous sun.
We were delighted to have Aoife Scott playing live music and she sang the famous song “All Along the Wild Atlantic Way”.
Lucy Hunt from Sea Synergy in Waterville was also interviewed by Ryan and she was there to talk about the Marine Awareness and Activity Centre. It’s a wonderful place to visit show casing what is beneath the Wild Atlantic Way.
Ger Kennedy as always had everyone including Ryan in stitches when he was interviewed this morning. Telling the story of when the cast and crew first visited The Moorings back in 2014. At the time they were not told why they needed 180 rooms other than for a ‘Puffin Tour’, which of course Ger and Patricia (proprietors of The Moorings) knew it was something much more. Regardless of the little information they did have, they still helped organise houses and hotels for the 180 people which was a fantastic boost for business in Portmagee. But what they didn’t reliase at the time, it was going to be a much bigger boost in time to come and last a lot longer!
One day JJ Abrams walked into the bar and handed Ger a card which said Lucus Films. He asked Ger if he knew of Ryan’s Daughter the movie – Ger answered “of course”.
“ Well” he said “this movie will be much bigger than that”.
The cast and crew arrived (all very secret) and stayed for 6 weeks filming segments of the Star Wars movies, The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (due out December 2017). Everyone in Portmagee was asked to keep very quiet about the activity until the movie release – which they did.
During that time huge Hollywood celebrities walked through the doors of The Moorings including JJ Abrams and Mark Hamill.
Mark Hamill aka Luke Skywalker famously poured the pint in the Moorings bar and the filming has made Skellig Michael off the coast of Portmagee, one of the most talked about UNESCO sites in the world.
The crew fitted in perfect to the sleepy town of Portmagee with no high demands. Ger also talked about the night JJ Abrams came to the Bridge Bar and was looking for a table for dinner with a group of people but the bar was full.
“Sorry” the waitress said “there will not be a table free until 10pm”.
He said “do you know I am making a huge movie?”
She replied “I don’t care who you are you are not getting a table before 10pm we are booked out”.
After the live radio broadcast Ryan went out on the Lady Clare which offers trips to Skellig Michael where all the magic took place.
Thank you Ryan for a fantastic morning and thank you for giving Portmagee town a boost as well as the Wild Atlantic Way.
