
Chapel Island is a good anchorage that is best used in settled weather. If the wind came up from the northeast it would be exposed, and once entered a vessel is trapped until the tide rises over the surrounding drying area to the required draft. The enclosed stretch of water provides shelter sailing in all weather, all tides and has ample marks to make daylight navigation straightforward.
Keyfacts for Chapel Island
Facilities
Nature
Considerations
Protected sectors
Approaches
Shelter
Last modified
May 9th 2022 Summary
A good location with attentive navigation required for access.Facilities
Nature
Considerations
Position and approaches
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Haven position
In a tidal hole that resides between Chapel Island and the mainland.
What is the initial fix?
The following Chapel Island & Jackdaw Islands Initial Fix will set up a final approach:

What are the key points of the approach?
Offshore details for vessels approaching Strangford Lough from the north are available in the northeast Ireland’s Coastal Overview for Malin Head to Strangford Lough
. Details for vessels approaching from the south are available in eastern Ireland’s Coastal Overview for Strangford Lough to Dublin Bay
. Details of the approaches, tidal timings and the run up the Narrows to about a ½ mile below Strangford are covered in the Entering and exiting the Strangford Narrows
.
Not what you need?
Click the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons to progress through neighbouring havens in a coastal 'clockwise' or 'anti-clockwise' sequence. Below are the ten nearest havens to Chapel Island for your convenience.
Ten nearest havens by straight line charted distance and bearing:
- Between Jackdaw & Chapel Island - 0.2 nautical miles WNW
- West of Jackdaw Island - 0.5 nautical miles W
- Audley’s Point - 0.5 nautical miles E
- Audley's Roads - 1 nautical miles ESE
- Ballyhenry Bay - 1.1 nautical miles ENE
- Strangford Harbour (Strangford Village) - 1.6 nautical miles ESE
- Portaferry - 1.6 nautical miles E
- Don O’Neill Island - 1.8 nautical miles NNW
- South of Salt Island - 1.8 nautical miles WSW
- Brandy Bay - 2 nautical miles W
These havens are ordered by straight line charted distance and bearing, and can be reordered by compass direction or coastal sequence:
- Between Jackdaw & Chapel Island - 0.2 miles WNW
- West of Jackdaw Island - 0.5 miles W
- Audley’s Point - 0.5 miles E
- Audley's Roads - 1 miles ESE
- Ballyhenry Bay - 1.1 miles ENE
- Strangford Harbour (Strangford Village) - 1.6 miles ESE
- Portaferry - 1.6 miles E
- Don O’Neill Island - 1.8 miles NNW
- South of Salt Island - 1.8 miles WSW
- Brandy Bay - 2 miles W
Chart
How to get in?

Having entered Strangford Lough make for the Chapel Island & Jackdaw Islands Initial Fix. This places you 300 metres north of Chapel Island where you will require a high tide to access the tidal pool. At high water proceed either west about or east about depending on the prevailing winds. Between the Island and the shore, you can expect a small counter-current that can reach up to two knots.
Why visit here?
This is an interesting anchoring experience where at low water the vessel will be landlocked for a large amount of time. It is also an area with beautiful scenery and an interesting island to explore.Chapel Island is owned by the National Trust and is one of the larger uninhabited islands in Strangford Lough. The island provides for excellent walks and the National Trust organises a low water guided trek across the mudflats from the shore to Chapel Island.
The drying window is long enough to get to the island to enjoy a good island walk before the tide returns. However such mudflat walks require an experienced guide as there are treacherous muddy patches under the sand, and without experience one may stumble into them and get stuck. Should one find oneself knee-deep in immovable Strangford mud, the best advice is to fall down backwards and move your arms in a backstroke fashion – successful extrication may require the sacrifice of a pair of boots.
Landing on the island is recommended, where walkers will find a bank that rises at the islands northern tip and runs like a spine up to a small plateau at the southern end. Perched on the highest part of the island, with commanding views in all directions, a visitor will find the scattered remains of a pre-Norman period chapel that most likely has given the island its name.
The chapel would be best described as a hermitage that monks would go to for meditation and seclusion. Chapel Island is the ideal location for such a hermitage offering ample food via fish traps and shellfish, plus a freshwater source that enabled self-sufficiency along with island isolation. Two similar sites are to be found on Dunsy Island and near Audleystown. Today the hermitage on Chapel Island is difficult to identify, and what remains is covered by grass and an impenetrable mound of briars surrounded by a scarcely discernable enclosure. What is impressive, however, is the view to the south over the Mournes from this elevated part of the island.
What facilities are available?
There are no facilities on Chapel and Jackdaw Islands or in the surrounding area.Any security concerns?
Never a problem known to have occurred at Chapel and Jackdaw Islands.With thanks to:
Brian Crawford, local Strangford Lough boatman of many decades.
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