The Fastnet Lighthouse at dawn on a blustery day.

The Fastnet is certainly Ireland’s finest lighthouse. Difficult to land on, and all but impossible to step from a boat for most of the year, this aerial view shows the typical angry sea that surrounds it.
Cape Clear Island is visible on the horizon, the closest point of land to the rock, often called the ‘Teardrop of Ireland’ as it was the last thing emigrants saw of their home country when sailing to America and Australia.

Skellig Michael (Sceilig Mhichíl) is one of the jewels of Ireland's landscape and heritage. Seen here from a helicopter, the Small Skellig and Lemon Rock are also visible. Puffin Island, Valentia and Portmagee are all visible in the distance.
A double-pyramid of rock soaring up from the surface of the Atlantic, it houses two lighthouses (one decommissioned), a 6th century monastery and a hermitage from the same era.

The Fastnet is the southernmost point of Ireland, and known as "Ireland's Teardrop" as it was often the last sight of home for emigrants heading to the New World.

Seen here in the aftermath of a storm, the trough of a swell passes by the rock, revealing details not normally seen.

An aerial view of Croagh Patrick with Clare Island in the distance. Snow dusts the peak.

The historic clifftop fort of Dun Aengus on Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands at sunset.

The first rays of sunlight glance the top of the Macgillycuddy's Reeks with Lough Leane in the foreground. Inishfallen island with its monastery is the the left of the frame.

Ardnakinna guards the western tip of Bere Island. Seen here from the air at sunrise.

The classic aerial shot of the island showing the active lighthouse (bottom right) and the decommissioned one (top left), along with the hermitage (on the larger peak) and the monastery (on the lower peak).