Photographs from "The Skelligs"

The Small Skellig emerges from the fog on a blustery day. Featured in the book "The Skelligs: Islands on the Edge of the World" by Peter Cox.

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 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).

Skellig Michael is perhaps Ireland's most alluring location. Wild and untamed, it was home to a monastery of ascetic monks from about the 6th to the 13th century.
This image was made from across Christ's Saddle between the two peaks of the island, looking towards the North Peak, which is where the monastery is located.

Made while staying overnight on the island in 2012, this image shows the taller of the two peaks, the south peak, from the northern peak, just above the monastery.

The ridge of the north peak sweeps through the frame with the monastery sheltering in its lee at sunrise.

Looking over the Spit from the narrow and precipitous South Peak across to the monastery on Skellig Michael, with the Small Skellig in the distance. The triangular shadow of the peak itself is visible on the water as well.

Rarely seen, the hermitage clings to the narrow South Peak of Skellig Michael with a 700 foot drop on either side. The main monastery can be seen on the North Peak in the middle distance, and the Small Skellig and the Kerry coast lie beyond.

An aerial view of the hermitage clinging to the south peak of Skellig Michael.

The Skellig monastery shelters beneath the jagged precipice of the North Peak at sunrise.