Coasteering is a Wild Sport for Brave Adventurers

By Steven Bochenek

Imagine climbing and leaping from cliffs into the Atlantic surf, then being buffeted helplessly about by whirlpools and tidal currents. Now imagine doing it safely and laughing so hard you’re breathless.

Invented in Wales, coasteering combines extreme sport and environmental consciousness-raising amidst the cliffs of the achingly beautiful Pembrokeshire coast.

Death-defying alone, it’s perfectly safe with protective equipment and a local guide who reads the ecologically sensitive coast like a big-print hymnbook.

It requires wetsuits, lifejackets, helmets, and sneakers (which may not return home after their experience in the sea).

You Can Do It

Though physical, coasteering’s not overwhelming. If you can walk Disneyland or the Louvre for a morning, you can coasteer. (My 11 and 14-year old daughters loved it.)

The experience should be on every thrill-seeker’s bucket list, right after driving the Welsh coastal roads. An adventure in itself.

Driving there is just as terrifying.

Where we stayed:

Our day began 20 miles up the road in St Brides Castle, the former country estate of a wealthy Victorian industrialist with delusions of grandeur. St Brides is just one of the dozens of culturally interesting private hotels the Holiday Property Bond owns throughout the world.

Only this British-based vacationers’ club members can rent apartments there by the week. They’re completely self-contained, from cutlery and saltshakers to maps to a TV with DVD.

Find out more about Coasteering in Wales from the tourism website.

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Coasteering in Ireland

Wales is not the only place to go coasteering, as it is very popular in the Wild Atlantic of Ireland. Specifically, the cliff of Erris HeadVictoria Yore from Follow Me Away has participated in this thrilling sport, saying:

“I am a Florida girl so the thought of jumping in 50-degree water in October was NOT something I was too excited about but friends convinced me and I was SO SO GLAD I DID! Coasteering was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and something I do not EVER think would be allowed in the USA!

“Basically, you scramble along dangerous cliff edges and in whirlpools and in sea caves. You wear a helmet, a life jacket, shoes, and a wetsuit. This is something many Irish guides to every day so while it may seem dangerous to me, they are very familiar with the environment!

“We started on small cliffs and graduated to larger ones, before jumping off the final huge jump named ‘The Widow Maker.’

“I would do it again in a heartbeat!”