A working industry
Seaweed harvesting
Seaweed has been harvested on this coast for generations. The industry still exists. Divers work in the water. The kelp is processed for various uses.
Quilty is a working fishing village on the west Clare coast. Most of the activity is seaweed harvest — divers collect it for kelp processing. The village is real in a way coastal tourism villages are not.
There is a pier, a pub, and the Atlantic coming in hard. The cliffs of Moher are visible up the coast. This is not a place for postcards; it is a place for watching the actual coast work.
The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.
Lahinch to Quilty is 25 minutes south on the N67 coast road.