Like the peaks of submerged mountains, these almost barren rocks stand some 16km out in the Atlantic. The smallest, Little Skellig (not accessible), is a nature reserve teeming with puffins and gannets. The largest, Skellig Michael, is the site of a monastery founded in the 6C by St Fenian. Its well-preserved ruins (a church, two oratories and six hive-shaped huts) are perilously located above the waves on a narrow platform, accessed by hundreds of steps.