elly bay blue flag beaches

Mayo, with its many clean, sheltered beaches is ideal for swimming, sailing, surfing and other watersports. Elly Bay is a Blue Flag Beach; bathing areas which have met international criteria for clean water, freedom from pollution, safe access, sanitary facilities, lifeguards on duty, wheelchair access, and information centres. The Blue Flag Beach campaign's standards are 20 times higher than the minimum set by the EU directive on bathing water quality. But there are beaches which are clean, yet do not have flags, simply because the award is confined to those which have been designated 'bathing beaches' by the EU. A beach can be clean if it has no blue flag. Check locally.