Dingle 3: Trasna na Dtonn (Across the Waves)

 

Wednesday July 10 Tyler King

Today we had quite the early morning heading to the Dingle Sea Safari to go on a boat ride around the Dingle Peninsula and see some of the surrounding islands. We started by taking a peek inside some of the cliffside crevices where we saw many different types of algae and jellyfish in the water
surrounding our boat. 
          Then we rode to the Great Blasket Islands where we saw many abandoned structures from when people lived on the island before being forced to flee due to improper facilities. It was ominous to see all of the abandoned homes and think about all the people who used to live there, but it was also really interesting. Along the shore, we saw many seals peeking their heads out of the water and looking at us as we drove by them. 
          After we left this we headed to the island named Inishnabro, as we were on our way there the boat driver heard over his radio that there
were dolphins so we turned around to go see them.   We arrived at the pod of dolphins and it was amazing to see, they were coming right along the side of our boat so close that you could almost reach out and touch them. After visiting with the dolphins we made our way to the other islands where we saw tons of other cool animals such as Puffins and Red Deer. 
          After the sea safari, we stopped and had lunch at one of the local pubs before heading to the Dingle Aquarium for our next event. When we got to the aquarium we got to see tons of cool animals such as a huge octopus right when we walked through the door, we also saw a bunch of different varieties of fish, penguins, sea turtles, a shark, and my personal favorite the otters. 
          After the aquarium, we got ice cream before heading back to the hostel where we hung out outside for the rest of the day. When hanging out at the hostel we often play cards with the rest of the students, there is also a guitar at the hostel that a friend of mine, our professor, and I go back and forth taking turns playing tunes while we all sing along.
          One thing that is hard to get used to is how late the sun stays out, the sun doesn’t set till almost 11 here so I often find myself checking my phone and not even realizing how late it is. After this, we all went our separate ways, and I watched a movie in bed until I fell asleep.