Dingle 5: "Pull Like a Dog": paddling hard for an amazing reward.

 Thursday July 11 Lydia Altman

Our activities today did not start until 10:30, for which we were all thankful. While I imagine this allowed some people a slow morning, most of us slept in as long as we could, rushing to get breakfast and out the door like we have every morning on this trip. The days packed with activities are so much fun, but I think I could sleep for days.

After our lie-in, we headed to the classroom to work on our report for the Maharees Conservation Association. For this report, we collected data in the dunes to look at the differences in biodiversity between sites with differing levels of restoration. While others worked on the introduction and methods, I recorded data into a table to analyze later. At noon, we broke up for lunch. Some people went out to buy something, while others returned to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before we ventured off to sea kayaking.

Sea Kayaking consisted of two different things: exploring sea caves full of starfish and trekking to and
from these caves. As someone with little upper body strength, the waves and wind we encountered on the trek proved challenging to navigate. Ultimately, I would say the struggle was worth it for the amazing caves, but I would recommend stretching and bringing water for anyone planning on going in the future to have a more comfortable experience than I did.

For dinner, we originally planned to eat the fish we caught on Monday, but after the tiring adventure, we stopped at a Tex-Mex food truck. I was unsure how Irish Mexican food would be, but although unauthentic, it was quite delicious. But what is a good dinner without dessert? Naturally, we stopped to get ice cream from Kool Scoops on the walk back to our accommodation.

Back at the hostel, we found that the fish had spoiled, and some went out and fed it to the seagulls. Many of us were grateful for this since fish is a taste we have not acquired. Other activities of the night included playing cards, reading, napping, and calling home. These activities were accompanied by the sounds of many French teenagers running around the place and rummaging through the kitchen quite loudly. As they finally quiet down for the night, the dorm of girls from St. Mike’s is busy getting ready for bed after another great day of adventures.