Dingle (An Dangean - in Irish)

I had been traveling all day by bus from Galway to Dingle, making my way South. I was really tired by the time I got there, but had seen lots of beautiful countryside on the long ride, so was grateful for that. We passed through lots of little towns and villages, picking up folks at the edge of pastures, and roads that lead off into the horizon. I am really getting a good education about the folks in Ireland riding the bus. How different they are from region to region. How similar, too. I could've rented a car, I guess, but that is expensive, and I enjoy listening in on conversations, and people watching on the bus. The bus is just another social event to these folks. A chance to talk, and gossip. Young and old alike, everyone wants to know the haps. 


I arrived in the evening and my host, Angela, picked me up at the bus station. She and her family fun a B&B in Dingle. I dropped off my stuff, and walked into town.

new homes built on the strand

fishing nets

Dingle sits on a peninsula. Aside from tourism, fishing and farming are how these folks get by. It's a fairly big town, actually. Lots of school kids, and folks of all ages. There were lots of tourist here. I ran into folks from the US, Germany, Egypt, Japan, Sweden, South Africa, and England. I mostly met these folks at The Marina Inn, and John Benny's a couple of pubs on the strand. My personal favorite of the pubs was Dick Macks. I met locals and tourist alike here, and the bartender was a sweet heart, saving me from a local boozer that had decided I was "his american girlfriend". I heard some pretty good trad while I was there, and had dinner at an amazing restaurant called Global Village. The salad was one of the best I've ever had in my whole life. Seriously! 

Sunday was Mothers Day, in the US anyway. The Irish don't celebrate it. I guess everyday is Mothers Day here. :)

I took a long walk around the peninsula and thought a lot about my Mom. I stopped at this little beach, sat on the rocks and took in some sun shine thinking about how much she would've loved to be here with me. 

Several times a couple of swallows flew by me chasing and diving through the wind. I would like to believe that's what the spirits of our loved one are doing - flying around the most beautiful parts of the universe on the wings of birds. Maybe she was there with me - I felt her in my heart, for sure. 

I took a short boat ride in the harbor that afternoon whose main objective was to find a dolphin. The boat was packed full of annoying kids yelling "Funnggggiiiii" (the dolphins name is Fungi). 

the ships mascot. i found her just as interesting as the dolphin.

We passed some kids learning how to sail. The dolphin followed them for a little while. You could hear the squeals of the little girls when it would surface. I think the dolphin liked freaking them out.

let's go sailing - great band by the way..

remains of an old light house

We traveled around looking at cliffs and shoreline caves. It was another gorgeous day, and after many shots of water, I finally got one of Fungi.

fuuunnggggiii

The next morning, I booked my self on a kayak tour of the same harbor, and caves I had seen the previous day. It was very cold and windy, and I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it. I have never kayaked before, and was pretty sure I didn't have the proper clothing. I met up with Noel, the guide from Irish Adventures, who, thankfully, had all the gear I needed. He handed me a wet suit, booties, water tight jacket, and a life vest. I wasn't sure I could fit my ass into the size small wet suit he gave me - but he assured me I would be fine, with a wink and cheeky smile.  "Are you supposed to wear anything underneath the wet suit?", I asked. "Nope!", he said.  I wasn't so sure, but it felt kinda good. The wet suit is really supportive, if you know what I mean. The ladies looked pretty good, and my ass didn't look too bad either. "Do you need help with that zipper?", I hear from the boys side of the changing room."No, Noel, I don't need help with the zipper", I responded. For the first time all morning, I was warm! Wet suits are ok, after all. There were two other folks going out with us, Pavel and Jonas. Swedes from London out for a bit of father and son bonding time. Noel gave us a quick lesson in kayaking and we were off. I was pretty nervous, and wobbly but he stayed close until I figured it all out. The next 3 hours were super fun, and super beautiful. The water was clear and you could see the rock and seaweed on the bottom of the ocean floor. We didn't run into Fungi, thank goodness. I'm sure I would've been like one of those little girls and screamed my head off as I fell out of the kayak. We headed around into the caves. That was super cool. The colors of the rock inside the cave, the sea creatures attached to the sides of the walls, the sound of the water lapping against the cave walls, the echoing of our voices - it was all a great experience. At one point we all backed into a cave, held each others kayak side by side and just looked out of the opening into the ocean. Magical. Noel told us about how may millions of years it took to make this perfect moment. (another wink and a smile - I thought, watch out, don't believe it.. this is what got you in trouble the last time you visited Ireland). I didn't bring my camera, remembering what happened at the pub in Dublin (see the Pub Crawl posting). Noel took pictures and said he would email them. I hope he does, because that was one of the coolest things I've ever done.