Kilrush to Dingle
With unfavourable survey conditions throughout the week, the crew; Skipper Kevin, first mate Tony, marine biologists Jo and Aisling, and crew members Jack, Caitlyn, Sarah and Catherine, thoroughly made the most out of the week. We covered a lot of the Dingle Bay area, getting lots of experience in marine mammal surveys and logging data (pots, pots and more pots). We learnt about sailing (and boat maintenance), geology and weather patterns from our skipper Kevin, marine invertebrates from expert Tony, and campaigns to designate Marine Protected Areas in Ireland from Jack. As is the norm on such expeditions, we wrote postcards to David Attenborough and Sylvia Earle, rescued insects from roads, saw a cow give birth whilst doing a radio interview, helped a French sailor fix his boat, and fuelled our adventures with incredible vegetarian food and large quantities of hot chips.
Day 1 Saturday, Kilrush to Fenit, Surveyed 12:30-18:10, Sightings: 3
The crew gathered aboard Celtic Mist over Friday night and Saturday morning, and after provisioning and fuelling we were ready to depart. After a brief delay in the lock gates, we made it out of Kilrush, into the swell of the Shannon Estuary. Watches began, and although no Shannon dolphins made an appearance, we found a large piece of drifting fishing net which we successfully hauled onto the deck, to be disposed of later. After rolling around in the swell with no sightings, we were delighted to arrive in Fenit, where the sea was suddenly calm, the sun came out, and we encountered a napping grey seal. Shortly after, we spotted Fenitβs 3 resident bottlenose dolphins, Samphire, Doyle, and her son. They were milling nearby for a while, as we headed to tie up at Fenit pier. Here we watched a grey seal potter around the harbour as we ate dinner on deck and went to bed, preparing ourselves for an early start.
Day 2 Sunday, Fenit to Dingle, Surveyed 5:45-13:00, Sightings: 3
With a windy afternoon forecast, we departed Fenit early, into a dark and overcast morning. We were met by a group of Shannon dolphins, bow riding for a while as we travelled across Brandon Bay. As we made our way down the breathtaking Kerry coastline through rolling seas, we observed large numbers of rafting Manx shearwaters, and mass wasting (landslides) and impressive rock formations in the cliffs. We were nearing the Blasket sound when a large minke whale surfaced right in front of our bow. Only spotted by the two of us on watch, the whole crew looked around expectedly, but the minke was not hanging around. Kevin provided the crew with some much-appreciated soup, and we sailed through the choppy Blasket sound, observing the grey seal colony on Great Blasket. We made it to Dingle just as the wind picked up and headed for a swim in the sandy cove by Dingle lighthouse. The dayβs surveying was not yet finished, as our walk back was filled with insect observations and rescuing caterpillars and moths from the road. That night we watched thunder and lightning from the cosy confines of Celtic Mist.
Day 3 Monday, Dingle
Monday was spent in Dingle as conditions were too poor to survey. The crew kept busy with a wide variety of activities. A French solo sailor Andre had tied up beside us, having arrived the night before with a broken jib furler. We gave him some lunch and assistance with his boat, with Jack climbing the mast to help free the halyard. Back on Celtic Mist, decks scrubbed, and galley cleaned, we headed for ice cream and later to the pub. Here we studied the book of global marine mammals, discussed species ID, and enjoyed the company of the pub cats. We returned to the boat for a dinner of chips, Sarahs wonderful veggie lasagna, and wine with the crew and our new friend Andre. With stormy weather outside again, we had a competitive game of Quirkle before heading to bed.
Day 4 Tuesday, Dingle to Valentia, Surveyed 14:30-19:00, Sightings: 2
As we waited for the wind to drop, some of the crew headed out for another swim. En route, Jack perched behind a hedge on the phone to do an interview for Radio Kerry about our surveying, particularly in relation to the Areas of Interest for Marine Protected Areas that we were surveying. An interesting addition to the experience was the sight of a cow, appearing to be giving birth next to us in the adjacent field. We called the county council in hopes of informing the relevant farmer, but then the cow in question stood up and meandered into the next field. That afternoon, we travelled across Dingle Bay to Valentia island, with two brief sightings of common dolphins along the way. As well as marine mammals, we were recording sightings of pots and large groups of birds. Thank you to Caitlyn and Jack for helping me log each and every pot, of which today we had 50!
Day 5 Wednesday, Valentia to Dingle, Surveyed 06:00-13:00, Sightings: 5
We departed early, heading towards the Skelligs. Although the views were spectacular, the swell was big and the wind direction variable, making survey conditions difficult. We had 5 brief sightings, 3 of common dolphin groups, and 2 individual bottlenose sightings. After battling through the waves for a while, we headed back to Dingle, just as the wind strengthened and the rain returned.
Day 6 Thursday, Dingle to Valentia, Surveyed 12:00-19:00, Sightings: 1
After waiting for the wind and rain to die down, we headed into the inner bay along the transect lines that we had plotted, enjoying some long-awaited sunshine and calmer seas. Throughout the week we had been in contact with Nick Masset, who does land watches from Slea Head, and informed us that he had just seen a humpback, painstakingly close to where we had been earlier. Hopeful and alert, we watched intently, but the whale was not spotted again, and we returned to Valentia to tie up with 1 common dolphin sighting along the way. Thank you to Nick for his real-time cetacean sighting updates from Slea Head!
Day 7 Friday, Valentia to Dingle, Surveyed 05:20-15:00, Sightings: 14
Saving the best till last, our final day of surveying came with thrilling sightings of feeding frenzies, thousands of seabirds, hundreds of playful common dolphins, minke whales, and a humpback! We left from Valentia and headed through the Blaskets to the 100m contour line. We were greeted by a minke whale, which crossed right in front of the bow, a notable moment for marine biologist Aisling as her first ever whale sighting. Further along the contour line, above an underwater knoll, we encountered a feeding frenzy comprising around 60 common dolphins surface rushing and leaping, some bottlenose dolphins, hundreds of diving birds and another minke sighting- a breathtaking sight. We continued along our transect and were joined by 30 or 40 common dolphins travelling alongside us, bow-riding, head and side slapping, and leaping. We were briefly approached by another minke whale, before Celtic Mist was filled with excited shouts, and the crew pointing in all directions at blows. There were at least 3 whales in the area, and having returned from the trip we made the exciting discovery that one was a humpback! As well as hundreds of fulmars, gannets, Manx and Corys shearwaters, and storm petrels, we had also seen a juvenile puffin. Our sightings were not over yet though and as we travelled back into Dingle Bay, we saw another minke, and were accompanied by a sociable group of common dolphins, who travelled alongside us for a while. We returned to Dingle for the final time, powered through come cleaning, and headed out for some much-needed chips and pints.
Overall Stats
28 sightings (comprising an estimated 140 common dolphins, 133 grey seals, 14 bottlenose dolphins, 7 minke whales, and 1 humpback), and 6 days of surveying later, the week had come to an end.
A huge thank you to the whole crew for a thoroughly enjoyable week, to Kevin and Tony for getting us out surveying and back safely every day. Despite stormy weather, we managed to have incredible sightings, lots of surveying and many adventures on and off the water and thank you to everybody onboard!
Jo Green,
SDP Intern & Survey Lead
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