Being a tourist for another weekend - Part2

Another weekend touring Ireland.

Saturday: Blarney Castle and the traditional kiss of the stone.


Inside the castle


Adn where everybody lining up fro a kiss of the stone


I've been surprised by the garden, this time,



And at the end of the tour, as a reminder of how changing is the weather in Irleand is... a beautiful blue sky almost cloudless.



On the next day we moved further south, in search of more sun, and ended up near Drunmore East.





And try to see the ship coming near Ireland, like that man:

Like the Metal Man in Tramore would say: "Keep out good ship, keep out from me, For I am the rock of misery".

Disturbing some seagulls on the way:


And even if we found some inviting signs, we did not go swimming:


Next week end back to Scubadiving...

Brandon Cox

June Bank Holiday Week End in Brandon.... which can be summarized in : boat - pier - pub

The Boat


The Pub:


Brilliant spot, with the pub just on the pier, wonderful sunny weather. Mike ( one of the "boulets" of 2006 posts was there for the week-end, enjoying some diving (Guinness, Spider crabs, lobster all checked ).

No diving for me, due to an hear infection, but hours of driving the boat up and down Brandon point.

Brandon Head

We had the pleasure to see Dolphins visiting us....
I've passed my Cox test Monday, despite poor maneuver in the harbor ( I really need to practice that - a lot - to improve my boat handling ).

Down to Cork on Wednesday ( OysterHaven ) for a rescue diver examination ( passed, but need to practice CPR more)

Regional WE May 2008

I was at the CFT regional week-end (South-West) over the may week-end.
Excellent, we had it all: sun, calm sea, basking sharks...




I've put all my photos of underwater Ireland into one Flickr set.

Octopus

Octopus in Mediterranean sea near Marseilles (France)

Sharkwater movie

Hope the movie will be shown in Ireland.

Scuba-Diving in Valentia

Few pics from my week scuba-diving in Kerry...

Lahinch at high Tide

Lahinch beach at low tide.

On the news side, seems it's going to be a busy summer as i will prepare to pass the Leading Diver with CFT

Kilkee

Shannon, Fastnet wind

Gale-force southwesterly winds at times overnight on all sea areas - with strong gales at firston coasts from Loop Head to Erris Head to Fair Head.Strong-gale- or storm-force southerly winds developing Monday afternoon and eveningon all sea areas.

Thanks to met eireann.

So it was windy on the burren coast, today...

Surfing Ireland

Fun, Fun, Fun
Activities:Surf ; Pub: 1 on the beach ; Alcohol Units: 0

Finally, I went surfing in Ireland (first time on a surf ever), this tuesday. The Outdoor pursuit Club of my company, was organising a initiation session in Lahinch.
Simply brilliant, and I really enjoyed it. I even managed to stand on the board 4-5 times but then "ivre de joie", I simply fall...
That was a perfect way to finish a working day.

Song of the day:PJ.Harvey - This Mess we're in.

Wouldn't It Be Nice
Activities:Pub ; Pub: 2 ; Alcohol Units: 4+
Decided to go to the Nancy Blake this wednesday, to enjoy some traditional irish music with the french lads (GP & NM). There I've seen Mel and a friend of her, a lovely irish girl, I've previously met, few months ago, during my salsa lessons in the Daffy's.The night finished, quite drunk, and singing...
Exactly the night out I needed.

For Information, every wednesday night, these traditional irish music takes plce in the Nancy Blake.

Song of the day:Dyonisos - Don Diego 2000

Whale watch
A very interesting site which keeps track of all whale sighting in Ireland:
http://www.iwdg.ie/
The map is particulary good, and it seems we miss some Basking Shark cruising in Kerry, the week end we spent in Mizen Head.

Blogs
I just link here, some interesting blogs, I read from time to time:

• Transnets [Fr]
• Copier decoller [Fr]
• Le Journal de Max [Fr]
• Langue sauce Piquante [Fr)
• petite anglaise
• Confessions of a Nerdess
• Un crayon dans le coeur [Fr]

Diving - Dingle

Activities: Pub(Murphy), Diving, Beach, seesighting

So diving saturday and sunday, hanging around dingle, finding few pubs... learning french from some lovely Diving Instructors (not enough...)

Diving
Like previous WE, we dived in Castlegregory (Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry) in a gorgeous diving center (http://www.waterworld.ie/)

4 dives this times (lambster, dog-fish ...etc ) but no seal...

My diving buddy has found new friend:

Honestly I preferred the lovely girls on the boat of the diving center :-P ... ( and my reponse to any comment of the man in question .... LOL ) If you want more details go there ... I'll probably translate later part of his story about PADI (Put Another Dollar In or Pay Another Dive Instructor).


After a bit of driving around:




And after a while we finally discover the South Pole Inn, famous pub on the road to Dingle (Annascaul).

This is the pub of Tom Crean, an Irish antartic explorer.

Work
FYI, I've been able to rip off a nokia mobile phone, to try to see some chips I worked on:


Links
Irish Sailing Association
Scuba Diving Magazine

And about Wild Life in Ireland:
Encyclopedia of Marine Life in Ireland
Wild-Life in Ireland
About Seal preservation
About our friends the badger...Reminds me Redwall, but unfortunately, most of the badgers I've seen here are dead on the road :(((

Traduction
Sea Lion = "Otarie" in French and Seal = "Phoque", I am not a zoologist but you can recognize a sea-lion from a seal by the way he walks, the sea-lion "walks" on his fins and the seal just slide....

Cinema
I've just seen a brilliant movie: THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY
It's about IRA, the irish revolution, civil war... and it starts with an hurling game.

Watersports WeekEnd

Activity: Diving

DINGLE
Back to dingle for a sunday dive in the Dingle peninsula.
Very good diving center: http://www.waterworld.ie/

The windmill on the road from Tralee to Dingle:

Some horse...

And some Pub wall, and some results post-pub



Diving
Two very nice dives on Sunday, near Brandon Point, and I fell in love of some lovely diving instructor (or future)... unfortunately Mikie, who was me, play it unfair...
Anyway I'll be back.

WE conclusion
Ended the WE, in the Trinity Room, where they was some brazilain animations (due to the world cup match)... I think after seeing the french performance and the brazilian dancers what I might transfer my support to LA SELECAO...

Joke of the Day about France World Cup Football
It is just before the France v Brazil match. Ronaldinho goes into the Brazilian changing room to find all his teammates looking a bit glum.
"What's up?" he asks.
"Well, we're having trouble getting motivated for this game. We know it's important but it's only France. They're sh*te and we can't be bothered."
Ronaldinho looks at them and says, "Well, I reckon I can beat them by myself-you lads go down the pub."
So Ronaldinho goes out to play France by himself and the rest of the Brazilian team go off for a few jars.
After a few pints they wonder how the game is going, so they get the landlord to put the teletext on. A big cheer goes up as the screen reads "Brazil 1 - France 0 (Ronaldinho 10 minutes)". He is beating France all by himself!
Anyway, a few pints later and the game is forgotten until someone remembers, "It must be full time now, let's see how he got on." They put the teletext on.
"Result from the Stadium 'Brazil 1 (Ronaldinho 10 minutes) - France 1 (Henry 89 minutes)."
They can't believe it; he has single-handedly got a draw against France!!
They rush back to the Stadium to congratulate Ronaldinho. They find him in the dressing room, still in his gear, sitting with his head in his hands.
He refuses to look at them. "I've let you down, I've let you down."
"Don't be daft, you got a draw against France, all by yourself. And they only scored at the very, very end!"
"No, no, I have, I've let you down...I got sent off after 12 minutes."


CANTO REVIENS
"Quand les mouettes suivent le chalutier, c'est parce qu’elles pensent qu’on va leur jeter des sardines" (Cantonna a fleur de mots)