Sight a cetacean on the Wild Atlantic Way

Did you know that 50% of Europe’s dolphins reside off the West Coast of Ireland, there must be something about the North Atlantic Drift that they like. Or the fact that the waters off Ireland are pristine, with very little pollution which leads to good growth of plankton which suits the basking sharks (some of them up to 3 metres long) that visit between April and July. But they are not the biggest cetaceans with a 45’ Humpback whale famously being caught on camera ‘breaching’ outside Baltimore harbour in December 2012. Fin and Minke whales are often sighted along the Wild Atlantic Way which can be a bit disconcerting if you are in a rib!

Fungi and Dusty

We have two famous resident dolphins, Fungi in Dingle who has been entertaining visitors and locals alike for over 40 years now with his antics in Dingle and Dusty, a female dolphin who splits her time between Doolin Harbour and Inis Oír, the smallest of the Aran Islands. You can be lucky and spot whales and basking sharks from various headlands but ideally you need to take one of the many boat trips dotted along the Wild Atlantic Way.

Whale Watching

Baltimore is the place to go for Whale Watching, Fungi is a dead cert in Dingle, where you can also do an eco trip out and around the Great Blasket Islands, keep an eye out for the seals on Trá Bán. Dolphin watch on the Shannon Estuary boast a 99% chance of seeing the bottle nose dolphins that have a colony there, but no mention of giving you your money back! The Slieve League boat trip is always posting photographs of the school of dolphins that follow them out to the cliffs and there was even a dolphin and dog duo who swam together regularly on Tory Island.

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Posted: 20 Aug 2014 by Claire Regan | with 0 comments

Tags: Ireland, Wild Atlantic Way