Well we woke up hoping to have a leisurely morning, sleeping in, check out at not until noon, a private falconry experience and some shopping. That did not happen. I read the dingle boat tour booking I made and paid for, and we needed to be at the marina at 12:00pm. The castle was 2.5 hours away from Dingle. Fortunately they didn’t charge us for canceling the falcon. We quickly packed, ate breakfast and were on the road before 9am. I still feel really bad about this. I was sure I booked Dingle for our second day in the Killarney area.

Have I mentioned lately how much our GPS sucks. She will frequently tell us to turn left when we need to go right. She prefers the more scenic paths, versus highways. This is okay when you’re not working with time constraints. As the navigator I’m saying to George, “don’t listen to her.”

The drive to Dingle was lovely. Most of it was on the Wild Atlantic Way. Rugged coastlines, green pastures, beautiful beaches, and quaint villages are all just waiting to be explored. The roads are narrow and winding, making the drive a bit of an adventure. We did not end up doing Slea Head loop, but drove through Inch beach. We do not know how Inch Beach got its name, but it is far from tiny! This beach is four miles long and we saw it from the hill. You can drive your car right out onto the beach if you want. Surfing lessons are offered here as well.

We arrived in Dingle with time to spare. The recommendation for a dingle cruise came from my friend Allison. Thanks Al. It was supposed to be a 3 hour Blasket Island Eco tour, but it was actually 5 hours, and none of us know why. We are guessing that because they only have two weeks left in the season, they combined two tours, and just never told any of us. The boat was full and not everyone had an outdoor seat. We couldn’t have asked for better weather today, it was sunny blue sky and warm. We left the harbor, and saw three boats circling this one spot. They found Fungie, the friendly bottle nosed dolphin who swims along side the boats in the harbor, we spotted her, didn’t get a good photo, she is fast.

We saw the Dingle Lighthouse, and took a right to head up the Dingle peninsula coastline. It felt so good to feel the wind in my hair on a boat. The clear day meant we could see Skellig Michael,where Luke Skywalker had lived and Mount Brandon.

Blasket islands

• Great Blasket Island – we stopped to visit this island for an hour. We had to take a dingy from the boat to shore. Carol and George went first, mom and I got to the island and realized the climb was too treacherous for us so we went back to the boat. The island was inhabited until 1953 when the Irish government decided that it could no longer guarantee the safety of the remaining population. The small fishing community (even at its peak the population was hardly more than 160) mostly lived in primitive cottages perched on the relatively sheltered north-east shore. The former inhabitants were reputed to have the purest and most poetic form of Irish in all of Ireland. We saw the colony of grey seals that live on the beach.
• Tearaght Island – looks like Skellig, contains Inishtearaght Lighthouse, which was built in 1870. We were lucky to visit this today. Many days the water is too rough and tours are unable to cruise by.
• Inis Na Bro – has cathedral rock, named that because it’s shape resembles a gothic cathedral.
• Inishvickillane – when we cruised by this island, the boat crew, Paul, told us that this was one of the islands that has red deer. There are supposed to be 150 of them, brought to the island by a previous owner. While he was far away, we got a glimpse of a red stag who appeared to be posing for us. You can spot him in the last photo.
• Inis Tuaiseart – Inishtooskert most northern island, is also,known as the dead man because of its shape. We didn’t visit this one.

After the boat ride, we were starving and had dinner at Out of the Blue, a seafood restaurant. It was tasty. We got back in the car and drove to Killarney, to out 3 night accommodation at the Old Weir Lodge. Tomorrow we will check out this village.