Ireland day 1476. Monday 13 October 2025- Dingle Day 2

Today’s summary	Got up early and went on a 9am boat trip to Blasket Island. Plenty of wildlife spotting and geology exploring along they way. Spent 3½ hours on the island and walked up to one of the peaks and back. Watched the nursing seals on the beach and left on the boat again at 1pm. Saw a small minke whale on the way back. Got a coffee in Dingle then drove back to chicken tray-bake courtesy of Pete. Pete went cycling while we were at sea
Today’s weather	Dry and bright with occasional sun. Very light easterly wind. Appx 15c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we sailed and walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Blasket Island boat and walk

Commentary

I last visited Dingle with some friends on a cycling holiday in 1979. On that occasion we had got as far as Dunmore headland and stood on it looking at Blasket Island. Perhaps if we’d had more time, we might have visited. But we needed to get to Cork to catch a train, so we didn’t. And in any case, boat services in those days were few and far between, so it might not even have been possible.

But today was our opportunity to put things right. Nowadays, boat trips go from a number of harbours round the end of the Dingle peninsula, but unfortunately we soon found out that most shut up shop for the winter at the end of September. But Val, through a lot of diligent googling and telephoning, managed to locate a company still running trips from Dingle Town, and managed to secure us three places. (Only three because Pete isn’t a fan of boat trips so decided to go cycling instead)

The boat was leaving at 9am and we had to be there by 8:45. Which meant an early start from the cottage after a hasty breakfast, seeing us away by 7:45 am.

We travelled on a 12-person RIB with a cabin area so it was quite comfortable and dry. The outward journey took us along the coast while Sean, our captain, pointed out the features of the 400 million year old sandstone bedrock. We “transshipped” from the RIB to the shore in a small dinghy and were finally on dry land again at about 10am.

We were given three hours to explore the island so set off immediately on a short circular walk to one of the highest points. It took us about an hour to get there and once we arrived, the views were superb. And it was so quiet! Living by a busy railway station in a busy town, peace and quiet (and clean fresh air) is something we really appreciate.

All too soon we had to set off back, but along the way we paused to look at the grey seals on the beach, nursing their young pups. Numbers have increased enormously over the last few years. Today there were about 50 adults and pups, but at the height of the calving season (which lasts from September to December). there can be over 1000.

We were collected by the launch at 1pm and sped out on our RIB right into the middle of Dingle Bay to see if there was any wildlife in evidence. We were fortunate to catch a fleeing glimpse of a juvenile Minke Whale (which looked like a large porpoise) and several dolphins.

We were at sea for 2 hours but it wasn’t a struggle, as we were outside being blasted by fresh air and with lots interesting things to look at. Eventually we were back in Dingle by 3pm and met up with Pete (who was in the middle of his bike ride) for a cup of tea and a piece of well earned cake.

We didn’t feel inclined to do much more exploring after our teas, so we got back in the car and drove back over the hill to our cottage. We passed Pete just before we got back, so we we were all back inside at about the same time.

Pete prepared the dinner tonight, which was a delicious tray bake. So all in all, a very rewarding day all round, and especially as that 46 year itch to visit Blasket Island had been finally scratched.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Our vessel for today: a RIB-with-a-cabin. The Peig Sayers, courtesy of Great Blasket Island Experience. Absolutely 10 out of 10	On the small dinghy which transported us to the landing point on Blasket. There was a seal pup sitting on the steps when we arrived, but it swiftly deported itself into the sea when we stepped ashore

Climbing up from the landing point to the ruined village	The newer (white) buildings have been erected by the Government (now OPW) since it took on ownership of 97% of the island after Independence. The other 3% belongs to descendants of the original islanders

On the summit of Blasket’s second-highest hill (we didn’t have time to go on to the highest, which is behind my shoulder)	Seal and pup down on the shore. You are asked not to approach closer than 100 metres, so we just looked down from the clifftop. The pup appears moribund but they all look like that, so I think it is just diverting all its energy into growing. They are weaned after 3 weeks and their mothers simply abandon them and they are left to fend for themselves

Beautiful display of sun-rays over the sea. Truly divine!