Oct 2003

Life is never boring at Oceandivers, earlier this month we were asked to help with the production of a new TV series which challenges Irish personalities to capture unusual wildlife on film. Ray Darcy from RTE was dispatched to West Cork in search of the illusive Hump Backed whale which is known to return there every year. Ray's challenge was to attempt to take an underwater photo of a whale in Irish waters, no small task in itself but if you throw in the fact that Ray couldn't swim it becomes a very interesting adventure indeed!

Willie Siddall from Oceandivers (no relation to Free Willie!) was asked to bring Ray Darcy through a crash course in Whale Photography. Ray proved an enthusiastic student so by the time he entered the ocean he was already an impressive snorkeller!

Whales of West Cork

Did you know that Irish waters provide some of the most important habitats for cetaceans in Europe? To date, 24 species have been recorded including some of the most rare (eg. blue and right whales). During the filming we were based at Galley Head in the original Light House dwellings, from there we could see the occasional "blow" from the Fin Whales which passed close by. The Fin Whale is known as the " Greyhound of the Sea" and its speed in the ocean certainly justifies the term they average 20 meters in length.

Working with Colin Barnes and his ocean-going, twin engined catamaran "Holly-Jo", we were able to spend up to 9 hours at sea in heavy winds. Roaming between Baltimore and the Old Head of Kinsale, we encountered literally hundreds of common dolphins during one day and although we did not find any humpbacks, we came close to Fin Whales on numerous occasions.

The team hope to return later in the month when the weather is calmer so we will keep you posted about how we are getting on.

Winter Diving

The "OceanDiver" Rib will be out of the water from Saturday 25th October and we will, from then, on be operating on our winter dive schedules. The north easterly gales are now a regular feature so Dublin Bay dives will be limited to shore locations and will be planned on a week by week basis. We hope to establish some weekend dives in Glendalough in Co. Wicklow and also some day trips to Hook in Co. Wexford if the weather is fair.

Winter diving will continue on the West and we will be travelling to Killary for weekend trips every month till Christmas, for details checkout our Calendar pages and Dive Safari