Had a wonderful whale-watching experience earlier this summer off the coast of Ireland. I referred to it in my travelogue for Go World Travel. What follows are a few photos – I saw Basking sharks, Minke whales and Risso dolphins. I only got photos of the first two, and not great ones at that, but the experience was extraordinary. We also saw – most unfortunately – how much plastic there is floating around out there.
First two photos are the Basking shark, or rather, his fins. Cannot impress upon you all how goose-bumpy it was to see him swimming about with his mouth wide open, something I didn’t capture in the photos.

Same fins, different angle.

From a distance, a Minke whale, frolicking.

Handsome Captain Nic Slocum, with a stupid balloon pulled out of the water near our boat – seriously people, rose petals are just as good for a birthday celebration, and won’t hurt any living creatures.

Please check out Whale Watch West Cork (link above) for tours around the world, including here in Canada.