Dingle Peninsula

The Peninsula of Dingle was so pretty, lots of great places to walk, rock hop, and gorgoues views of the Atlantic Ocean and the South West coast of Ireland.

At Dingle, we went on the boat trip in the Harbour. This is an absolute must if you visit Dingle....because you get to see Fungie the Wild Dolphin. It is something you must see to believe!

Fungie is a wild dolphin, who hangs out in the Harbour, and has done since 1984. Fungie is a bottlenose dolphin. A few boats go out at the same time. The crew spot Fungie, the captain of the boats move around to where Fungie was spotted. The boats then put their pedals to the floor with about 20 feet between the boats, and then Fungie catches up and races between the boats. It was amazing to see, the kids loved it! If you click on Fungi at the start of this paragraph, you can see some Fungi footage (not ours...it's from You Tube).

After awhile Fungie got sick of racing and disappeared from our boats...and made his way to the next couple of boats that were on their way out. The boats promise for you to see Fungie or you got your money back...somehow Fungie makes an appearance to all the boats! Too funny!!

On our way back to the shore, the weather turned, and we had rain, and then hail. It was quite cold, and it was great to get back into the car with the heating on! We are really glad we got to see Fungie, and happy to part with our money!

Heading West from Dingle is the Dunbeg Fort, another dry stone wall fort. What a view this family had (although it was quite windy and cold...I wonder how they went during the Winter months!) It was excavated in the late 1970's,There is an inner ground tunnel which lead to the hill above. It is believed that this was an escape route when it was attacked by enemies.

Great view...
Inside the Inner wall
More great views

Further West are the Beehive Huts. These were enclosed farmsteads of free farmers, around 4000 years ago. There were smaller huts built inside the main wall for the families, with doorways leading into each other. The outer wall would keep the animals from wandering, being stolen or killed by wild animals.

The way the stones have been constructed was really interesting to see. The stones slant slightly, so the water could run outside the walls, and not inside. The stones would have continued up to a dome shape with only a small opening on the top, which could have an extra stone laid across when it rained.

Watch your head...that would hurt!

We stopped at Connor Pass, a gorgeous lookout point. About 1km down the road is a small waterfall with great walking tracks to an inner lake, Pedlars Lake. Nicole's toes were still frozen from the Boat Ride, so she stayed in the car and read more of the travel guide. Phil and the kids went rock hopping along the path and had a great time exploring!

The View from O'Connor's Pass
The small waterfall
Pedlars Lake
Rock Hopping