A dolphin in Dingle – What Kelly is laughing about

According to my photos, I have to back track a little bit. After the Mists of Moher, I returned to Galway and sought out Dough Brothers Pizza. I’d heard about it on the Extra Pack of Peanuts podcast where they RAVED about this pizza and it was right around the corner from my hostel.

Now it’s my turn to rave. I’ve eaten pizza all over Italy. ITALY. And this might be the best pizza I’ve ever had. The onions were sweet with balsamic, the mozzarella buffalo, the mushrooms tender, the crust sour and perfectly textured. I marveled in awe of every bite. It was just ridiculous. On the podcast they liked the pizza so much they went back again THE SAME DAY (granted, the second time it was late, they’d been drinking and it was one of the only places open). I’ll be returning to Galway after I go to Dingle, and I’m probably going to go back. The question is, will I be able to order different toppings?

Here is Galway. My Aunt Diane (who has been looking into O’Laughlin history) let me know that Galway is the port city from which Patty O’Laughlin sailed with his wife and kids aboard the schooner American Eagle to immigrate to New York in 1835! And thus began the Canadian branch of the O’Laughlins from which I spring!

This guy was right outside the pizza place.

Okay next day. You know how I feel about busses. Well over the course of 5 hours, I took 3 busses to get to Dingle. The changes were all at bus stations and it was much easier than I imagined. Now I can see why the people I talked to didn’t understand what I was freaking out about when I was nervous about my bus transport. On the way, Minnie greeted us.

And this man sat by me. He’s never been outside of Ireland. He thought we should take a picture together.

The scenery was spectacular. Here is just a taste of the Emerald Isle.

My hostel is cute and has en suite bathrooms!

I arrived in Dingle at 3pm and when my phone connected to wifi, my phone lit up with messages from friends who weren’t at work on their Saturday morning. By 5pm I was ready to check out this town. I went to O’Sullivan’s Courthouse where the podcast that recommended the pizza recommended MacGargles IPA– the BEST IPA they’d ever had. It was good. So was the porter (I just had a taste, don’t go counting my pints!). I read my book and eaves dropped on the locals who were dropping in for a pint or a tea or a coffee. Then a big group of 3 sisters, 2 brothers and their spouses swooped in from their tour bus and ordered a round of Guinness. I asked where they were from and when they heard I was from Colorado, they bought me a pint and asked me to join them. I felt like their celebrity guest as they quizzed me on what I was doing and then went over their plans for the next day with the driver.

I went to another place recommended by Rick Steves for dinner and by 7pm all I wanted to do was curl up with my book. So I did. I have two more nights here to check out the live music scene.

The next morning I went down to the harbor to check out the boat tours.

I’ve noticed that I’ve had so much fun on boats lately. Dingle seemed like a good place to get on another one.

They had a harbor tour at 4pm or a guided Fungie tour in an hour. There is a dolphin, named Fungie, who showed up in the harbor the year I was born and has been entertaining tourists and hanging out with the locals ever since. I mean, if I wanted to see the stunning landscape from the water, why not spot a dolphin while I was at it? Plus, I had just enough time for and Irish coffee.

In case you are unfamiliar, an Irish coffee has whiskey and thick, heavy cream. My closest bud in Colorado, Emily, told me how delightful they were when she went to Ireland with her brother YEARS ago. Since then I’ve wanted to come to Ireland and have an Irish coffee. Because caffeine has a crack-like affect on me, I can only have it in the morning. So far, I had only found it being served in the afternoon/evening. This was my first day in Ireland when I wasn’t out and on my way before places that served both coffee and alcohol opened. The Irish are not early risers. Grocery stores don’t even open until 8. So now, at 11:15, shortly before my caffeine cut off time, I was having an Irish coffee.

I loved watching the cream trickle down and mix with the coffee like a waterfall. I captured a video and posted it on Facebook. Oh, and I enjoyed drinking it too. There is nothing quite like collecting dreams over the course of many years and then seeing them come to be, one by one, over the course of a couple of months.

At 12:30 I boarded the boat and I was almost as excited to meet the Captain’s first mate as Emily would have been.

Here she is

She even came over to say hello.

Boats from the boat.

I sat by an Englishman named Michael who was just in Dingle for the day. While I was on the boat to see the harbor, he was on the boat to see the dolphin. He’d started going on these marine watching excursions and was really enjoying them.

Oh man, it was pretty.

There’s a lighthouse

Cows eating grass right by the edge of the cliff

There’s a tower

The lighthouse up closer

These cliffs were so pretty

If you think this is cool, you should see them in person.

Here I am having a spectacular time.

So we’re out there and I think, great, I’m barely going to see the dolphin far away. Which I do. So that was kind of cool. But it just felt gimmicky. I mean, this dolphin is free and wild. He can go wherever he wants. He’s not in captivity. And yet it’s a tourist attraction. I didn’t think I would be impressed by this dolphin sighting. I got to see the scenery I came for. So we start heading back, and the dolphin swims along beside us. He’s RIGHT THERE!! Full view right under the surface! He’s so big! The driver of the boat has this figured out. As we’re going, he runs the motor, stops it, and Fungie jumps! He runs the motor, he stops it, and Fungie jumps! I couldn’t believe how much dolphin we were seeing! I wanted to see it in person rather than experiencing it through my camera, so I watched. It was so exciting and fun! and we just kept going and he kept following and jumping right on cue! So I took some pictures. And a video that’s on Facebook. And then I watched some more 🙂