Holiday update

I don't post a huge amount of non-SOA, non-work related things on here, but I've just spent a couple of weeks on vacation and I thought I'd post a vacation blog.

We went to Valentia Island. Its not in Spain (Valencia) but its one of the westernmost parts of Europe, hanging off the edge of Ireland into the Atlantic. It is an amazing place, hence the reason we have been to that part of Ireland for 15 summer holidays. A warning - if you do plan to go there, don't be put off by rain. Valentia is the site of one of the earliest main metereological stations, and continues to contribute metereological data. You can see the average rainfall but according to the papers, this year was on course to have the wettest August on record. Despite this, and despite using factor 30 suncream every day, I have a tan - just from being outside so much.

The first Sunday we arrived we heard there were dolphins in the harbour, which is very rare. Unfortunately we were already late for church and couldn't stop, but a few hours later my wife was looking out the bedroom window and suddenly shouted "Dolphins" and we could clearly see them, about 75m away, a pod of three, arching out of the water as they played around in the sea in front of us.

We surfed a lot. I mean a lot. About two hours a day with only two days off. I just bought a new 8'2 board before we left as its very expensive to rent boards out there. The surfing was great - its very reliable and there are two good spots: St Finian's Bay and Reen Row. St Finian's Bay is simply stunning - facing out over the Atlantic towards the Skellig Islands. Here is a picture of me catching a wave at St. Finian's Bay (apologies for the poor surf style!):
(Thanks to Lauren Martin for the picture).

St. Finian's has a race or rip that runs along the right hand side of the bay. The advanced surfers use it to get out to the best spots to surf, while beginners best stay clear (or need rescuing). So Reen Row is really handy because its much wider and safer than St Finian's, and the waves are much smaller, so if its 6-10ft at St Finian's, then you can expect maybe 3-5ft at Reen Row, which is a lot more acceptable if you have a bunch of kids and beginners all in the water! Here is a picture with my friend Dave and me both catching a wave, with my daughter Anna body-boarding in and Sam (Dave's son) heading out to catch another one. Thanks again to Lauren for the picture.

Anna also learnt to stand up on a board really well this holiday - its a little galling to see how easy she makes it look:

Here is me praying for a good wave!

Apart from surfing what did we do? Well, we caught and found crabs, prawns, razor shells, oysters and mussels - and ate them. Well actually we didn't eat any crabs we found as they were a bit small, but we ate the rest. I went to some cracking seisiúns. The 16th August was the 150th anniversary of the first transatlantic cable coming across to Valentia and there were a bunch of activities and celebrations, including the launch of a new stamp.

Anyway, there was a trad music session in the pub afterwards, where I met Donal Murphy of Sliabh Notes and Four Men and a Dog, together with Melanie his daughter, and Ian (a great whistler from Valentia) and his family. We had a great time playing some good Sliabh Luacra tunes plus others.

Here is a photo of me at a session in the Fertha, Cahersiveen, along with Jane, Dennis, Eddie and Mary.

Finally, I guess the holiday wouldn't have been half the fun without our friends the Martin's who we first met in Valentia and got us into surfing and body-boarding. Amy and Dave are an amazing couple, along with their sons Sam and Esmond, and we also got to spend lots of time with Paul (Dave's brother) and his three daughters, Lauren, Audrey and Christine.

Thanks everyone, and hope to see you next year.