When Fungie met London Fish (in the City) and Kosh the bounding hound

What else would you do on a bank holiday weekend, but get up at 3:30am, drive to Stansted, board a place bound for Kerry and drive an hour in a mini-bus with the driver paying more attention to their mobile than to the twists and turns of the Anascaul road, and for what? To dive with Dive Dingle why else?

Fish in the City, my friends, mentors and (dive/drinking) buddies came over to spend a weekend diving with us. The weather gods had other plans. They did get to dive “Wild Bank” and have a play with the seals at The Blaskets (animal not Navy) so the sea must have been fairly calm. A BBQ was had for all on Saturday night – no lamb was left unslaughtered for miles around, and everyone was tucked up in bed by 10pm – apart from the usual suspects who could be found in the darker dens of Dingle's nightlife scene, having a nightcap or three. Lisa, once again, showed the benefits of a mis-spent youth, by whopping everyone's ass on the pool table – I mean that in the playing pool rather than the corporal punishment way, of course.


The next day and our intrepid group were in Thornback Alley seeking the elusive Thornback Ray – Nick was keen to avoid getting bent so used the YBOD for the entire 8m dive ;o) So to more food – the “Goat Street Cafe” provided mighty fodder for us hungry divers, and Ed the Chef ensured that no-one was fit for nothing else apart from bed after the great meal he prepared for us. Tip for the future: no matter how much space you conserve dessert will always be bigger.

Kevin and Janine had to get Kosh and the van going rediculously early the next morning, catching the ferry from Cork. The others slept longer and rose to a beautiful day – the weather Gods of Dingle were being ficcle.

What did we learn over the weekend, well .... I learned a mantra from Kevin, “I'm a bear, I'm a bear”. I've been saying it every mornig and Lisa reckons that my hair is growing faster already! Now, where did I put that honey?

You've been Mangoed

No sooner had the three amigos left town but the Mangoed Two hit Dingle. For those that haven't had their retinas scorched, I am of course referring to Fergal & Keith and in particular to the paintwork on Keith's car. However, for the first time in his life Keith met his match in the paint of the houses of the Dingle Penninsula – in fact at quite a few he would have been hard pressed to find his motor if he'd parked it alongside.


The guys, fresh from Niamh's wedding (when I say fresh I really should say, jaded and needing a nighout in Dingle like a hole in the head), landed in the evening and were hauled to the pizza house – like every other poor soul that came to see us. Then it was onwards with the Dingle Tour and where better than Foxy John's. A late night caning wine at the house ensued and Derek was found asleep, fully clothed on the bed in the morning – at least it was the right bed, so that was a start!



The Mango Duo drove off into the morning to discover the pleasures of the Slea Head drive and onwards to Avoca. With any luck we'll see them both again soon.

Alex, Jo & Kaz visit – what could possibly go wrong?

Where to start with this one? How many flights does it take for three people to get from London to Shannon? The correct answer is five! Kazzie had to be smuggled on board an Aer Lingus flight as she had misplaced her passport. Jo has obviously been spending too much time in the company of Ms. Cranston as she missed her flight (alright we can let Jo off as some bugger had decided to crash on the M25 that monring). That left Alex to pick up the pieces, eventually ferrying the girls into Dingle for 10pm – not bad, it only took them 18 hours door-to-door.

After a good nights rest the girls were raring to go. Going off to see Ventry beach and walking out to Hussy's Folly – next to the beach where Fungie sometimes holds court. The dive centre was a madhouse that weekend so we weren't able to bring the girls for their try dives – we'll have to re-arrange for NZ or Dingle next year.

A fine meal was had in the Homely House cafe (Dingle's answer to Mexican cuisine) and then on to a few of Dingle low high spots to sample what an Irish pub smells like without the cigarette smoke but with a low ceiling, no deodorant on a male for a 50 metre radius and the aftermath of a night of Guinness rolling down their trouser legs. It was, I believe, what you'd refer to as a learning experience for the girls and a growing experience for the hole in the Ozone layer!

All too soon, they had to leave us and return to London. We hope to be able to spend more time with then the next time we're in London.
(Photos to follow, watch this space)

Addition to McGuinn Clan

Maureen gave birth to a bouncing baby girl today - 20th August. Congratulations Martin and Maureen.

Happy Birthday Mum

Mother Moore celebrated her 70th birthday today (19th August 2005). A wild night on the tiles was had by all. It is not known how many or who was arrested or for what reason and I think it best that we don't ever find out. By the way – it's safe to mention her age as she is only known to use the betting sites on the web (Derek ducks for cover as a digital woodenspoon is waved in his direction – Irish joke).

Sister Sarah, Friends Johnnie & Anita Pay Us A Visit

The weather on their day of arrival was typical sunshine so we decided to start the weekend off in good kiwi style with a barbecue. Salmon marinaded in chilli, lime and coriander, lamb chops and off course – sausages for the dog dogs who in good old kiwi style, gate-crashed.

Drinks consisted of some of that fantastic NZ made 42 Below Fejoa Vodka mixed with apple juice, soda water and ice, beer, wine and whatever else we could get our hands on. If you haven't tried 42 Below, believe me you haven't yet lived. There are different flavours for those of you who don't like fejoa's (eh Derek) or for those of you who don't have a clue what a fejoa is (eh Derek).


The next day was not so nice but we decided to go for a drive around Dingle Penninsula anyway. We stopped off a couple of times to look down into the sea and fog which was rather eerie and beautiful but not a match for what you can see on a clear sunny day. We did however, stop off at Ballyferriter for their first pint of Guinness in Ireland. That night was the usual good pizza at The Blue Zone before heading to Foxy Johns for a nightcap or two and a set of spanners and a fly swat!


Unfortunately the next morning we both had to work so left our guests to get up at their leisure when they took the lovely harbour walk into town for a spot of shopping before heading home again via The Dingle Races. This occurs only once a year and the horses come from far and wide to run around a field that has been lovingly turned from pasture into a race track in the three days before. A whole four arrests were made that weekend doubling Dingle's crime figures for the year. We're happy to say that none of those arrested were kiwis – or at least not that we know of. The next day was a trip to the airport so Sarah could fly back to London and Johnnie & Anita to pick up their car and do a scenic drive up to Dublin before also flying back to London.

Yet another amazing staff day out !!!

Ok, there were paying customers as well, but as no one needed guiding we got to do a truly brilliant dive on An Tearacht - an island off the western side of the Blaskets.

The waters around the island are as close to a marine reserve as you get in Ireland. In other words they are an official reserve but as the park ranger doesn't have a boat it sort of prevents him from being able to monitor any fishing activities around the island.

But, as I said, what a dive. 15 metres plus visibility, boulders, ridges and overhangs. We went to 40 metres and as the man says - the sea life abounded. We even managed to find a crayfish - hadn't seen one in weeks! Should be mentioned that others spotted up to eight crays on their dives, so maybe our eyesight is failing in our old age.

As we had had such a deep dive we decided to have a long surface interval and visited the island itself. What a cool place (see the photos that Conor has kindly provided). There must be a thousand steps up to the lighthouse (alright maybe only nine hundred odd, but it nearly matches the Grouse Grind). The views from the lighthouse were just out of this world. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.

The second dive was off Insihvickillane (Charlie Haughey's island - not a direct translation from the Irish) and was just as much fun - yet another crayfish (Lisa took some lovely pictures). After a day's diving like that what better to do the next day but 7 DSD's - well we have to atone for our sins somehow ;o)

Kazzie, Jo and Alex are due here next week, I can only imagine the mayhem that will follow them ... needless to say I'll try to publish the less lurid of the tales!