Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Storm Brendan

Courtown’s sanctuary for rescued seals has something of a ‘local celebrity’ among its number, as the Irish Mirror reports.

Bottlebrush — one of 10 young seals recovered during Storm Brendan that are currently in the care of Seal Rescue Ireland — won the hearts of Hook Lighthouse staff who discovered the pup next to the iconic light a week ago.

It’s thought that Bottlebrush became separated from his mother during last week’s stormy conditions, and was found in poorly condition — suffering from congestion and a “deep painful cough”, according to Seal Rescue Ireland’s Sam Brittain.

Bottlebrush at Hook Lighthouse (via Facebook)

Along with three other new patients at the marine wildlife sanctuary, grey seal Bottlebrush has been named after Australian flora to raise awareness of efforts to help Australians affected by the recent bushfires.

While not very story at Seal Rescue Ireland is a happy one, as the centre recently lost little Heath who was suffering from a severe abscess on his shoulder, one with a more positive turn as of late is Cloudberry — the Arctic ringed seal found earlier this month in Co Kerry.

It’s still not known how the pup wound up hundreds of miles south of her home region, but it’s suspected that record high temperatures in northern Russia this winter have been forcing female Arctic seals to seek shelter in unusual spots.

Published in Marine Wildlife

The newest Stena Line ferry is expected to begin sailing the Dublin to Holyhead route on the Irish Sea today.

The 215m (705ft) Stena Estrid, writes Independent.ie, is described as "one of the most advanced vessels in operation", with space to carry 120 cars and 1,000 passengers.

The ship's official maiden voyage, a 8.55am sailing from Holyhead to Dublin, has been delayed due to adverse weather coinciding with Storm Brendan, but a 2.50pm departure from Dublin remains on schedule as we publish.

For more click the newspaper here in addition to Welsh coverage from the NorthWalesLive. 

In an update, Afloat adds that the corresponding sailing from the Irish capital has been delayed this afternoon. According to the Stena Line website, the 'new generation' ropax ferry has been delayed approximately by an hour due adverse weather conditions.  

Published in Ferry

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!