Breaking News reports that a woman has been rescued after getting into difficulty while swimming at Spanish Point on the Co Clare coast this morning (Sunday 28 November).

It’s understood that the woman, in her 60s, found herself out of her depth in the water off Black Rock. She was reportedly recovered ashore by a passer-by who entered the water.

A multi-agency rescue operation was subsequently stood down but coastguard volunteers from Kilkee and other crews attended the scene, where the woman was treated at the scene. Breaking News has more HERE.

The surfer who died after getting into difficulty off the Co Clare coast on Monday (5 July) has been named locally, according to the Irish Examiner.

And tributes have been paid by the community to 20-year-old Fionn O’Brien, a GAA standout “blessed with great skill and lightning speed”.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the young man was pronounced dead hours after he was airlifted to University Hospital Limerick from Lough Donnell in Quilty on Monday morning.

Clare County Council has opened a book of condolences for the young man ahead of his funeral tomorrow in Roslevan.

The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.

BreakingNews.ie reports that a surfer has died in hospital after he got into difficulty off the Co Clare coast this morning, Monday 5 July.

The Irish Coast Guard’s Kilkee unit and Rescue 115 helicopter from Shannon were among the emergency services to attend the scene at Lough Donnell in Quilty, where off-duty lifeguards in the area helped bring the surfer ashore.

The casualty was subsequently airlifted to University Hospital Limerick in critical condition.

This story was updated at 6.05pm on Monday 5 July.

Dusty the dolphin last weekend treated two SCUBA diving sisters to an encounter they will never forget, as RTÉ News reports.

Jessica and Jennifer Smith were diving with their father Finbar as part of a group with the Burren Sub Aqua Club last Saturday (1 May) when they were approached by the inquisitive bottlenose, who has been a fixture of the West Clare coast for some 20 years.

Previous encounters have been mixed — in particular an incident reported in Doolin some years ago in which a woman was hospitalised.

But the teens were delighted to meet a much calmer Dusty, who may have been surprised to find humans in the water after months of restrictions prevented group dives.

RTÉ News has more on the story HERE.

#Creeragh - Independent.ie reports that a man has died after he was swept into the sea by an unexpected wave near Kilkee in Co Clare yesterday (Saturday 13 January).

The 30-year-old man, believed to be a Hungarian national resident in Galway, is understood to have climbed down to the base of a cliff in Creeragh to take photos when he was washed away.

Emergency services were alerted immediately, and the Shannon-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 quickly located the casualty and winched him from the water.

However, the man was later pronounced dead at University Hospital Limerick.

#Rescue - Kayakers paddled to the rescue of a man in his 60s spotted floating in the sea off Co Clare on Saturday morning (31 October).

According to The Irish Times, the man – thought to have fallen into the water from Seafield Pier near Quilty – was semi-conscious when he was retrieved by the kayakers.

The casualty was subsequently airlifted to hospital by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115, which was on a training exercise nearby.

The incident occurred just days after the body of local man Stephen Mungovan was recovered from the sea after what's believed to be an accidental fall late last Sunday night (25 October).

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#Surfing - One of big wave surfing's best kept secrets off the Clare coast has seen the area named among the top surf spots in the UK and Ireland, as the Clare Herald reports.

Easkey in Co Sligo and The Peak in Bundoran, Co Donegal also made the grade alongside Aileens, a renowned offshore swell only accessible to those in the know, in the list put together by Surfholidays.com.

The Clare Herald has more on the story HERE.

#Missing - Searching resumed this morning (Tuesday 27 October) for a 19-year-old Clare man feared to have fallen into the sea.

The Irish Times reports that the man from the Quilty area was last seen on Sunday night (25 October) at the rear of his coastal home.

A cross-agency emergency response began yesterday (Monday 26 October) after the alarm was raised in the morning, covering the coastline between Quilty and Spanish Point in Co Clare.

Conditions have been hazardous in recent days, and Kilkee Coast Guard advises the public to "exercise extreme caution" by the sea till the weather improves. The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#Missing - Rescue services have formally stood down their search for a missing Japanese tourist off Co Clare after three weeks, the Irish Examiner reports.

As of yesterday (Tuesday 15 September) there has been no sign of Ushio Azaki (61), who went missing in Kilkee on 22 August with her companion Eiji Takagi (63), whose body was found by divers on 30 August.

#Missing - The search was set to resume this morning for a man who fell into the sea off Co Clare yesterday afternoon (15 December).

As The Irish Times reports, the missing man, a Latvian national, is one of two anglers who has been fishing from rocks near Blackhead, on the south side of Galway Bay.

It's believed the second man left the scene to get help when his colleague went into the water, and could no longer find him on his return.

It's also thought the Latvian national could have been in the water for several hours before emergency services were alerted.

Doolin coastguard, Aran Islands RNLI and the Shannon-based coastguard helicopter were all dispatched for the search and rescue operation, which was called off at 6pm in poor light.