Marine

Bere Island Kayakers

Plassey Cot

Dan O'Neill lives in Limerick and owns this gandalow which was commonly found in the estuary.

Skellig Michael

Skellig Michael is known throughout the world of archaeology as the site of a well-preserved monastic outpost of the Early Christian period — now designated a World Heritage Site

Skellig Michael

Skellig Michael is known throughout the world of archaeology as the site of a well-preserved monastic outpost of the Early Christian period — now designated a World Heritage Site

Lough Hyne

Lough Hyne, a marine lake in Co. Cork about 5km south-west of Skibbereen, was designated as Ireland's first Marine Nature Reserve in 1981. Lough Hyne was probably a freshwater lake until about 4,000 years ago, when rising sea levels flooded it with salty ocean water. The lake is now fed by tidal currents that rush in from the Atlantic through Barloge Creek. The end of the creek is known as ‘The Rapids’. The lake's small size, only 0.8km by 0.6km, creates an unusual habitat of highly oxygenated yet warm seawater that sustains an enormous variety of plants and animals, many of which are not really native to Ireland. A wide variety of environments such as cliffs, salt marsh, beach, and areas of greatly varying water movement add to the area's biodiversity.

Lough Hyne

Lough Hyne, a marine lake in Co. Cork about 5km south-west of Skibbereen, was designated as Ireland's first Marine Nature Reserve in 1981. Lough Hyne was probably a freshwater lake until about 4,000 years ago, when rising sea levels flooded it with salty ocean water. The lake is now fed by tidal currents that rush in from the Atlantic through Barloge Creek. The end of the creek is known as ‘The Rapids’. The lake's small size, only 0.8km by 0.6km, creates an unusual habitat of highly oxygenated yet warm seawater that sustains an enormous variety of plants and animals, many of which are not really native to Ireland. A wide variety of environments such as cliffs, salt marsh, beach, and areas of greatly varying water movement add to the area's biodiversity.

Shell Midden at Doonloughan

Shell midden at Doonloughan, near Ballyconneely, Connemara, Co. Galway (A. O’Sullivan)This eroding early medieval shell midden of limpets and cockle shells dates to about AD 800. From earliest times until the modern era, shellfish meat has been used as food, as fish bait and as a raw material Shell middens are the rubbish dumps of the unwanted shells from oysters, limpets and periwinkles. They can be identified when walking along the edge of sand dunes and looking out for thin layers of shell, stone and earth exposed in the eroding cliff sections.

Standing Stone

Bere Island (Berre Island Projects Group)

Ocean Jewels

Jewel anemones in Irish waters (Sarah Varian)

Lovely Lobster

(Sarah Varian/Marine Dimensions)

Galway Hooker, St Patrick

Galway Hooker, St Patrick, at Cruinniú na mBád, Kinvara, Co. Galway, 1995 (Shay Fennelly)In 1909, Paddy and Joe Casey laid the keel of the St Patrick. The Caseys were from a well-known boat-building family on Mweenish Island, a small island just off the coast from Carna in Galway. The Casey family owned a shop on Mweenish and built the hooker to transport supplies to and from the island. In 1912, St Patrick carried Pádraig Pearse, Thomas McDonagh and Joseph Plunkett out to the Aran Islands in an attempt to organise support for the Irish Volunteers among the islanders. St Patrick was the most travelled work boat to come from Galway, and under her most recent owner, Paddy Barry, she sailed to America, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Sadly, the St Patrick was destroyed in a storm in May 2002 in West Cork.