Robert’s Ramblings

a little on life, the universe and everything… …and maybe the odd bit of scuba diving too!

Farewell My Beautiful Friend

Two days ago we sat in a beachside café, one of Katie’s favourites. Our glasses were filled with good red wine, another of Katie’s favourites. A single candle burned on the table as we gazed out over the ocean, waiting, thinking of her.

I first noticed Katie when I was 12 years old, a beautiful red-haired girl who caught my eye. I never said hello, just hoped that one day I would see her again.

As luck would have it, we became friends as teenagers, and that friendship grew through our twenties as we married our respective partners and, with our close friends, became a group of six. A bond of friendship that has endured and sustained us for more years than I care to count. Looking back, so much of it began with her.

We have partied together, travelled together, played music together and explored the ocean together. We have gathered around each other’s dinner tables. We have been there for the birth of our children and watched them grow into adults, setting out on lives of their own. For decades, we have been part of each other’s lives.

Two days ago, four of us sat in vigil by the ocean while Katie, with her husband and family beside her, said goodbye. Late in the afternoon, when we knew it was time, all four of us blew out that candle together.

I think of all the years her body slowly took away the things she loved to do, and of how much she continued to mean to all of us. The friendship, the fun, the adventures, the simple joy of being together. There is so much of you, Katie, in the life we have shared.

This image is for you, my beautiful friend. One last glimpse of the extraordinary, swimming off into the distance.

Thank you for your friendship, and for the richness knowing you has brought to my life.

Farewell, my beautiful friend. Godspeed, dear Katie.

#Katie #tribute #remembrance #friendship #farewell #memories #ocean #humpback #whale #underwaterPhotography #monochrome

Explorer’s Gotta Go Exploring



You can do it in the shower, they said, … in the pool if you must, … or, if you are feeling really adventurous, … at the beach.

But explorers need to go exploring. They go places people were never meant to be, and they come back to tell their stories.

Exploring the deep waters off the south-west coast of Kerry, Ireland, more than 35 metres below the surface, keeping track of time means the difference between bringing home stories or becoming one. Training, experience, equipment, and friends with a shared sense of adventure make such adventures possible.

So, though the shower might be nice, and the pool even better, take your adventurous spirit beyond the beach, hearken to the siren’s call, and just go exploring.


#rolexexplorer #rolex #explorer #scubadiving #underwaterphotography &underwater;kerry #wildatlanticway #ireland #exploration #scuba #diving

Three Razorbills



On our trip to Great Saltee Island back in June we experienced a treasure trove of seabird life. We came for the puffins and were delighted by the gannets, but soon realised just how many more seabirds had made the Saltee Islands their summer home.

These three razorbills had perched themselves on a rock right amongst the gannets, but unlike gannets, which nest on bare rock, razorbills seek out natural crevices and ledges where they can nest with some protection from the elements.

Closely related to puffins, razorbills are sleeker, more handsome and bear none of the awkward behaviour of their comical relatives. I particularly love the delicate white striping on their beaks and that single white line running back towards the eye.

So what are these guys up to? I watched for a while as they preened and posed amid a cacophony of squawking gannets. Perhaps they were still young, not nesting yet and simply looking for a good party surrounded by noise and chaos. Whatever they were doing, they gave me the perfect platform for this shot.

Since visiting the Saltees I have come to recognise and know the names of so many new seabirds. It might not turn me into a bird photographer, but I am loving getting to know them.


#razorbill #alcaTorda #greatSaltee #salteeIslands #ireland #irishWildlife #seabirds #birdPhotography #wildlifePhotography #naturePhotography #coastalIreland #wildIreland #atlanticSeabirds #birdlife #threeRazorbills

Baby Shark, Baby Shark



Here I am immersed in an oceanic world, 40km offshore with 120m of water below me, and I can’t get that cute and crazy song out of my head. Baby shark, do do do do do do…

Pinkfong’s YouTube version of Baby Shark has become the most-viewed video of all time and I find I’m just as consumed by the meme as everyone else. But what’s the story behind baby shark?

Sometime in the 1970s a very strange campfire song started being sung by children at American summer camps. Various versions emerged involving increasingly gruesome scenes complete with physical gestures. These were not quite the happy anthropomorphism of mummy, daddy and of course baby shark that we know today. It’s only speculation, but perhaps no coincidence that the 1975 release of Jaws had firmly embedded the fear of sharks, especially the great white, in the American psyche.

This beautiful baby shark is a blue shark (Prionace glauca) and is perhaps only a couple of weeks old, its youth betrayed by the strange little caudal extension trailing from its tail. When this baby shark grows up I’d be just as happy swimming alongside her as I am now.

If we’d been out here with Pinkfong’s baby shark and mummy shark just happened along, perhaps I’d be thinking, we’re gonna need a bigger boat!

For now at least there have been no confirmed records of great white sharks in Irish waters, so I’m more than content floating out here with the blue sharks and children’s songs stuck in my head.


#blueShark #prionaceGlauca #sharks #underwaterPhotography #marineLife #Ireland #Kerry #atlanticOcean #freediving #snorkelling #diving #babyShark

Nest Builder



Ireland has some of the most significant gannet nesting colonies in Europe. I have visited a few of them now, including Little Skellig (Sceilig Bheag), the Bull Rock (An Tarbh) and now Great Saltee (An Sailte Mór).

We came here for the puffins, but as Great Saltee has Ireland’s third largest gannet colony we simply had to spend some time with them too.

The juxtaposition of both seabirds making this island their home could not be more profound. Gannets are magnificent birds. Aloof, majestic, graceful and such a wonderful counterpoint to their comical neighbours.

It was early in the season so there were no chicks yet, but nest building was well underway. There is little more than bare rock where a gannet builds its nest, so grass, twigs and dry seaweed are collected and cemented into shape with droppings.

This gannet, one of many we watched, flies in with a beak full of seaweed destined for the nesting ground. A simple moment perhaps, but one that captures something of the endless work going on all around us.


#gannet #northernGannet #greatSaltee #salteeIslands #ireland #irishWildlife #seabirds #birdPhotography #wildlifePhotography #naturePhotography #nestBuilding #coastalIreland #wildIreland #seaBirds #nestBuilder

Poker Face



I imagine myself at the poker table. I’m holding a pair of queens. On the table there is a third queen along with a jack, a nine, an eight and a two. Given this strong position I make a substantial bet.

The puffin looks right at me and raises all-in.

Do I call or do I fold? What is there to read in that enigmatic face? Simplicity, sadness, apathy? Certainly not cunning or malice. Is the puffin bluffing? Are my three queens winners, or does the bird have the straight?

With a painful sigh I fold, leave my lot with the puffin and head home.

Never gamble with puffins.


#puffins #headshot #poker #pokerface #bluffing #portait #salteeIslands #Ireland

Into the Light



For most of our time in the water the blue sharks moved around us near the surface, sometimes close enough to make eye contact before gliding effortlessly away again. The experience changed completely when I held my breath and dived down deep.

Away from the surface the sharks became lost in a blue-green world with no reference and seemed less interested in me, perhaps even keeping their distance. As I started for the surface and looked up into the light, the blue of the shark was replaced by a magnificent sunburst and that unmistakable silhouette.

I was struck by just how graceful it was, completely at home in a place where I was the privileged visitor. Another amazing moment from an amazing day.


#blueShark #prionaceGlauca #sharks #underwaterPhotography #marineLife #Ireland #Kerry #atlanticOcean #freediving #snorkelling #diving #sunburst #silhouette

Atlantic Sanctuary



Ireland has been very good to me. I’ve made wonderful friends, gone on amazing trips, experienced the culture and settled into our little part of the country we call home away from home. The western Irish coastline in particular, with its rugged inaccessibility, spectacular waterfalls tumbling into the ocean, and of course the diving, makes being here such an adventure.

There is one place however that is very special to me for reasons spanning years and experiences, a little island off the southwest coast of Kerry called Skellig Michael.

In 2017, we brought our dearest Australian friends to Ireland with us and together we discovered Skellig Michael while exploring the Wild Atlantic Way. In 2024, having been here only a few months, I got a call from Mike, the nephew of a friend who I’d never met, inviting me to come for a dive. That weekend I was taken beneath the waters of Skellig Michael for my first dive in Ireland.

I have been out here many times now and feel so at home in the ocean beneath those towering cliffs, or capturing a gannet’s-eye view from above. From the waterline I often find myself looking up at the ancient structures perched on top and imagining how crazy we would have seemed to the monks of St Fionan who once called this Atlantic sanctuary their home.


#skelligMichael #kerry #wildAtlanticWay #ireland #irishCoast #atlanticOcean #aerialPhotography #dronePhotography #landscape #seascape #adventure #travel

Even Puffins Get the Blues



Even Puffins Get the Blues

I know I’m guilty of anthropomorphism with the behaviour of this little group of puffins, but you tell me if the one on the left isn’t having a bad day while the other two are trying to cheer her up?

If you ever get the chance to visit a puffin rookery you will be in for a real treat. Of all the birdlife I have experienced, these guys would have to be among the cutest, most awkward, whimsical and trusting of any wild animal I have spent time with.

We visited the Saltee Islands back in June, one of Ireland’s most significant puffin rookeries, where they take up residence for the summer months to nest and raise their chicks. Each mating pair will lay a single egg and it becomes their joint responsibility to raise the chick until it is independent by autumn, when the entire community heads out to sea for the winter.

We spent about four hours just sitting with them and watching their clumsy antics. If you sat very still they would wander right up to you, looking just as confused as ever, before wandering off again. By the end of the day we were thoroughly enamoured by their quirky antics and endlessly curious nature.

Thank you to Helen from the Mallow Camera Club for organising such a wonderful adventure with these gorgeous birds. As the boat took us back to the mainland I could not help wishing that our little puffin would have a better day tomorrow.


#puffins #salteeIslands #ireland #birds #wildlife #seabirds #nature #mallowCameraClub #wexford

The Blue in the Green



Here I find myself floating in an ocean of green, 40km off the Irish coast. With 120m of water beneath me I should be feeling more vulnerable but the green of the phytoplankton hides any true sense of depth. We were hoping that being so far offshore the water would be clearer but the green tells us the water is rich with food and with life.

Our first hint of blue came an hour after cutting the engine and drifting in the current. ‘Baby shark, baby shark’, someone yelled and we all peered over the side to see the tiniest shark I’d ever seen. Perhaps no more than 40cm in length, our first blue shark (Prionace glauca) came to check us out.

Before long a few of its elder siblings joined us, along with a porbeagle shark who was not happy with the company and quickly took off again, leaving us to get into the water with the blues.

We spent a few magical hours out there, drifting with the current, swimming with blue sharks, being buzzed by dolphins and getting burned under an Irish sun. The green water added something visually really special, bringing out the blue colour of the sharks against the backdrop of green.

Finally we had to say goodbye and head back. What a day we all had. I’m so grateful to find myself with such like-minded souls to share adventures like this. I can still see, in my mind’s eye, those impossibly blue sharks moving through that ocean of green.


#blueShark #prionaceGlauca #sharks #underwagerPhotography #marineLife #Ireland #Kerry #atlanticOcean #freediving #snorkelling #diving

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