Robert's Ramblings

Explorer’s Gotta Go Exploring

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 22:19:00 +0000

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

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 21:35:00 +0000

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

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 15:49:00 +0000

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

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:31:00 +0000

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

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 22:02:00 +0000

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

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 16:01:00 +0000

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

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 16:37:00 +0000

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

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:11:00 +0000

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

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 01:21:00 +0000

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

First Bite

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 21:43:00 +0000

There was a time when a solar eclipse was seen as an ominous sign, a warning that forces beyond our understanding had power over us and that the Sun itself might somehow be taken away.

Today, solar eclipses are one of those internationally celebrated occasions where countries that have won the next orbital mechanics lottery get to host one of the world’s most spectacular celestial events.

Sadly, Ireland did not win this year. For that we will need to stick around another 64 years, until Saturday, 23 September 2090. Still, we made the most of the partial eclipse that graced our sky tonight.

It was always going to be a long shot that we would see anything at all. Despite an unseasonal 28°C here in County Cork, very seasonal cloud covered the sky for most of the day leading up to the event. For the two hours from start to finish, I think we glimpsed the Sun perhaps ten times, each glimpse lasting just a few seconds.

The most profound experience was that deep dip of light and the odd feeling it created just as we passed through the peak. Even with only a few percent of the Sun visible, it was still quite bright, but quite strange.

I got one or two lovely reminders of the eclipse before dark clouds hid it all. Of course, 10 minutes after it was all over, the Sun came out in full.

That’s Ireland!

#SolarEclipse #PartialSolarEclipse #Eclipse2026 #astrophotography #SolarPhotography #celestial #NightSkyPhotography #IrishSkies #Ireland #Cork #sun #eclipse

A Last Gift from the Atlantic

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 21:58:00 +0000

We had spent a remarkable day at sea, travelling from Valentia Island to Kerry Head and back again. Now, halfway between Valentia and the Blasket Islands, the long journey home still had one more moment waiting for us.

The western sky had become a world of fire and shadow. Great banks of cloud burned orange and gold above the dark Atlantic, while Inishnabro stretched across the horizon in silhouette. Beyond its jagged eastern end, the distant shape of Tearaght appeared through the light.

After a day filled with ocean, islands and adventure, it seemed impossible that there could be anything more. Then the sun found a gap in the clouds and transformed the entire seascape.

Some days are remembered for the places they take us. This one saved something remarkable for the journey home.

#Ireland #BlasketIslands #sunset #GolderHour #Inishnabro #Tearaght #SeaScape #Landscape #Kerry

A Matter of Time at Bull Rock

nospam@example.com (Robert) — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 22:53:00 +0000

There are places where time seems to move differently ... in the strangeness of dreams, in the immersion of flow, and in the time spent beneath the ocean.

Rising from the Atlantic off Ireland’s south-west coast, Bull Rock is imposing, with its famous navigable ocean tunnel, exposed lighthouse and one of Ireland’s largest gannet rookeries. We had come for a different reason, to explore beneath this oceanic marvel.

We began our dive by navigating the tunnel that bisects the island. Below us, it descended into a deep V-shaped groove, like the imprint of some vinyl record from ancient history. As we swam, we played the role of the needle, tracing its time-worn tune through the dim, dim light.

As we approached the other side and the light returned, those grooves began to fill with colour, with sponges and anemones, with starfish, urchins and the willowy sway of kelp.

As divers, our time underwater must be carefully managed, and we rely on computers to keep us safe. Still, I like to dive with a mechanical timepiece.

The bright orange of the dead man’s fingers sponge caught my eye. I took off my watch and rested it briefly among the cluster. The bright strap seemed almost designed for the setting, echoing their colour, while the brushed metal case caught the light from my strobes. Behind it, the kelp and open water faded into deep Atlantic green.

Placed in this context, my watch created an entirely new sense of time. It reminded me that our visits beneath the surface are always temporary. Yet surrounded by creatures that grow slowly and live according to tides, seasons and currents, time itself seemed to stop, as though it no longer mattered.

Underwater, time is experienced rather than measured. A minute spent descending can feel like forever, while thirty minutes exploring a reef can disappear almost instantly. The second hand continues its steady progress, but my own sense of time becomes shaped by experience.

Bull Rock is not a gentle place. Its exposed position brings currents, surge and rapidly changing conditions. That energy is also what makes it so alive. It was a lucky day for us, and one to be remembered time and time again.

This photograph became less about the watch itself and more about the contrast between two ways of measuring time. One is mechanical, precise and human-made. The other is written slowly into the growth of sponges, the movement of kelp and the enduring presence of the rock.

For a few moments, at least, they shared the same time and place.

#scuba #diving #BullRock #CountyCork #WildAtlanticWay #underwater #Ireland #UnderwaterPhotography #DeadMansFingers #sinn #watches