Day three of our Kerry adventure brought us to Dingle. A small port town in the South Western part of Ireland. I wanted to visit here for such a long time but the drive from Sligo, back when we still lived there, was five hours and it was just way too far. Thankfully from Tralee it’s only an hour.
After our breakfast in the hotel we got ourselves ready with some snacks and hit the road to discover Dingle. Our two main point of interest here were the boats tour to see Fungi the dolphin and the the aquarium Oceanworld. Whatever else passed our way we were happy to see, too. The views in Dingle and in Dingle Peninsula are stunning. We could have stayed way longer there but the kids were getting tired after the aquarium. Maybe I will go down on my own one weekend for a night and explore the wilds.
We picked a nice enough day as the weather was a mixture of rain and sunshine, mostly sunshine. It was actually really hot at some point. We arrived around lunch time and the only main car park was absolutely packed. This was the only thing we had to fault really. For the amount of tourists arriving on a daily basis, they could do with another car park. I took the kids out of the car while hubby drove around to find a space. The kids and me had some light lunch in a lovely little cafe down the road called An Cupan Tae.
Once daddy caught up with us, we walked down to the tourist information to enquire about the boats tour. She printed our tickets which we had to pay at the main boats tour office. As well as that I finally purchased my own Wild Atlantic Passport. I received all my stamps as well. However I would have thought I could stamp the rest of the West coast I have been to, too but this can only be done at the destination which is a bit of a pain because it means I have to travel there again to get them.
Our boats tour was set for 2pm. We didn’t have to wait very long until we could board the boat. We grabbed a nice little corner with all four of us in a row.
So we set off with our tour guide who explained the area around us including the harbour of Dingle. Then it was pretty much the case of spotting Fungi for the next hour. The kids loved it. I’d say there were about six boats hovering around trying to spot him and once a boat found him, they all drove close to him as fast as they could. It was like a hide and seek game with a dolphin. We managed to see him a few times and I also got him on camera. In the meantime we could enjoy the beautiful views around us. The boats tour for two adults and two kids were €46.
Back ashore, we walked across to the aquarium and spent about an hour in there. Oceanworld had a nice little cafe where we treated the kids to some delicious ice cream. Tickets to the aquarium were €36. Chloe goes free as they don’t charge three years old or under three. We came at the perfect time as they were just about to feed the penguins. Chloe loves penguins. So we walked all the way through to see that spectacle first before walking back to the start and looking at all the different sea creatures and reptiles.
The end brought us back to the cafe and a little shop. I don’t know about you but we can never seem to escape these kind of shops without buying something small for the kids. They were so good on the journey down, they were allowed to pick something small. To our surprise Chloe picked… can anyone guess? A little teddy penguin. He goes to bed with her every night now. Matthew picked a penguin watch and I bought a new magnet to add to my collection.
Check out my video below the moment we spotted Fungi.
