Mountain Biking - 06/14

Mountain Biking

Instructor - Matthew Kelleher

Location - Star Outdoors, Kenmare, Co. Kerry

Today Myself and Matt had a day off work so Matt decided to bring me Mountain Biking. This was deadly as I hadn't been mountain biking since I was in 1st year in GMIT where Orla brought us to Derroura. 

We began by going up to the bike sheds and making sure the bikes were in good knick. This was really cool as I got to learn even more about the different parts of the bike. We then got the bikes out and hopped on straight away. Here we just cycled around the area outside the sheds for about 10 minutes to get used to the bikes. This was really cool as this area was like a pump track. 

Then it was time to go up to the proper track. Here we met another instructor who we worked with who was an Irish endure series champion. We took off on the first section and it was loads of fun. My only problem was that I kept slowing down on turns because I kept thinking I was going to fall off. When we met at the end of the first section the lads said that they even noticed that. They then told me to use my weight on the turns to get them sharper and to keep my hand OFF the breaks. This took a while to get the hang of........and even a nasty fall but I started to feel more comfortable as I did it more. They also thought me about pumping the bike coming out of jumps and even coming along humps and hollows just to gain more speed and height. 

We eventually got back to the centre and had a chat about how I got on. I would definitely do it again in a heart beat. 

Snorkelling - 07/14

Snorkelling Keem 

Instructor - Maria McKay

Location - Keem Beach Achill

Keem

Today we decided to go to Keem bay in Achill for a snorkel. When we arrived the sun was out the water looked clear and the air was warm, so this was a good day from the start. 
We entered the water on the right hand side and had a look along the rocks. Straight away we saw loads of sea life, anemones, starfish etc, but then we came across a big group of spider crabs. This was really cool as I had only ever seen one on its own. 

Spider Crab

This is the largest crab in irish waters with a width of 20cm and leg span of up to 50cm. 

We decided to go down even closer to have a look and this was amazing. Everywhere we turned for about 10 metres was just all spider crabs. We then decided to move on and snorkel over towards the left hand side of the beach by the cliffs. This can be slightly testing at times as there is a really strong rip running along that side. 
We were snorkelling for about an hour when all of a sudden a seal popped his head up about 20 metres away. We thought this was really cool but when it kept getting closer and closer we decided to call it a day. Apparently if a seal comes closer and closer to you it's to warn you to get away from the area because they have pups close by.

Snorkelling - 08/14

Snorkelling Barna Beach

Instructor - Maria McKay

Location - Barna beach Kenmare.


Today the lads at work asked if we could bring them snorkelling after work because they had never gone before. We decided to check out this spot down the road from Star outdoors. Was really calm when we arrived and the visibility looked great from above the beach but when we got in it was like a minefield of Jellyfish. There were hundreds of compass jellyfish, more than I've ever seen before. 

Although there were loads of jellyfish we stayed in for as long as we could and kept exploring. We then came a cross a 'Velvet Swimming Crab'. Any velvet swimming crab I came across before wasn't much bigger than the palm of my hand but this one was huge. Just as we came across it we were about to tell the guys what it was and one of them went down to pick it up. Little did they know that they are viscous crabs who are lightening fast. As Dan went to pick him up from behind he flipped around and grabbed Dans hand and actually burst the skin. 
The reason why Velvet Swimming Crabs or 'The Devil Crab' (as they are known due to their red eyes,) can move so quick is because they have a paddle on one side at the back which means they can spin and move quickly. 

The Devil Crab

High Ropes - 06/14

High Ropes Rescue Refresher

Instructors - Askea O' Dowd, Me (Emmet Ó Seochrú)

When I got the job in Killarney High Ropes I had to do a small refresher with the boss just to show that I still knew what I was doing after my year working at Zipit Forest Adventures in Lough Key, Co. Roscommon. My Boss Askea Told me to do the course first just so I knew how it went before doing rescues. This course was very different to Zipits courses as this one had a hook and caribeaner system where as Zipit had the 'bornack' system. 

It took me about an hour to do the course and after that we went straight into training. We went up onto the first obstacle which was a tight rope. Here Caroline acted as the person being rescued and I had to do it. 

She had to act as if she was stuck on the platform before the tight rope and was too scared to move on. I then had the set up the I.D (gri gri) 

and lower her down. She also had to act to be scared of the I.D so that made it even trickier. When that was a success we moved on to the next rescue. 

Here Caroline slipped on the tight rope and I had to go out and rescue her. These kind of rescues are a lot harder as you as the rescuer has to balance on the obstacle while rescuing the person. Here I had to set up the I.D off the belay cable and lower her down that way. This can also cause problems as your own carribeaners are on the same cable so when you lower the person off that cable, the weight of them can throw you off balance. This was also a success though as I was able to get Caroline down safely while keeping my balance at the same time.

The last rescue I had to do was when Caroline was suspended in the middle of a zip line and not able to move either way. Here Askea was telling me to stand on one platform on either one side or the other and throw a rope with a carribeaner on it to the subject. the subject should then hook it onto themselves and I then pull them in. 

I completely disagreed with this and showed her what I thought should be done. I zipped out to her in the middle of the line, hooked one of my carribeaners onto her and then pulled her all the way in. This is way quicker and also a lot safer. 

Snorkelling - 14-15/15

Snorkelling Lanzarote 

Instructor - Maria McKay

Day 1: 

We arrived in Lanzarote earlier today and decided straight away that we would go snorkelling somewhere. We decided to head over to the south west coast of the Island to an area called Papa Gayo. This area had two beaches, one really big and busy, with the other being nice and small with only a few people. Today we decided to go to the bigger one. Little did we know it was also a nudist beach, I kept the slacks on. 

Old watch tower at the top of the beach.

We decided to get in straight away and start snorkelling along the coast line. This was by far the clearest water I was ever snorkelling in. About 10m visibility at least. We didn't see much life at the start except for this school of silvery coloured fish with bright yellow eyes. They had no fear whatsoever and would swim in and around you without getting scared. After doing some research I think these were called 'striped large eyed beams'. Easily recognisable by yellow eyes and yellow on its back. 

Striped Large eyed beams.

After continuing on we also came across loads of sea cucumbers. I've only ever seen one when snorkelling in Kerry but there were easily 50 here. They get their names from looking like a cucumber with a soft leathery body 

Sea Cucumber.

Day 2:

Today we decided to come back to Papa Gayo but this time we went to the other smaller beach. This was amazing as it wasn't as crowded and the water was still as clear. Today we went out to a small reef just out from the beach where we saw two species of really colourful  fish. One of these fish was called an 'Ornate Wrasse'. This fish looks like a glowing arrangement of neon lights. 

Ornate Wrasse

The other really colourful fish we saw was called a 'canary damselfish'. This was by far my favourite that I have seen on this holiday. It was mainly black but had ultra violet tips on its fins. These fish were also very comfortable around us. 

Canary Damselfish

After exploring this side of the reef we decided to head even further out towards the other side of the reef. This was amazing and full of life out there. It actually became quite intimidating as there was a minefield of black sea urchins of all sizes. 

Heading for a look.

Soon turned around.

After admittedly getting scared of being on lowish water around these bad boys we decided to head back with our tails between our legs. 

Sailing - 06/15

Sailing

Instructor - Josh Fitzgerald

Today I decided to head out for a sail with Josh after we finished work. I have been meaning to get back into sailing for ages and even go for my pre-entry at some stage so this was pretty cool.
We started off by bringing the picos down to the pier and rigging up there. These boats are really easy to rig up so it only took us about 5 minutes. After this we headed off out the bay for a belt around. Dan then arrived for a spin in the rib so he stayed with us for the rest of the session. This was handy because I got to do my 'coming along side' manoeuvre with the rib. After a few times of doing this I had it nailed. I then moved onto the man overboard manoeuvre where josh threw out about 6 tennis balls and we had to pick them up out of the water with the boom on the opposite side. 

After this Josh brought me out to the back of the island where we set out a triangular course and had a race. Dan came out with us in the rib and acted as the start line and......referee :) 
This was really good fun as the wind had died down anyway. It's all about how well you start and how well your line is going in the each turn. After this we decided to head back and finish the session so as we had the wind against us Dan gave us a tow in. 

Surfing - 07/15

Surfing Carrmore

Instructor - Jarlath McHale


Today we decided to head to Carrowmore for a surf. The conditions weren't great with a lot of dumping waves but we tried to make the most of it. As I hadn't been surfing in a long time I was itching to go and especially since I treated myself to an awesome birthday present. 

Happy Out

Jarlath was a actually really helpful with my pop up. He had a look at me surfing a few waves first and then let me know what was going wrong. I was actually bring my front foot around my arm instead of through which really annoyed me when I tried to correct it. We surfed a few small waves at the start but when they got too small we brought the body boards in for a splash about. It was actually my first time body boarding so that was pretty cool. 
Shortly after this the waves picked up again and we brought the boards back in. This time the waves were breaking slightly cleaner so it was a lot more fun. I eventually got my pop up fixed as well which was a massive bonus.