North Atlantic Skyline » blackrock diving board http://johnsmyth.ie/blog Despatches from the West of Ireland. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:06:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Venus over Salthill http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/12/20/venus-over-salthill/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/12/20/venus-over-salthill/#comments Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:30:52 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=3246 Venus over Salthill
On Saturday morning, Venus was the brightest ’star’ in the sky before dawn. It was very cold – well below freezing – and snow still covered the area around the diving board on Salthill Promenade in Galway. It didn’t stop at least one determined swimmer from having a quick dip (it was a very quick dip) as the sun rose over the Sliabh Aughties hills on the other side of Galway Bay. You will glimpse him, along with a couple who climbed to the top of the board to watch the sunrise together, in this short timelapse video taken that morning.

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/12/20/venus-over-salthill/feed/ 1 Afterglow http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/10/07/afterglow/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/10/07/afterglow/#comments Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:43:10 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=3098 Salthill evening

Over the course of a beautiful evening in Salthill last year, people used the diving board as a viewing spot to watch the setting sun and the gorgeous colours of the sun’s afterglow. In this long exposure image, two people stayed in the one spot long enough to leave only  a ghostly trace.

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/10/07/afterglow/feed/ 0 Break of day http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/06/24/break-of-day/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/06/24/break-of-day/#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:20:23 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=2880 salthill-morning-1

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2010/06/24/break-of-day/feed/ 1 Splashdown http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/11/24/splashdown-2/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/11/24/splashdown-2/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:44:20 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=2117
The consequences of the severe weather continue to unfold – areas to the north, south and east of Galway City are still severly flooded, with residents and commuters suffering hardship. Over the weekend, the fear that the combination of storm force winds and heavy rain would cause flooding in the city turned out to be unfounded – even at high tide, the water did not reach near the edge of the quay wall at the Spanish Arch.
The sea in Galway Bay was, however, still wild. I was down on the Promenade more than two hours after high tide on Saturday morning and the spray of waves frequently swept over the diving board. While I was there, a lady arrived, changed into a wetsuit and made her way to the end of the diving board before entering the water for a swim.She had to dodge a few waves on her way down – the picture above shows her bracing as a wave swept over her. As I was leaving, another man arrived to go swimming too.
I’ve uploaded a short gallery onto Flickr of pictures that I took while at the diving  board. They were all taken with a wideangle lens, so it won’t be a surprise to learn  that I got an eyeful or two of spray while taking them.

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