North Atlantic Skyline » doolin http://johnsmyth.ie/blog Despatches from the West of Ireland. Fri, 18 May 2012 23:53:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Doolin Waves http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/11/06/doolin-waves/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/11/06/doolin-waves/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:01:28 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=1972

There’s not many leaves left on the trees after the gales that swept across Galway Bay on Saturday. The sea was pretty rough, and heavy showers meant that the streets were more empty than one would expect for an October Bank Holiday weekend. These pictures are from another stormy weekend earlier in the year – taken near Doolin in Co. Clarein July, during the alleged ’summer’.


When the waves are very big, the churning motion of the sea generates a coffee-coloured foam on the water.

Sea water flowing over rocks as waves crash along the shoreline at Doolin, Co. Clare.

These pictures were shot with a high shutter speed, which freezes the motion of the waves.

This picture was taken at the same location as this one.

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/11/06/doolin-waves/feed/ 1 Across the waves http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/08/28/across-the-waves/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/08/28/across-the-waves/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:01:06 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=1653 doolin-ferry-6

Any time that I travel over to one of the Aran Islands, I get the ferry from Rossaveal. It is also possible to get a ferry from Doolin in Co. Clare [the other side of Galway Bay] and last week, when I was there, the ferry was loading.

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There was quite a swell at sea that day, and it was low tide. I hadn’t realised it but the ferry can only dock when the tide is high.

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At other times, passengers have to get into a launch, motor out to the ferry and board it a hundred metres or so , offshore.

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The swell made it a lively experience, I’m sure, and unfortunately,while the rest of the passengers were waiting  for the launch to return, the mother of all summer downpours almost washed them off the jetty.

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The ferry passing in front of the lighthouse on Inisheer.

Images of the ferry at sea taken witha Canon 40D and a 100-400mm Canon zoom from the shore at Doolin.

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/08/28/across-the-waves/feed/ 2 Wave crashes onto the Burren shoreline http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/07/26/wave-crashes-onto-the-burren-shoreline/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/07/26/wave-crashes-onto-the-burren-shoreline/#comments Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:34:54 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=1534
The last 24 hours haven’t looked much like summer. Driving rain and strong winds have battered the west coast non-stop. If it keeps up, it might put as much of a damper on Race Week as the recession.
I drove around to the other side of Galway Bay – to the Clare towns of Fanore and Doolin – to get a better look at the rough seas. Some of the waves crashing onto the shore near Doolin were the biggest I have ever seen.
It wasn’t great for photography – the air was filled with spray even when the rain stopped. The picture above was taken just north of Doolin quay [bigger version here]. I’m not sure how high the spray went, but to give you an idea of scale, the rectangular boulders to the right of the ‘explosion’ are between 1 and 2 metres high.

I was using a Canon 40D with a Canon 100-400mm zoom lens [so that I could stand a safe distance away]. The camera was set to high-speed mode which allowed me to photograph the sequence of images below [it is also a very easy way to go through memory cards].

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