I just got my March issue of National Geographic and had to share that there is a GORGEOUS article called “Beneath Irish Isles” in it. The article is on diving in the Isles, and there are some incredible treasures in those waters that’s for sure! If you can, grab a copy of the issue-- 'tis well worth it!! The photography is simply breathtaking.
A little snippet of text:
“Celtic legend speaks of selkies, seals that shed their pelts and walk ashore as humans. Reality can be just as magical where warm currents nourish life.”
This reminds me of a movie that my kids love called “The Secret of Roan Inish”. It says that the “dark Irish” are descended from the selkies, or something like that. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.
My kids and I love that one too!
We have lots of seal traffic just a few yards in front of our house. I love to watch them, but we can only rarely see below the surface. Too much glacial silt, so we are not a great underwater destination unless you’re a fish. Or a seal.
With warm currents supporting healthy habitats and a startling host of creatures, these Irish isles are smiling.
Get a taste of what awaits you in print from this compelling excerpt.
Diving is hardly a typical pursuit in the Emerald Isle, where leaden skies, serrated shorelines, and soggy velvet hills tend to send visitors crawling to the nearest pub. What incentive could there be to skip the frothy pint and splash into a stretch of Atlantic sure to be skeleton cold and nearly as lifeless?
In a word, surprise. Sinking beneath the swells into 52-degree Fahrenheit (11-degree Celcius) water, I’m floored by anemones that gleam as pink as bubble gum, as green as a lime snow cone, so orange I can almost taste the juicy pulp. Flatfish with their eyes topside wear mottled camouflage so spot-on that they hide in plain sight. Childlike gray seals nibble another diver’s fin before rocketing out of reach. Their home, the Skelligs, is a pair of drip castles of red sandstone frosted with guano and feathered with thousands of gannets and puffins. The larger isle, Skellig Michael, rises over 700 feet (200 meters) above water and plunges another 160 (50 meters) below, merging with the continental shelf. To dive at the kelp-covered base of this rock with the legendary selkies as companions, then ride my exhaled bubbles to the surface, is a rare privilege.
BTW, I have all the Nat’l Geo’s from about 1946-1992. I got them at a yard sale. Fantastic. I’ve gone through the 40’s and 50’s and am well into the 60’s. Must reading first for anyone who thinks of travel. NG has archives in the site above.
Yep, Lorenzo… that would be the one. That amazing seal pic is only a taste of the incredible photography though-- the colors that exist under the sea never cease to thrill me. And I had no idea that diving in Ireland could be like what is shown in the article…
It seems Ireland and Japan have many similarites when it comes to old superstitions. I’m not sure how many people in Ireland still believe these tales, but here in Japan there are many who attach great importance to such things.
My mother-in-law just had an old man with ‘special powers’ look over our house. My wife has a fox-spirit attached to her, and there are two more fox-spirits living in my room.
My wife’s uncle has a very old fox shrine in his garden so we have to burn some incense there.
I’ve always liked the amazing photography of Natl. Geographic. My mother-in-law gets them so I usually check them out periodically. I’ll have to look at this one.
ewww.I’m not fond of spider spirits. If there are spider spirits hanging around my house then it’s because they are looking to exact their revenge upon me for disposing of them I think that bunny spirits or something less scary would be better.
I for one do believe in Faeries and Leprechauns and the like…doesn’t everyone?
Spiders yes. Spider spirits…only in the sense that they leave their cobwebs behind, and if their spirits hang around, I’m certain the karma is benevolent, since I’m inclined to catch and release spiders if they’re bothering me.(eg…I don’t like them to be in the shower, I’m afraid I’ll drown them.) Mainly I leave them alone.
I seem to have been born without the innate aversion to spiders and snakes that plague so many people. In fact, holding Rosie the Tarantula at the insect museum in Denver this summer was a rather nice experience.
Oh, in that case, I have several “spider spirits” in my house too I also am more inclined to catch them and then let them go (believe it or not). I may not like them, but I can’t bear (or is it bare?? Blast that English language quiz! ) to kill them either. The kids even get a cup and a piece of paper and take them outside.
That amazing seal pic is only a taste of the incredible photography though-- the colors that exist under the sea never cease to thrill me. And I had no idea that diving in Ireland could be like what is shown in the article…
I think that bunny spirits or something less scary would be better.
major case of the heebies here!!!