Demand for whale watching trips to see the humpback whale in the Shannon Estuary remains high with more trips continuing again this week despite the sub-zero temperatures.
One such trip headed out to the water on Wednesday from Kilrush Marina and another one was planned for today, Thursday, January 9.
Overall, the initiative has been a success as well as financially beneficial for the Kilrush-based Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) with the two whale watching trips aboard the Wild Atlantic Wave vessel which took place on Wednesday and Thursday of last week resulting in a donation of €900 made to the group.
Meanwhile, a third trip planned for last week was forced to cancel due to the weather conditions.
Rónán Berrow who is currently in training to be a ship captain and organised and skippered the trips told The Clare Champion that both of last week’s trips as well as this Wednesday’s were fully booked up, and he was hopeful he would achieve the 12 passenger maximum capacity again on the second sailing this week.
“Thursday’s weather is looking favourable too and we have a couple of spaces available. There are lots of people after a weekend trip but the weather is not allowing that at the moment,” he said.
The skipper along with Clare IWDG hope to continue to offer whale watching trips once the sea conditions allow.
“We don’t know how long the whale will stay in the estuary or whether we will ever see such an event again, so it’s lovely to be able to offer people this unique opportunity and support the IWDG.
“The donation will go towards our Whale Track Ireland Project which aims to explore what large baleen whales are doing in Irish waters, where are they coming from, and going to.
“The project is celebrating 25 years, since the first photo-ID images of humpback whales were sent to the IWDG from the Kinsale gas rigs in 1999.
“I had been out to see the whale with my family and I thought that it would be great to provide the opportunity for others to see it too.
“After discussing it with the IWDG, I decided to go ahead and offer whale watching trips and support the work of the IWDG.”
Whale Track Ireland is managed by IWDG Sightings Officer, Pádraig Whooley who said, “we really appreciate this generous support; the funds will be sued to cover fuels costs to enable us to continue to go out to sea and continue to monitor the presence of these wonderful animals in Irish waters and tell their stories.”
The owner of Wild Atlantic Wave, Cathal Blunnie who provided the vessel for free as part of his ongoing support of the IWDG said he was delighted to be able to support Mr Berrow’s “wonderful and selfless” initiative.
The whale, which is a new animal in Irish waters was first sighted in the Estuary in late November.
Sharon Dolan D’Arcy covers West Clare news. After completing a masters in journalism at University of Galway, Sharon worked as a court reporter at the Sligo Weekender. She was also editor of the Athenry News and Views.