Howth Harbor
After eating our culinary creations at the Kitchen in the Castle, I need to walk off the afterglow of chocolate pesto pasta, salad, wine and white chocolate raspberry mousse before I became comatose on the train back into Dublin, thereby missing my stop. So I hiked past the train station to visit Howth Harbour (pronounced like South but with an H - and interestingly enough, most Irish people I spoke with were able to pronounce the "TH" in Howth, leading me to wonder why they cannot pronounce the "TH" in "third" which is pronounced "turd").
Busy Pier
While I missed the offloading of the day's catch, the pier was still bustling with commercial and sports fishermen and lookie-loos like me.
At the end of the pier, sport fishermen were busy casting for mackerel using a series of five hooks with feather lures. A lucky angler caught a mackerel; he threw it back into the water because he wasn't hungry. He explained to me that mackerel make for good eating - just throw them on the grill. While I was talking to him, I thought I saw the odd shaped head of a seal but then decided it must be a commercial diver because I saw some dive flags out (and my vision not being what it used to be).
My visit to the harbour made me nostalgic for the days when our family used to go to the local pier or lake wherever we were and spend the day (and evening) fishing. Great fun times!
At the end of the pier, sport fishermen were busy casting for mackerel using a series of five hooks with feather lures. A lucky angler caught a mackerel; he threw it back into the water because he wasn't hungry. He explained to me that mackerel make for good eating - just throw them on the grill. While I was talking to him, I thought I saw the odd shaped head of a seal but then decided it must be a commercial diver because I saw some dive flags out (and my vision not being what it used to be).
My visit to the harbour made me nostalgic for the days when our family used to go to the local pier or lake wherever we were and spend the day (and evening) fishing. Great fun times!
Remy Ratatouille
Sure enough, that was a seal I saw! I named him Remy Ratatouille because his head reminds me of the animated rat chef from the Disney movie Ratatouille. He is expecting to be fed and spends his time trying to coax visitors for hand outs -- he spent considerable amounts of time and energy posing for my camera, preening, lifting his head out of the water, blowing bubbles from his nostrils -- all in hopes of some food. He's quite large. However, on the warehouse next to Ratatouille is a warning sign that it is illegal to feed the seals, punishable by a 5,000 Euro fine.
Recreational Fishermen
Commercial Fishermen
I stumble upon these commercial fishermen repairing the nets. They are fishing for prawns - their nets have a heavy thingamajig that brings the prawns up to the surface after stunning them slightly. Sometimes they catch basking sharks in the nets, but usually they are able to release them unharmed back into the Atlantic.
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I have a very nice chat with this redheaded marine biologist assigned to the ship by the national fisheries agency. She too, is expected to lend a hand and do her fair share of work.
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