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The Blasket Island
As soon as the island came into view I fell in love. The Blasket is the most surreal beautiful place I have ever had the opportunity to visit. It is like a piece of heaven was cut out and placed off the shores of Dingle Bay. I had a feeling it would be an amazing place as soon as the dolphin started following our ferry out of the bay. I had never seen a dolphin until that point. The locals said that "Fungi" (the dolphin) has been living in their bay for over 20 years. Even animals can recognize the magic of that area. Pulling into the area where we exited the boat I could barely contain my excitement. As we walked up the hill to the area where the house ruins stood I felt that overwhelmed (in a good way) feeling of enjoyment. Once I walked to the top of the hill it was a sensory overload. There were sheep, donkeys, and seals, a beach, a cliff area, and bright green grass everywhere. A small group of us immediately went to the beach. We sat on the beach watching the seals for about an hour and a half. Rachel told us a folk tale about the seal taking off their seal skin. We did not end up doing a lot of hiking around the island but the experience we did have was fabulous. Taylor and I fed the donkeys some pieces of bread and they wouldn't leave us alone after. Even though the island seemed like the perfect paradise it also held the face of reality. On the beach there was a dead seal and also a dead sheep. I'm unsure of what happened to the seal but pretty sure that the sheep had fallen off from a cliff drop. The island was also home to an unpleasant plant, a nettle. A few of us ended up getting stuck by them. Luckily it only burns for a bit. Before we knew it the boat was back to pick us up. It was time to leave this new paradise known as the Blasket Island.

Kim G.