Fungie, the Dingle dolphin

© photo : Mathieu Morverand

click to enlarge

In 1984, Paddy Ferriter, the Dingle Harbour lighthouse keeper, first began watching a lone wild dolphin escort the town's fishing boats to and from port. By August of that year, local Ministry of Marine manager Kevin Flannery was able to officially record the dolphin as a "permanent" resident of the entrance channel and self-appointed "pilot" of the fleet. Two years later the continuous investigations of a couple of cetacea enthusiasts, Sheila Stokes and Brian Holmes, brought them to Dingle Pier and into conversation with the seamen who were still being entertained by the dolphin. Nine months of intensive aquatic contact later, the dolphin had decided to develop from a timid but inquisitive observer of the human visitors into a playful, though mischievous, companion. It also soon became apparent that having become accustomed to them, all humans, particularly females, would be welcome. Now each and every person receives the same special preferential treatment, be they swimmers, divers, canoeists, windsurfers, or children paddling from the small adjacent beach.