11 October 2003 The schooner 'Anna M' is currently in Grenada, in safety from hurricanes while her skipper is home in Europe. There are still berths available for the passage north to the Virgin Islands at the end of October. There she will be available for charter throughout the winter. 29 August 2003 It is now exactly one month since "Anna M" tied up in Chaguaramas. Her skipper has been getting to know the place and how to live with its hot sun alternating with deluges of rain, socializing (a little), writing, carrying out a good deal of maintenance...more 18 July 2003 Orinoco or Bust 'Anna M' is anchored at last in a quiet stretch of water some 70 kilometers from the sea, among the many thousands of kilometers of water-ways threading intricately through tropical rain-forest that comprise the Orinoco Delta of Venezuela. It is the rainy season, and as I begin this story, the heat of the day has exploded into thunder and lashing rain. It is a strange story, how I have come to be here, instead of back in Ireland after the Spring's expedition following whales to the Cape Verde Islands. more... 4 March 2003 Luke and Mary Aston will be opening
a new wing for bed & breakfast, purpose built to Bord Failte
standards, at Glencarrig farmhouse B&B, Rahona, IWDG Humpback Whale Expedition Passes the Coast of Death - Press Release, Novemver 2002 Anna M' left on a Whale-watching Expedition
in late October 2002 |
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| Cape Clear to Cape Verdes.....
in search of Port na bPucai and the Irish humpback whales. "From Cape Clear to Cape Verde, in search of Port na bPucai", is an expedition to locate, photograph, video and sound record, and obtain genetic samples of humpback whales in the NorthEast Atlantic |
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When a fiddler from the Blasket Islands heard eerie sounds from the sea through the thin skin of his curragh, he took up his bow and imitated what he thought was fairy music, and so the famous tune Port na bPucai came to be. To many, the music sounds suspiciously like the song of the humpback whale. Years ago humpback whales would have been common off the Irish coast before they were killed by whalers and their singing may have been a familiar sound to coastal communities. Sightings of humpback whales in Irish waters, though still very
rare, are on The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) is sponsoring a project
to try and determine the breeding grounds of Irish humpback whales.
We think they The whole expedition will be recorded through a full length film
documentary. The Irish humpback whale expedition will be carried out by the
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (www.iwdg.ie)
in collaboration with Saoirse SeaSports The documentary will be produced by film-maker Tony Whelan who will be accompanying the expedition throughout. "Anna M" will be sailing from Baltimore to Portugal in
October, 2002 and then All contributions, large and small, are very welcome and will be duly acknowledged. The IWDG is a registered charity (No. CHY11163) and all corporate
donations |
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Dr Simon Berrow, Project Manager Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation Merchants Quay Kilrush County Clare Tel: 065 9052326 Mobile: 086 8545450 Email: SDWF@oceanfree.net |
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| Further details of the expedition and how to contribute can be found by clicking Here (PDF File). | |||||||||
7th September, 2002
'Anna M' is in Baltimore, having been up to the Shannon and back, with
the
summer making some bit of an effort to show up, better late than never!
In
the line of cetaceans, besides the old Shannon bottlenose friends, she
has
encountered a few minke whales, porpoises and common dolphins, especially
a
huge school of them, with many calves, about 14 miles south of the Stag
rocks (West Cork). Colin Barnes has reported a humpback in that area,
so
we'll be trying to catch up with him in the next while.
Still on track to head south in October and go seeking the breeding
humpbacks of the Cape Verde Islands in the Spring. (See 19th July entry
below.) Tony Whelan of Ergo Films is interested in making a video of the
expedition, but we are still urgently in need of financial backing.
27th July, 2002
Just the two sightings of a humpback whale. The skipper would like to spend more time chasing after them, but this must await sponsorship. Hopefully in September it may be possible. Meanwhile Anna M is returning home to the Shannon to do another stint on the dolphins for the month of August.
19th July, 2002
Anna M is now whale-watching on the south coast off Mine Head, Co. Waterford, having beaten a retreat from the west. Working out of Helvic at present, she has found at least one humpback whale plus a rich variety of other cetaceans, including minke whales, bottlenose dolphins and porpoises.
The humpback whales appear to be making a comeback within the Irish Whale Sanctuary. Each individual can be positively identified by the black and white markings on the underside of its tail flukes, and Skipper Joe has made a start at gathering photos of them. Together with marine biologist Dr Simon Berrow, he is seeking sponsorship to put this study on a much more extensive footing, with an expedition to the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa envisaged, to establish if it is indeed the breeding ground for the Irish humpbacks and to begin to monitor the stock.
17th June, 2002
Anna M returned to Ireland from Belle Isle in April - you can read about it in Cruise 2002 as Tony Beal posts the Skipper's log there. The weather promptly turned bad, but she managed to sneak round to the Shannon, and catch the one good week for painting in Kilrush. Since then, early in May, it has been nothing but wind and rain blowing up the Estuary from the Atlantic; the worst spell of weather anyone can remember at this time of year. However, according to Unysis it is going to settle down later on this week, and we live in hope of a change for the better at the turn of the year.
Both Anna M and Kilstiffin are ready to go and looking forward to seeing you.
See bottom of page for sensational dolphin sounds!
31 October, 2001
We set sail from Baltimore on the 23rd, at 1130hrs, Tim Cooper, Eoin
Haugh, David Maguire and myself, after a stormy spell of equinoxial gales.
For the remainder of the day we made good progress to the south, wind
about force 5, SW; but the sea got heavier and by next morning the punishment
was quite severe. Also the wind backed a little, so that if we tried to
hold the southerly course we were down to 4 knots. All hands were struggling
with sea-sickness, so I eased the sheets and headed for Brittany.
We were now sailing full and by; a beam reach, and Anna M bounded off
at around 7 knots, fine and comfortable under deep reefed mainsail, stays'l
and the beautiful new working jib that Des McWilliams is after making
for us. On the evening of the 25/10 the Penmarc'h light showed just as
expected on the port bow, and by 0500 we were berthing in Le Palais, Belle
Isle. A fine sail!
This is where Anna M spent last winter, and very satisfactory it had proved
to be, though of course the climate is only marginally better than Ireland.
However, it is lovely here right now, and the welcome was good, and I
decided, since here we had landed, to forego the winter sunshine for another
year.
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11 September,2001 I took this picture of the Skelligs as we headed south in fine autumn sunshine on September 10th. Fair winds blew from late morning to late evening, dying by night, and we took the passage in easy stages with nights at anchor in Ventry Harbour and at Dunboy in the entrance to Castletownbere, dolphins showing up to bid us goodnight on both occasions. |
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| The sad news from America awaited us in Baltimore. We prayed for those that had died and those that had survived them too. As for the incredible anger and hatred of the perpetrators, we reply by keeping on asserting the wonder and beauty of Life. | ||
17 August 2001
Anna M has just completed her first pure research cruise,
making recordings of common dolphins with Ewan Wakefield from the University
of Bangor, N Wales, for his Masters degree, and Dr Simon Berrow, Chairman
of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group http://iwdg.ucc.ie.
For Ewan's account of this cruise, with recordings of the dolphins, see RESEARCH.
E-mail info(at)gannetsway.com - www.gannetsway.com
Revised:28 November 2004Copyright © Joe Aston 2000 - 2006 All rights reserved.
All photographs are © Joe Aston unless otherwise stated, please do not reproduce without permission.