THIS IS one adventure you wouldn't forget in a hurry.
The village of Dingle in County Kerry is well-known for its friendly aquatic animals-- particularly Fungie, the oldest wild solitary dolphin who entertained audiences for decades with his antics and curious demeanour.
But while Fungie has sadly moved on to greener (or, in his case,blue-er) pastures, the other water mammals left in Dingle are carrying on the legacy-- as these kayakers recently learned.
Staff from Dingle's 'Irish Adventures', which offers kayaking tours on lakes and the sea in County Kerry, as well as other outdoor trips such as rock climbing, made the most of the sunny weather last week and took the kayaks out at the Dingle Peninsula.
The experienced kayakers took off from the iconic Coumeenole Beach, a popular stop-off at the Dingle Peninsula for travellers heading towards Slea Head on the Wild Atlantic Way, and with the sun shining overhead and the Great Blasket Island in the background, expected a peaceful trip out to sea.
Instead they were approached by a massive Basking shark, common in Ireland's waters and completely harmless to humans, eating only krill and plankton-- but still likely to give you a fright if you see a large fin gliding towards you.
The kayakers however are used to these 'gentle giants', and one calmly takes out a mobile phone to record the fantastic moment, capturing the huge shark first circling the kayaks before swimming directly underneath one.
As the warming weather brings more and more people out on the water, footage of basking sharks off Ireland's coasts are becoming more common-- 'Irish Adventures' put another video of the sharks feeding near Slea Head just two days later.
And late last month one woman went viral for her shocked, expletive-ridden reaction to an enormous basking shark swimming towards her-- you can check that out here.
To learn more about Dingle's 'Irish Adventures' trips, and keep up to date with any more basking shark spottings, you can follow them on Facebook here.
