dublin and transit to lisbon

The evening before we arrived in Dublin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin) there was a full moon reflecting off a beautifully calm Irish Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Sea), one of the loveliest nights on the water this trip. It was the beginning of a wonderful visit to Ireland. After arriving on Friday morning (the 20th) we took the provided shuttle from the port into the city where we spent the day walking around Dublin. We decided to go to a hotel downtown near Dublin Castle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Castle) and Saint Patrick's Cathedral (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Patrick%27s_Cathedral,_Dublin) in order to be closer to the action. It was a perfect location for walking around the city and seeing the sights. Sunday we did what we often do when arriving in a new place, and found a hop on, hop off bus. There were several wonderful stops; one outstanding one was Phoenix Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Park). This urban park contains two residences: Áras an Uachtaráin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Áras_an_Uachtaráin), which is the official residence of the President of Ireland and which is said to have been the model for the White House, and Deerfield Residence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Secretary%27s_Lodge), the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland since 1927. Phoenix Park is also home to the Dublin Zoo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Zoo), a herd of deer, and a number of interesting monuments.

The driver on our bus was so entertaining we didn't want to get off, which was good because traffic was moving so slowly it was hard to make much progress, and the streets and sidewalks were packed. It turned out Sunday was the annual All Ireland Senior Football Championship (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_All-Ireland_Senior_Football_Championship) for Gaelic football (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football, http://www.gaa.ie), and the city was full of fans from both Dublin and Mayo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Mayo) making their way to Croke Park (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croke_Park) for the match. People were shoulder to shoulder in the streets and we had a good view of the festivities, fans dressed in team colours (two shades of blue for Dublin, green and orange for Mayo), music, singing, dancing everywhere, food and drink flowing. The driver had more time in traffic than he had commentary to fill it, so at one point burst into a chorus of "Molly Malone". He did recommend that we find a place to watch the match, since it is different from  other sports we might have seen. He said the fans sit mixed together in the stands rather than on opposite sides of the stadium, and that there are never fights as there are at some European soccer matches, fans preferring to go for drinks together after the game instead. We did watch some of the game on tv and it appears to be some combination of soccer and rugby, though I am sure there is more to it than that. Dublin won the match, by the way. We found the people in Ireland very friendly and accommodating wherever we went, and will surely put it on our list of places to which we might return. 

One of the best parts of a trip like this is meeting people who come from all over the world, and sometimes through presentations and lectures, but mainly through personal conversations, learning more about the world as others have experienced it. The situation in Kenya came on the news while we were in Dublin. We have one faculty member, now an American citizen, originally from Kenya, who is travelling with two children. We were horrified as we watched the happenings in Kenya and were relieved to learn when we returned to the ship that this faculty member's family was not directly affected by what happened in Nairobi. Had we not had this contact, we probably would have viewed the Kenyan situation as just another terrorist incident. It's important to see these things more personally.

We returned to the ship on Monday afternoon and sailed out of the port that evening on calm waters. As we approached the Celtic Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Sea) the water became more rough. We had our second lifeboat drill of the trip on Tuesday. The procedure around these drills has changed somewhat since we were on the Explorer in 2009, and we have heard that the new regulations came about after the Costa Concordia disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster). For one thing, the captain and crew now insist on complete silence throughout the drill, and for another, more aspects of safety procedures are demonstrated by crew (e.g. donning a life jacket, climbing ladders). So it was amid this silence that dolphins appeared in the Celtic Sea in view of half of the voyagers on the ship gathered with us on the port side beneath the hanging lifeboats. The students couldn't help themselves; we heard their whispered exclamations, small gasps of excitement at the spectacle, the sound swelling but still so quiet, and everyone looking at each other with wide eyes and expressions of delight. For me, it was such a perfect moment. Even the crew had to smile and one of them said the dolphins were performing because they knew we were there. They stayed with us until the drill ended, then could be seen from the dining rooms during dinner. 

As we left the Celtic Sea and entered the Bay of Biscay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Biscay) the water became even more turbulent. We were leaving the continental shelf for the first time in this voyage so the water was much deeper. We passed through a weather system that resulted in lots of waves and sea swell for a couple of days. Night before last (when I was originally trying to compose this entry) was quite uncomfortable, and while we don't usually have trouble sleeping during nights at sea, even finding the rocking helps sleep, the motion of the ship in the water did interrupt our night. It was a relief to get to Lisbon yesterday (more on our stay there very soon) and we are hoping for smoother water as we leave tomorrow morning for Cadiz.