Mark and I both have birthdays in March. That’s also the month that we celebrate our wedding anniversary, and we decided to do something special this year. We were already in Wales, so it was just a hop, skip and a jump (or a short ferry crossing) over to Ireland to celebrate both Saint Patrick’s Day and our anniversary.

Saint Patrick’s Day in Dublin.

Saint Patrick’s Day in the U.S. is celebrated by eating corned beef (if you’re a meat eater), cabbage and potatoes, and by drinking beer. It’s a festive holiday where people wear something green, and if they don’t, their friends will pinch them.

Spirits were high, and there were lots of costumes.

Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland is a massive party. Streets are packed with people, carnival rides operate at several corners, most people display an Irish flag in some form or another, and there is Guinness everywhere. Oh, and there’s no pinching going on, because everyone is wearing green.

Being in Ireland for Saint Patrick’s Day was a wonderful experience, and I really enjoyed watching the Irish (and lots of other people) show their Irish spirit. Perhaps just as nice though, was the day after, which is also our anniversary. The streets were quiet, and miraculously all of the garbage that had been tossed on the ground the day before, had disappeared. For the next couple of days we strolled around by foot, enjoying the sights of Dublin, as well as lots of traditional food and drinks.

Dublin is home to the Jameson Distillery.

Dublin is also home to Guinness, and the Guinness Storehouse provides lots of activities to keep people entertained. One such activity is a contest to pour “the perfect pint.” (Did I mention that I won 🙂

Guinness mustaches all around.

After three days in Dublin we boarded a ferry that had the ammenities of a small city, and made our way back to Wales where we ran a Simplifying the Roll class out of Point Lynas. Compared to the snowy conditions of last year, this year’s temperatures were ‘almost’ tropical, and the full class of rollers did very well.

Watching porpoises from Point Lynas. They’re hard to capture on camera, but they were really fun to watch.

Later in the month clients Malene and Magne arrived from Norway, for our five-day “Anglesey Adventure.” Day one took us from Trearddur Bay to Silver Bay and back.

There were lots of archways and caves to explore.

Anglesey is a magical place.

Silver Bay was a great turning around point.

It was also a good place for lunch.

The Rhoscolyn Beacon is a distinct feature.

This offshore rock is only exposed during extreme tides, and with the combination of Spring Tides and a Spring Equinox climbing it was a fun part to the day. Malene and Magne were true adventurers and swam from their kayaks to the exposed Maen Piscar.

Day two took us from Moelfre to Cemaes Bay.

Ynys Dulas is a wonderful island to paddle to.

The old brickworks buildings was an obvious place to stop for lunch – and to explore.

On day three the weather wasn’t great for being on the coast, so we headed to the protection of the Menai Straits, where Mark gave a moving water class in The Swellies, which is located between Menai and Brittania bridges.

Sea caves, Menai Straits style. Here Mark rests in front of Plas Nywedd.

We used the eddies as much as we could to make our way through The Swellies.

Talking about crossing eddy lines before heading out into the current under the Menai Bridge.

Sometimes learning about moving water can be enhanced by standing above it and watching. Plus, the view from the Menai Bridge is stunning.

Maybe one of the prettiest places to teach rolling.

Day four took us to Llyn Padarn, where I taught a rolling class, and then we explored, showing our clients a little bit of the beauty of Wales that can be found on land.

A true cultural experience – trying Marmite.

Names in Welsh can be lloonngg.

Day five we headed out from Porth Dafarch , through the tide race and overfalls of Penrhyn Mawr, and past South Stack and North Stack, ending the day at Soldier’s Point. It was a wonderful five days of adventure, both on and off the water.

There’s just something funny about being hit by the spray from a blow hole.

Studying Penrhyn Mawr from above before passing through.

Steve shows us how it’s done.

We’ll be having an Anglesey Adventure again next year, in case YOU would like to join us.