You’ll have a whale of a time in Ardmore, Waterford

The Cliff House Hotel is renowned for its five-star class and excellent facilities. Esther N McCarthy joins the resident whale expert for a weekend with a difference.

WHEN I think of whales, I think of my second near-death experience. It happened in Mozambique in 2005. I was swimming with whale sharks (which are perfectly friendly, even if they are the size of a bus and not technically whales).

The boat chugged off without me after I stopped to clear my goggles, I couldn’t find the rest of the group in the water and was fully convinced I’d been left to languish in the Indian ocean. It all worked out in the end, though.