Chasing a flatulent whale in Castle Haven Bay

Flatulence is just as common in marine mammals as in humans and terrestrial animals, writes Damien Enright

On a lovely morning last week we drove down Castle Haven Bay on a whale-watch boat, on a calm sea. My companions were my son and two grandsons visiting from the Czech Republic, an entirely landlocked place.

Just to be at sea was a thrill, although they are fortunate boys — aged eight and four — in that they go to ‘our’ island in the Canaries, La Gomera, at least once a year and are surrounded by sea, and come to West Cork, where the sea is also a constant presence. However, while the sea in the Canaries is almost always amenable and the sun almost always shines, it isn’t so here.