Anna in Dublin – Viking Splash
@VikingSplashDublin
Back in June, when the sun was shining and it felt like summer, myself and my lovely boyfriend Robert went to do the Viking Splash!
I have been trying to convince him to do it with me for years! It had always peaked my interest! DUKW’s full of children and tourists sporting viking horns and frightening passers by with their cheers. Sounds class!
Also, every time they pull up alongside our buses we are met with a big cheer! We even passed our bus Jean during my tour which naturally I was very excited about!
What I didn’t realize about the viking splashes’ blue and yellow vehicles, is that they are actually ‘DUKWs’ built in the 1940’s. They are amphibious vehicles used by the US Military to ferry troops and supplies over both water and land during WW2! So getting to ride in them was a pretty cool experience in itself!
Our viking leader was the wonderful Eoghan! He did an amazing job guiding the group around the city! Even as a Dublin guide myself I found that I learnt a few things!
Now we made the silly mistake of arriving on time rather than 15 min early as asked. We were both coming from work to be fair, but we were the last to board! The only seats left were the ones at the very front of the vessel. Which I was delighted about cause it meant that we could ask Eoghan about certain points throughout the tour! We absolutely burned the poor man’s ear off!
There are five vessels in their fleet and we were on Loki. Which Rob and I had a little giggle at as we had dressed up as Loki and Sylvie for halloween last year! Couldn’t have been more perfect.
We got a lovely sunny afternoon for our trip which was great! There is nothing nicer than Dublin on a sunny day! Also, I have seen their tours go by in the rain and as fun as that might be, i hadn’t packed my poncho!
They took us on an exciting jaunt around the city. However, I found myself anticipating our journey into the water the whole time! I knew I had seen them splashing about in Grand Canal Dock before, but I wasn’t sure where it was that they entered the water.
Once we arrived in Ringsend we all sported our life jackets and the vehicle was prepped for its journey into the water. With a big cheer, we splashed our way in!
Photo taken by Niall Carson
It was a great way to see the area from angles that I had never seen before. We got an absolutely stunning view of the Bord Gais Energy Theater and for the first time, I was introduced to the story of the The MV Naomh Eanna. This ship is famous for being the main mode of transport connecting the Aran Islands to the main land for over 20 years! The ship has been sat in Grand Canal Dock since it went out of service in the late 1980s. Recently the boat has risen to fame as it has capsized and has been left decaying in the same spot despite calls for the boat to be preserved as a valuable pice of irelands maritime history!
I really enjoyed our trip and it was definitely worth the years of anticipation I had built up! Now an Irish couple in their early 20’s with no kids arguably is not the target audience for the tour but we had an absolute blast. Definitely something at every dub has to do once just to say they have!