Dingle Bay (Bá an Daingin inIrish) is a bay located inCounty Kerry, westernIreland. The outer parts of theDingle Peninsula and Dingle Bay mark one of the westernmost points of mainland Ireland. The harbour town ofDingle lies on the north side of the bay.
The bay runs approximately 40 km (25 mi) from northeast to southwest into theAtlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) wide at the head, and 20 km (12 mi) wide at the entrance. It is flanked on the north by theDingle Peninsula, and on the south by theIveragh Peninsula. TheRiver Maine enters the bay at its head.The harbour town ofDingle lies on the north side of the bay. Other settlements overlooking the bay includeVentry,Ballymeentrant,Beenbane, andKinard, andAnnascaul andGlenbeigh lie near the bay.Killorglin lies at the head of the bay at the mouth of theRiver Laune.[1]
There are no notable islands within the bay, but towards the head, severalpeninsulas, in particularInch Strand, extend a significant distance across its width. Part of the bay is a protected lowland estuary with tidal flats.[2] On the south side of the bay, on the Iveragh Peninsula, there is a bird sanctuary which is an important breeding site for thered-billed chough. This area has cliffs, topped with grassland and heathland.[1]
In the 19th century, Dingle Bay was rich in fish stocks andDingle had a competent and efficient workforce. This was largely due to the efforts of the "Society for bettering the condition of the poor of Ireland", and the improvements they made in coastal fisheries in Kerry. The bay was said to abound inpilchard,herring,cod,hake andling, and the boats often landed exotic fish that were more associated with the Mediterranean region, Portugal and Spain.[3]
Dingle Bay was the first feature of Europe that aviatorCharles Lindbergh encountered in 1927 during his pioneering 33-hourtransatlantic flight in theSpirit of St. Louis monoplane from New York to Paris.[4] It is enacted in the 1957 filmThe Spirit of St. Louis, in which Lindbergh was portrayed byJimmy Stewart who waves to the villagers of Dingle Bay as he flies over it in jubilation.[5]
52°04′N10°11′W / 52.067°N 10.183°W /52.067; -10.183
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