Now You Seal It

Less than two weeks into our Ireland adventure, I find myself without a phone.

I didn't lose it; I know where it is.  The bottom of Howth Harbor, to be exact.  I would love to include my own pictures from our time there yesterday, but alas, they are on my phone.  (The phone at the bottom of the harbor).

 Instead, here is a collection of photos and art of the lovely Howth Harbor by people other than me:

Photo credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ireland's_Eye_from_Howth_Harbour_1.jpg

Photo credit: http://myworldmycamera.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/howth-harbour-lighthouse-hdr1.jpg

Photo credit: http://daytripperdublin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Howth-Harbour.jpg

Photo credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Howth_Harbour_-_geograph.org.uk_-_35517.jpg

Photo credit: http://www.redraggallery.co.uk/showInventory.asp?iId=3498&title=Martello%20Tower%20above%20Howth%20Harbour&artist=Val%20BYRNE

As you can see, Howth Harbor is beautiful.  There are plenty of shoppes and seafood restaurants, it offers a gorgeous view of Ireland's Eye, and it's only a ten minute drive from our cottage.  I was most excited to see the harbor seals.  So excited, in fact, that as I was taking a picture of a hefty, well-fed, surly looking fellow, a gust of chilly wind blew by and shook my phone right out of my hand.  Directly into the harbor.  About ten feet from the seal.  In front of many tourists, fishermen and onlookers with gaping mouths and eyes as wide as mine. In the slowest motion imaginable.

I hate to admit that after telling my husband, leaving my name and email with the fishmonger adjacent to where the seal obviously spends most of his time, and calling the SCUBA diving team who trains in the harbor, I cried.  A lot.  More than a 35-year-old woman should over dropping her phone in the sea.

I cried for many reasons.  I was afraid of spending time in a foreign country with my baby while my husband is at work all day and not having a way to communicate easily if something were to happen.  I was sad to lose my instant connection to my friends and family back home (I say "instant" because I have a laptop and tablet with internet access at the cottage).  I was annoyed that I'd lose the ability to take photos of my walks and adventures in my new temporary home, edit the pics quickly on my phone, and then upload them to Facebook - all quickly from one device.  Sure, I could lug my fancy DSLR camera along to take photos, then wait until I got back to the cottage to edit the photos on my laptop and then share them, so all is not lost.  But I shutter to think about the possibility of my DSLR plunging telephoto lens first into the Irish Sea...

Most importantly though, I was (still am) upset that I let my husband down.  My phone was brand new. We hadn't even made a payment on it yet.   It was also fancy and expensive, and my track record with phones is not great.  It's not good.  Frankly, it stinks.  My husband goes above and beyond to try to make things easy for me because he knows that I struggle with certain things.  This new phone was waterproof; Mark knew that with me, there's a possibility that I'd probably drop it in water at some point.  We even paid for damage insurance.  If anything at all happened to that phone and it was broken beyond repair, all we'd have to do is send it back and we'd get a new one.  Emphasis on the SEND IT BACK.

The insurance doesn't, however, cover us if the phone is hurled into a harbor and it can't be retrieved.  We can't send it back in order to get a new one.  We just have to pay $500 for a new one.  All because I wanted a picture of this guy:

Photo credit: http://planetwaves.net/news/daily-astrology/the-fattest-seal-in-howth-harbor/

This is Sammy the Howth Harbor Seal.  No, those aren't my feet, and no, I didn't name him.  While looking on Google Images for a picture of seals at Howth Harbor, I came across this one.  THIS is THE seal I was taking a picture of.  I'm sure of it.  He, indeed, hangs out at the same spot every day begging for food.  This person captured a shot of him, and luckily, she didn't seem to lose her photo-taking machine in the water.  Not only did I find this picture, I discovered that Sammy has his own Facebook page!  Click here if you're skeptical...

Anyway, the phone/seal/harbor fiasco was not my finest moment.  I'm really upset with myself, and am looking forward to the sting of it all to wear off.  Until then, I'll be using a temporary phone that Mark already activated for me.  I'll use my tablet for my MapMyRun app to log my walks.  And I'll just have to live with not being able to connect to the U.S. on a whim.  I will survive.  And as long as tourists keep feeding Sammy the Seal in Howth Harbor, he will too.

Ramble awaaaaay from the harbor's edge,
The Rambling Richter