Here I find myself floating in an ocean of green, 40km off the Irish coast. With 120m of water beneath me I should be feeling more vulnerable but the green of the phytoplankton hides any true sense of depth. We were hoping that being so far offshore the water would be clearer but the green tells us the water is rich with food and with life.

Our first hint of blue came an hour after cutting the engine and drifting in the current. ‘Baby shark, baby shark’, someone yelled and we all peered over the side to see the tiniest shark I’d ever seen. Perhaps no more than 40cm in length, our first blue shark (Prionace glauca) came to check us out.

Before long a few of its elder siblings joined us, along with a porbeagle shark who was not happy with the company and quickly took off again, leaving us to get into the water with the blues.

We spent a few magical hours out there, drifting with the current, swimming with blue sharks, being buzzed by dolphins and getting burned under an Irish sun. The green water added something visually really special, bringing out the blue colour of the sharks against the backdrop of green.

Finally we had to say goodbye and head back. What a day we all had. I’m so grateful to find myself with such like-minded souls to share adventures like this. I can still see, in my mind’s eye, those impossibly blue sharks moving through that ocean of green.