Home at last!!!

On Saturday night, we went an area of Jacksonville called The Landings which was right by the river. It’s got lots of shops and restaurants and there was also a Jazz Festival going on so it was pretty lively! We found an Italian restaurant and ate there.

Sunday was spent chilling out and packing to go! Karen and Allysa took me to the airport and we said our goodbyes with a group hug (as only sisters/aunties/nieces can!). My first flight was to Philadelphia and there I had a 4 hour stop-over until my flight to London Heathrow. I wasn’t too impressed with the flight to London. The food was pretty naff and there were no individual screens on the backs of the seats :-( However, after dinner, I managed to get about 3 hours sleep.

We arrived in London at about 11am on Monday morning and I had to collect my luggage and check in for my flight to Edinburgh. I just about managed to stay awake until my flight was called but it was hard work! I arrived in Edinburgh at 3.30pm and Jon collected me from the airport – it was great to see him again!! When we got home, the cats pretty much ignored me until later that evening even though I fed them tuna – their way of saying how annoyed they were that I had been away so long ;-)

I have had an amazing time over the last 3 months! So many people have said how quickly it has gone but for me, it didn’t go too quickly or too slowly – a good pace! I am happy to be home now. I have lots of plans over the summer (many of which involve diving!) and it is lovely to be back with Jon, the pussies and all my friends and family!

Thanks so much to all of you who have followed my blog over these last 12 weeks and for all the lovely comments you have made! I hope you have enjoyed following my blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it!

I’m not quite sure how a blog should be finished but here goes……………………BYEEEE!!

So much rain…..

I had to get up at 3am on Tuesday morning to catch an early morning flight. I flew to Jacksonville via Chicago and only had a short stop-over there for a change! When I arrived in Jacksonville, I discovered I didn’t have my sister’s mobile phone number and I wasn’t sure where to meet her! I waited outside the terminal and Karen found me. It was absolutely pouring with rain, which is quite unusual for this time of year. Karen, Ilan (my brother-in-law), Allysa (my niece) and I had a chilled out evening in front of the television.

It was still pouring down with rain on Wednesday morning. Jason, a fellow volunteer at the White Shark Projects, was staying at a friend’s place about 40 mins drive from Jacksonville and we had organized to meet up here. He was going to cycle to Karen’s house but the weather was pretty bad so we went to pick him up. We spent the afternoon catching up and watched a couple DVD’s in the evening with a Chinese take-away for dinner.

It was still pouring with rain on Thursday :-( In the afternoon, Jas and I headed to the local cinema and, after lunch at the Steak ‘n’ Shake, we watched ‘Terminator Salvation’ which was really good! Later that evening, Karen and Ilan fired up the hot tub they have in their garden and we all chilled out in it :-)

Guess what? It was pouring down with rain on Friday morning!! We took Jas back to his friend’s house in the morning and then Karen and I went for a massage :-) We all went out to the cinema in the evening – though I went to see Star Trek (FANTASTIC!) and Karen, Ilan and Allysa went to see ‘Night at the Museum 2’. We all enjoyed our respective films!

Today, the weather has alternated between pouring rain and brilliant sunshine! Karen and I spent a few hours shopping and tonight, I am taking Karen and Ilan out for dinner – if we can ever decide what restaurant to go to………….

Mountains and sea :-)

We headed off on Friday morning to Lake Tahoe with Wesley in the back of the Jeep. Unfortunately, he was car sick about an hour into the trip and we had to stop to clean it up! The scenery on the way was absolutely stunning as we drove through the mountains and pine forests. We arrived in South Lake Tahoe and stopped off at a fabulous little coffee shop for soup, a sandwich and a cake – it was a great find.

Shannen and Paul showed me where they got married at a hotel just outside South Lake Tahoe and then we headed to the lakeside. We went for a short walk near the lake – poor Shannen had badly twisted her ankle last week and was finding it hard to walk very far. The lake itself and the surrounding mountains were beautiful. We headed back home and went out for a dinner at an Indian Restaurant which was really good.

We got up really early on Saturday morning to go to Monterey Bay for the day. The plan was to go to the aquarium in Monterey and spend the day there. We were then going to head to Monterey Airport where I would pick up a hire car and head to my friend Ian’s place in Paolo Alto for the night. I was going diving with Ian and his pal Neil on Sunday and then I would drive back to Sacramento on Monday morning.

However, Shannen’s ankle had swollen up really badly and she was having big problems walking :-( So I arranged to collect a car from Sacramento Airport and I headed off on a road trip on my own to Monterey. It was the first time I had ever driven in the USA so I was quite excited!

I arrived in Monterey and spent about 2 hours in the aquarium. It was pretty good! I had been told by Adrian, the marine biologist at the White Shark Projects, that Monterey Bay Aquarium had a white shark in captivity and it was the only aquarium who had managed to keep one. However, when I asked, I was told that they had had one but not anymore. I headed off to Paolo Alto and arrived in time for dinner with Ian and Neil. Ian is a friend from my dive club at home who happens to be working/studying here for a few months :-)

We headed down to Monterey at about 8.30am on Sunday morning and stopped of at a dive shop to collect cylinders for us all and a 7mm semi-dry suit for me. We then drove south towards Point Lobos State Reserve where we were going to dive. We stopped off in Carmel for a sandwich and a drink. Carmel is a very, very nice town and obviously very affluent!

We arrived at Point Lobos State Reserve and checked in with the ranger there. They limit the number of divers who can dive there and Ian had to buy permits for us about a month ago. We dived a site called Whaler’s Cove and there were quite a few other divers there too. There were giant kelp beds there and we swam in amongst the base of the kelp on the reef. It was really scenic and a lovely dive….but very cold! The water was about 9°C but we managed a 40 minute dive. However, Neil and I were both in semi-dry suits and so cold when we got out that we couldn’t warm ourselves up for a second dive! :-(

I got back to Sacramento this morning (Monday) and I will be packing up my stuff this evening and heading to Florida tomorrow for the last leg of my Big Adventure……

Sunny Sacramento

I had two very chilled out days in Palm Springs on Monday and Tuesday. It was a nice change to sit in front of a television and watch hours and hours of my favourite programs (CSI, Law and Order, NCIS – yes, I am sad ;-) !

On Wednesday morning, I packed my bags, said my goodbyes to Christopher, Srinu, Harry the dog and Pudding the cat and I headed to Palm Springs Airport. To my delight, there was free Wi-Fi there! I arrived in Sacramento Airport at about 1.30pm. I am staying in Sacramento with my friend Shannen (we used to work together a few years ago) but she had to work in Portland today and she wasn’t getting back until 10.30pm tonight. However, her daughter, Kelly, offered to pick me up from the airport at about 5pm so I settled down to wait for her. Luckily, Sacramento Airport also has free Wi-Fi so I was happy to play on the internet and read my book while I waited.

Kelly picked me up at about 5.30pm and took me to Shannen’s house. Shannen lives about 45 mins from the airport is a town just outside Sacramento called Lincoln and she has a beautiful house. Shannen’s husband, Paul, arrived soon after and the three of us (me, Paul and Kelly) we went out for dinner. I waited up for Shannen to get home and she arrived just after midnight – but we didn’t go to bed until after 1.30am as we were gossiping and drinking cups of tea!

We slept in yesterday morning and in the afternoon, Shannen had an appointment with her hairdresser. We arrived a bit early so we went to a nearby bar for a quick Margarita and persuaded the waiter to give us paper cups so we could take our drinks along to the hairdressers with us!! Ruth, Shannen’s hairdresser, was great fun and we were there for 3 hours! I asked if she could put some pink highlights in my hair but unfortunately, she didn’t have any pink hair dye :-(

After we had finished there, we went to a hotel bar for the evening to meet with some of Shannen’s friends and Shannen and I had a Cosmopolitan and a bite to eat and then Shannen and I headed off at about 9pm.

Our plans are to visit Lake Tahoe today (Friday) and we are off to Monterey Bay on Saturday :-)

Mountains and Joshua Trees

I had 2 Thursdays last week! I left Auckland at 7.15pm on Thursday 7th May and arrive in Los Angeles after a 12 hour flight at about 12pm – on Thursday 7th May! Crossing the International Dateline always makes life a bit more interesting :-)

I finally arrived in Palm Springs on Thursday evening. I am staying with my very good friend from Liverpool Polytechnic days, Christopher, and his partner, Srinu. They live in a beautiful house in Palm Springs. Palm Springs is a desert town surrounded on 3 sides by mountains. It’s really hot here with the daytime temperature reaching about 100 degrees F / 38 degrees C – phew!

I spent Friday getting over my jetlag and on Friday evening, we went out to dinner and then went to see ‘Evita’ at a theatre in Palm Springs – a belated birthday present from Christopher. It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed the play very much.

On Saturday, we headed to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway which is cable car up into the mountains. It takes about 10 mins to get to the top and the views are spectacular. There are plenty of paths up there and we spent about an hour walking about and taking in the scenery. It was much cooler up there too, much to my delight. In the evening, we went out for a Mexican meal in downtown Palm Springs and then we headed to a gay bar called Hunters. I have been to gay bars and nightclubs before with Christopher and this one was great fun! There was a guest appearance by an actor who had been on a US soap opera called ‘Days of Our Lives’ and had also been a Playgirl centerfold. Unfortunately, he looks better in his photo that in real life – isn’t that always the way ;-)

On Sunday, we headed out to Joshua Tree National park which is about a 45 min drive from Palm Springs. The area is the only place where Joshua Trees grow and the scenery was spectacular. As well as the Joshua Trees (which are part of the Yucca plant family), there were big red rock formations. We went for a walk to an old disused mill which had been built in 1930 and used until 1966 to process gold ore from mines in the area. When we got back to Palm Springs, we had tea at the International House of Pancakes aka IHOP. I had never been to this particular chain of fast food restaurants before but the food was quite good. We spent last night slobbing in front of the television, which we all enjoyed thoroughly!

Today, I have done nothing!! Christopher and Srinu are working so I have been pottering about in the house, playing on the internet and watching lots of television. I've quite enjoyed it!

BIG FUN in New Zealand!

It’s been a while since I have been able to update my blog as I have been soooooooooo busy having too much fun here in NZ!! My journey to Auckland last Thursday was pretty good – I was upgraded to Premier Travel Class (between cattle class and Business Class!) so I had a much more comfortable flight! I am staying here with ‘old’ diving friends, Mel and Jamie. However, Mel is back in the UK while I’m here looking after her Mum who has had an operation but Jamie has been a perfect host and has looked after me superbly!

It has been the first time I have been cold since I left the UK! We have had sunny days and very wet days this last week. Jamie had arranged 4 days diving for me – 2 days diving off the Coramandel Peninsula, a day at the Poor Knights Islands and a day on the ‘Rainbow Warrior’. What a star he is!!

On Friday afternoon, after having made sure I have all the kit I need, including a 7mm wet suit, we headed to the Coramandel Peninsula which is north east of Auckland. The drive up was lovely – I am very impressed with the NZ landscape and it reminds me very much of Scotland (which is what other had told me already). We arrived in a small town called Whitianga and met up with the group of Jamie’s friends we were diving with in the pub for a few drinks. We were staying in an apartment right on the seafront on the outskirts of Whitianga. When we got up on Saturday morning, there was a bit of heavy surf on the beach and sure enough, when we headed out on the boat, there was a big swell and quite a chop from a strong south-easterly wind. We arrived at a group of islands called the Mercury Islands and found a sort of sheltered spot at an island called the Maori Lady. We had a group discussion but as 4 people were pretty sea sick and it looked like the dive might be quite surgey, we decided to give it a miss and head back! By now, it had also started raining and it poured down all afternoon and evening! We spent a very pleasant afternoon playing cards and we spent Saturday night in the pub again, eating, drinking and playing pool, so it wasn’t a totally wasted day!

When we got up on Sunday morning, it was bright and sunny and the wind had died right down! We headed back out to the Mercury Islands again and though there was still a swell, there was no chop on the waves so it was quite an enjoyable trip out. We found a sheltered spot at Little Ohinau Island, anchored up and had 2 dives there. We dived a shallow rocky, kelpy reef which reminded me very much of diving at home – with a few additional sea creatures we don’t have such as stingrays, triggerfish and goatfish!

The water temperature was about 18ºC and I soon remembered me why I don’t dive in a 7mm wetsuit in the UK anymore! It wasn’t quite as bad as I expected it to be but I did get chilly and my calves cramped up at the end of each dive!

We headed back to Auckland and had a take-away curry for tea. I had been very surprised that we hadn’t had a curry on Saturday night but divers here don’t seem to go for curries on dive trips – weird!! (That comment may only really be understood by my diving pals so apologies to everyone else who is scratching their heads right now!).

Early on Monday morning (5.30am!), we headed north of Auckland to a place called Tutukaka where we headed out on a dive boat to the Poor Knights Islands. For those of you who don’t know, these were named by Captain James Cook who named them after Poor Knights Breakfast AKA eggy bread AKA French Toast. When we arrived there, a pod of huge bottlenosed dolphins came to play on our bow which was great! Our first dive was at a site called North Arch. There is a large arch in the rock which continues under the water. We dived along the wall to the arch, swam through it at about 20m and then back out again and back along the wall the same way we came. It was a beautiful site – lots of fish, anemones, a stingray, nudibranchs, moray eels and lots more. I lasted nearly an hour until my calves started cramping up again!

For the second dive, we moored up outside Rikoriko Cave, which is the biggest sea cave in the world! Before that, the boat went inside the cave, which is enormous and would have fitted another 3 or 4 boats in at the same time. We dropped into the water and swam a little way into the cave and back out again along the wall of the cave. It was a beautiful dive! There wasn’t as much marine life as the first dive but the geology was interesting and it was a really chilled out dive – the viz was incredible and looking back out from inside the cave was very…..I can’t really think of the right word but it was an amazing dive!

Unfortunately, the dive on the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ planned for Tuesday was cancelled as Jamie and I were the only 2 divers booked on the trip but Jamie suggested we go and dive a really nice shore dive about an hour from Auckland at Goat Island which is a marine park. So I spent the morning chilling out at the house and Jamie picked me up at about 1.30pm. We arrived at Goat Island, got kitted up and headed down to the shore. Goat Island is pretty big and actually too far for us to swim out to but we headed out in the general direction of the island. It was a shallow dive (the maximum depth we got was about 4m) but it was great fun! There were loads of really friendly fish and in particular a blue cod which even let me tickle it under the chin! We swam about amongst the small rocky reefs which were covered in weed and spent nearly an hour on the dive. I also found a nudibranch so I was very happy!

Yesterday, I was planning to head into Auckland city centre but I ended up phaffing about so much in the house that I didn’t get around to it! Jamie and I went out for a Thai meal last night - very tasty. Today is my last day here – I fly out at 7.15pm tonight. My plan was to head into Auckland this morning to have a look around the city centre and then pack this afternoon. But the weather is pretty crap so I’m staying around the local area for the day instead. I am heading to the USA for the next leg of my trip – so here’s hoping I don’t get swine flu!

Townsville ups and downs!

On Saturday, Freya, Kyle and I went to the Museum of Tropical Queensland. There were a couple of main exhibitions there – one was on dinosaurs, in particular, dinosaur eggs and another on the HMS Pandora, which was the ship sent to find the crew of the HMS Bounty after the mutiny. The HMS Pandora exhibition was particularly interesting. The ship found a few crew members on Tahiti but missed finding the others on Pitcairn. It sank on the Great Barrier Reef and the survivors (including the ship’s cat!) made it to Timor on small boats though some of them died when they got there.

We then went along The Strand which is Townsville’s seafront. There are lots of little beaches there and we went to one called Rockpool which is actually a sea water swimming pool made to look like a rock pool! In the evening, some of the guys’ friends came over and we had a bit of a house party! We played Ring of Fire (oh oh – more drinking games!) and I made the mistake of having a shot of tequila before we started! I stayed up til about 10pm and then left them to it!

Sunday was truly a day of rest!! Apart from going for a mooch around the shopping centre near the house, I did next to nothing!! We stayed in and watched a DVD in the evening and I got myself ready for diving on Monday!

I was very excited when the taxi came to pick me up at 6.15am on Monday morning!! I was being picked up at the dive shop in town by a minibus from the dive centre. We were taken to the harbour where the dive centre had a lock-up with all their kit. There were 5 of us and we got sorted out with kit and completed all the necessary paperwork and then headed off on the boat to Magnetic Island, just off Townsville, to collect 5 other divers. It took 2 ½ hours to get to the site of the SS Yongala, which sank in 1913 in a cyclone. We moored up to the bow mooring and got ready for our first dive. The first dive was a bit of a struggle for me as there was a lot of current on the wreck but we stayed near the bow area and tucked in close to the wreck slightly out of the current. The second dive after lunch was much better as the current had died right down and we swam about 2/3 of the length of the wreck and back again. The wreck was stunning and it was covered in corals. We saw eagle rays, turtles, sea snakes and so many fish of all shapes and sizes! The fish did not seem to care that we were there and swam very close to us! The wreck is on a sandy bottom so is an artificial reef which is why it is so well populated with marine life. It really was a fantastic dive site!

We had another night in with a DVD but I was really tired and went to bed early as I was up again early for another day’s diving……..BUT that didn’t happen :-( I woke up at about 3am feeling a bit sick. I hardly slept at all the rest of the night and at 6am, I woke Freya to ask her to cancel my taxi as I didn’t feel well – at which point I threw up! I spent the rest of the morning throwing up and, to put it delicately, sitting on the toilet!!! I spent all day in bed trying my best not to die, which is what I felt like doing! Freya and Kyle really looked after me and I don’t know what I would have done without them! I felt a bit better by the evening but didn’t get up at all. I managed to drink water and eat a slice of dry toast! I thought I might have got food poisoning from some chicken I ate on Monday night but Kyle also had some and he was fine so it must have just been a bug I caught somehow :-(

I woke up this morning feeling much better but I do feel like I have been through 10 rounds with Mohamed Ali!! I went to the dive shop to get my dive kit (which I had left there after diving on Monday!) and it’s now washed and drying in the back garden. I was very sad not to have dived Wheeler Reef yesterday. The rest of my day will be spent chilling out and packing – as I’m off to Auckland tomorrow!! We are going to the cinema tonight. I’m treating everyone in the house and we’re going to see the new X-Men film :-)

Planes, planes and planes!

Wow – if I never see the inside of an airport departure again, it would be too soon!! I had to check out of the hotel by 12pm on Tuesday and I arrived at Jo’berg Airport at about 12.30pm. My flight was leaving at 9.50pm so I had to keep myself entertained for over 9 hours! It wasn’t easy! I drank cups of tea, read my book, had lunch and went on the internet and still it was only 4pm! I decided to see if I could possibly check in 6 hours before the flight – and indeed, I could! So I went through to the departure lounge and I drank cups of tea, read my book, had dinner and went on the internet. I also had a back, neck and head massage which was heavenly.

The 9 hour flight to Perth was pretty good. I had a double seat to myself and managed to get about 5 hours sleep. We arrived in Perth at about 1pm local time on Wednesday afternoon. And I was looking forward to another 10 hour stopover at another airport! My next destination was Brisbane and I had another flight from Brisbane to Townsville. My luggage was checked in all the way through to Townsville so I already had my boarding pass and I headed into the departure lounge of Perth Airport. And guess what I did with myself during all that time – yep, I drank cups of tea, read my book, had lunch, went on the internet, drank cups of tea, had dinner, had a snooze and read my book! We finally boarded the plane but it was delayed by an hour as they were replacing some part – no idea what but we didn’t crash so it was all ok :-) The flight to Brisbane was only 4 hours so I didn’t get much sleep at all :-(

When we arrived very early yesterday morning, I only had 15 mins to get my flight to Townsville! But there were 5 or 6 of us transferring to that flight so I think they held the plane for us as we all got on. However, I was dubious that my luggage was going to make it to Townsville – but I was wrong! My bag was waiting for me on the carousel :-) I finally arrived in Townsville at 9am yesterday.

Freya lives about 10 mins drive from the airport so I got a taxi there and she was waiting to greet me! She is sharing a house with 3 other students but all the others were away until the weekend. I was feeling really jetlagged! I had to get some sleep so I went to bed for about 3 hours. Freya and I headed off to do some food shopping and when we got back, one of Freya’s house mates, Kyle, had arrived back earlier than we expected. All we did last night was have dinner (a fab veggie stir fry followed by chocolate brownies with ice cream :) and watched a DVD. I did somehow manage to stay up til midnight…..

…….but I slept right through until 10.30am this morning! This afternoon, we headed into town. We stopped of at a Tourist Information Centre where I booked two days diving next week. I am off to dive the SS Yongala on Monday and Wheeler Reef on Tuesday. Both are supposed to be fantastic dive sites on the Great Barrier Reef so I’m really looking forward to them. We went to the Townsville Aquarium which was really good and confirmed for me that Dory from Finding Nemo is a palette surgeonfish (we had a long discussion about this in Mozambique and thought she might be either a palette surgeonfish or a powder blue surgeonfish).

On the way home, we popped into the local gallery for a while and saw part of a really good exhibition on war photography and have decided to go back to see it all over the weekend.

We have now fed and watered ourselves with fajitas and beer. Freya has gone to bed and I am looking forward to another day exploring Townsville tomorrow :-)

Drinking games are bad!

Friday was my last ‘working’ day here in Tofo. Unfortunately, the Ocean Safari was cancelled as it was a bit rough so no more whale sharks for me on this trip :-( However, I have been really lucky and have seen quite a few so no complaints there!

I did go on a research dive on Friday afternoon to a site called Marble Arch, which was really beautiful! It was teaming with fish life and we also saw a family of cuttlefish on the reef! Adriana and I were doing transits (counting fish species for 2 mins in a 1m space in front and to the side while swimming along) and I did 5 transits. It’s really cool to be able to recognize so many different fish now :-)

I booked myself onto a shallow afternoon dive for Saturday which was to be my last dive here on this trip so I decided I could have a few drinks that night – oh dear! We started the evening off by dinner at The Bakery – we had a local dish called Matapa, which is a sort of mild spinach curry and it was delicious!! We then headed back to the house and I am rediscovering that drinking games are really bad for my health (you’d think I would have leaned that by now!!)! We played two drinking games and I seem to get drawn into them too easily so by the time we left the house to go out to a couple of bars, I was already pretty squiffy! Another drinking game at Fatima’s bar did me in though I managed to join in with some dancing at Dino’s bar before my homing beacon kicked in at about 2am and I headed back home to bed! I didn’t even get undressed before I hit the sack!!

So Saturday morning was spent nursing my hangover – and after a fry up at the dive centre restaurant followed by eggy pasta a couple of hours later at the house, I felt lots better! My dive was brought forward to 1pm. The dive centre was really quiet and we were the only group going out for the afternoon! There was a lady doing a scuba review and her friend doing a try dive so we went to shallow reef only about 2 mins away from the dive centre. It was a lovely wee dive and there was quite a bit of life on the reef, including a clown fish with babies, a baby moray eel, a crocodile fish, a blue-spotted ray and an octopus.

I was completely down and out on Saturday night and I managed to stay awake until 9pm before I headed to bed and left the others to it!!

I spent most of Sunday chilling out and trying to get rid of as much of the sand in my clothes and possessions as possible before packing them! The other guys and gals had had quite a session on Saturday night so most of them were very quiet all day!

We went out for pizza in the evening and we were joined by Val, Josh, Danni and Nick who work at Tofo scuba. Nick headed off for an early night but as Danni and Josh had a day off on Monday, they were well up for a big night out! We went back to the house and, yes you guessed it, drinking games ensued! We then went out to Fatima’s though I was pretty well gone by then! I went back home soon after we arrived (the old homing beacon kicking in again!) and managed to cook and eat some instant noodles before hitting the sack!

I didn’t feel as bad as I expected to yesterday morning! I finished packing, had brunch at the dive centre and got myself sorted to go! I said my goodbyes to the dive centre staff and to Adriana and Seed. Some of the guys and gals were out on an Ocean Safari but promised they would drive out to the airport to see me before I left.

I got collected by a taxi to go to the airport and when I checked in, they told me my ticket had been cancelled but as the flight was not full, I could be put on again!!! This airline is a bit of a joke, it seems!!!!! Sam, Luke, Emily, Charlie and Alex arrived at the airport to see me off and we said our goodbyes before I had to board the plane! I am very sad once more to say goodbye to all my new friends but as most of us are meeting up to go diving in Scotland in July, I am very happy that I will see them again!!

I had a good sleep at the Airport Grand Hotel near Jo’berg Airport last night and a really good bath this morning to get rid of all the sand that seems to have got into places that sand has no right to be in! My adventure continues now as I head to Australia this evening and will finally get to Townsville on Thursday morning – FREYA, I’M ON MY WAY :-)

Stings and things!

Just wanted to let you all know that my Chicken curry on Tuesday night was a magnificent success :-)

I woke up yesterday morning looking like I had caught some horrible disease!! My right arm was covered in red welts from the jellyfish (probably bluebottle) sting I got on Tuesday afternoon. It was really quite painful and I felt pretty grotty with it. I had other smaller patches of stings on my left arm and on my legs too – not great! So I spent the day popping antihistamines like they were going out of fashion!

I went along to another talk last night on Whale Sharks. And after that, back at the house, we had a party and BBQ as it was Emily’s birthday! One of the dive guides from the dive centre saw my arm and told me I should run it under hot water (as hot as I could stand) to neutralize the jellyfish venom and then scrape the area with something hard as the jellyfish stings are still under the skin. I decided to try it and it worked a treat!! Almost immediately I felt better and it was lots less itchy! I had an earlyish night and let the youngsters get on with the partying as I had an early start in the morning ;-)

This morning, I was on a two dive trip. I was diving with Adriana and we did Manta Reef again for the first dive. Adriana was testing me on my fish ID and I managed to get most of them right :-) We then did some fish counts and then mooched about on the reef with the other divers. We saw a Bow-Mouthed Guitar Shark which is a very weird looking fish – it had lumps and bumps on its head and almost looks like it’s from the dinosaur peroid! We also saw a couple of moray eels and at the end of the dive, we saw 2 Mantas!

We saw a couple of whale sharks on the way to the next dive site but they disappeared before we could snorkel with them :-( Unfortunately, I got very narced by finning into the current at 30m the start of the second dive so I surfaced with one of the dive guides. It seems that there are a few sites that require finning against the current so I’ll have to make sure I pick the right ones for my last few dives – I wasn’t made for finning into current :-(

So I’m having a chilled out afternoon and tomorrow we have more research dives and an Ocean Safari on the agenda.

Manta from Heaven!

So what has been happening over the last few days?? Sunday was truly a day of rest! One of the volunteers, Nat, headed off home so we went to see her off at the airport. Other than that, I didn’t do very much except read my book and catch up on some sleep!

Yesterday (Monday) morning, Emily and I had a lecture from Adriana on the 60 fish we have to learn to identify. They are types of butterfly fish, parrotfish, surgeonfish and groupers. I have learned about ¾ of them so far and it’s really cool recognizing them now on the reefs!! We then went out for an Ocean Safari, as they call the Whale Shark spotting trips. These last for 2 hours and soon after we left Tofo, we saw humpback dolphins. These are usually very shy creatures but they stuck by near the boat for a while so we snorkeled with them (though I failed to see them in the water as I was phaffing about with my mask and snorkel for too long!!). We then came across a whale shark and got into the water quickly to see it! Us volunteers were looking for any specific marks or scars on the shark. We also take pictures and in particular, the area behind the pectoral fin where the pattern of dots is used to identify individual whale sharks. Sam was using my camera to take the pictures today. We spotted another whale shark soon after and Adriana was also showing me how we log the data onto the data sheets.

I was due to go out for a research dive this afternoon but felt a bit migrainey so I went to bed for a couple of hours and felt much better after that! We went for another lecture on Monday evening about Manta Rays and Adriana cooked us dinner.

This morning, I went on a research dive with Adriana and Sam and we were taking photos of the reef with the quadrant (1m x 1m square). We were diving a site called Manta Reef and, sure enough, we saw a Manta, my first one ever – and what a magnificent creature it was!!! We stopped taking pictures of the reef and watched and took pictures of the Manta instead! As well as the Manta, we also saw a huge loggerhead turtle hiding in a hole under the reef – he was at least 1.5m long! I had no problems with my dive today so I was very, very happy :-)

After the dive, we went on another Ocean Safari and saw 2 whale sharks again! However, Jess and I got really badly stung by jellyfish – the tentacles wrapped around my arms and around Jess’s arms and legs and it was really painful! I am now covered in many lumps and bumps from both jellyfish stings and mosquito bites :-(

It’s my turn to cook dinner tonight so chicken curry is on the menu!

Life in Tofo!

So here I am finally in Mozambique!! I arrived on Wednesday and there were 2 other volunteers on the same flight. We were supposed to be picked up from the airport and we thought we had found our lift but he turned out to be a taxi driver! But we still got to the volunteer house and met our new friends! We are staying in a town called Tofo. There are 4 guys and 4 gals – Luke, Sam, Alex, Charlie, Emily, Nat, Jessica and me! The house is right on the beach and has 2 bedrooms (guys’ and gals’ rooms) plus one big lounge/kitchen area. We have all our food provided for us but we have to make it ourselves so we are taking it in turns to cook in teams of 2!

The dive centre we are using is right next door – Tofo Scuba. It’s a pretty good set up and they have 3 RIB’s which are all launched off the beach. There is also a bar and restaurant at the dive centre.

We met our project co-ordinator, Adriana, and Seed who also helps out. Adriana gave us an introductory lecture about the organization we are volunteering for (called All Out) and various need-to-know information about our stay here. We then had dinner and went out to a local bar just down the beach where we could take our own drinks. The big thing to drink here seems to be a local rum called Tinto Tipo. I tried it out with Sprite and I have to confess, it’s rather good! We then moved onto Dino’s which is the bar/internet café next door to the house and we were there til about 1 in the morning!!

On Thursday morning, I woke up with less of a hangover than I expected to have!! Seed took us newbies into Inhambane, the next ‘big’ town to change our money. We went there and back on the bus – and they can sure pack ‘em with people!! We spent the afternoon chillin’ out and then had a lecture from Adriana on Whale Sharks and how/what data is collected when we go out on Whale Spotting Trips with the dive centre. After dinner, we started on the Tinto Tipo again and a drinking game ensued! This was followed by another night in Dino’s which was having a Full Moon Party!! I prised myself away at 1am as diving in the morning!!

I didn’t feel too bad on Friday morning (but I actually think I hadn’t sobered up!). I was going out for two pleasure dives this morning and a research dive this afternoon. The first dive was on a reef called Hogwart’s but unfortunately, I didn’t get down as I was slightly underweighted. There was also a strong current and I couldn’t keep up with the other divers so I had to go back up. On the way to the next dive site, we came across a whale shark so we got in the water and snorkeled with it! It was beautiful – about 8m long and going at quite a fast pace. I managed to get a couple of pictures of it! We saw another one a bit later but at that point I was empting my stomach into the sea so I didn’t go in! The second dive at a site called Salon was a shallower reef and was great! There was lots of fish life and I saw my first Frogfish!!!

I then went out again later on to the same site for a research dive with Adriana, Luke, Nat and Alex. Luke was being tested on his fish ID (we have to learn 60 different fish!) and Alex, Nat and I were taking pictures of various parts of the reef. Alex and Nat had a 1m x 1m square and held it over the reef and I have to take 2 pictures looking down onto the reef through the square. It was good fun and great to get stuck into some research already!!

Five of us went along for a lecture about the marine life in the area this evening and then went to The Bakery, which is owned by Seed. There, we had Bunny Chow for dinner – hollowed out loaves of bread filled with curry and coleslaw – DELICIOUS!! I had a very early night and no alcohol which I really needed!

I was up early this morning for another couple of dives. The sea was quite rough so we were going for just one dive to a site called Giant. They told me there might be a bit of current and I was diving with one of the dive guides, Danni. When we got down to the reef, there was a bit of a current which was fine for the other divers but I struggled against it for about 15 mins before I gave up. On top of that, the other divers and dive guide were swimming so fast I wouldn’t have been able to keep up anyway! Back at the dive centre, they asked me what the problem was –I told them and then they told me there was no current on the dive!!! So I have decided not to do anymore pleasure dives with the dive centre but stick to only research dives next week.

So far (apart from the glitch with the pleasure diving!), I am having a really fun time! The internet connection is not great which is why my blog will be a bit intermittent while I am here but I will try to update you all in a couple of days time.

Grrrrrrrrr!

Oh boy – am I mad at Lineas Aereas de Mocambique!! They changed the flight times for the flights to Mozambique today. The flights were 2 hours earlier than previously scheduled but they didn’t tell my travel agents and so I didn’t know and missed the flight this morning! There were 4 other people with the same problem and 3 of us have been booked into a hotel near the airport for 2 nights as the next flight is on Wednesday!

So not much to report for today – been sleeping, watching telly, reading and playing on the internet. But tomorrow I plan to treat myself to a massage here at the hotel spa!

Table Mountain Top!

Yesterday I went up Table Mountain! After a lovely lie in and a fried breakfast, Andrew very kindly took me to the Table Mountain cable car. As he has done this a million times, I was very happy to leave him in his car reading the Sunday paper while I went up there on my own. The views from the top were fantastic, though there was a haar over the sea but Robben Island was just peeping over! I took plenty of photos but I don’t think any of them will do the view any justice.

Andrew then took me for a whistle stop tour of Cape Town before we headed back to his house. I finished packing and all too soon it was time for me to head to the airport. Last night, I stayed in the Airport Grand Hotel in Jo’berg and now I am sitting in the Business Centre writing my blog before I head off to the airport again to fly to Mozambique! I was bitten to death by mosquitoes on Saturday night and the bites flared up last night so I didn’t sleep very well :-( I woke up at about 1.30am and switched the telly on to find a film called ‘Death at a Funeral’ was just starting. It was a film I had wanted to see for ages and it was brilliant – so well worth having insomnia for :-)

I am still missing the white sharks and the WSP guys and gals but I am also excited about meeting a new set of people and, of course, seeing the whale sharks! I will have to suss out the internet situation when I get there so please be patient if nothing appears on the blog for a couple of days!

Bye Bye White Sharks!!

On Friday night, we had a pizza night at the volunteer house! Rene (one of the owners of WSP) and her husband brought ingredients and a stone-baked pizza maker and we all made our own pizzas! It was great evening and it was also a good bonding session for the new volunteers!

Yesterday morning, we all went out on the boat, except one of the new volunteers who wasn’t very well. We laid anchor but soon after that moved as the skipper wasn’t happy with our spot. I helped two of the newbies with the initial data collection and then left them to it while I helped with getting clients in and out of the cage. We didn’t have many sharks this morning and there were long periods of time when there were none about so not such a good shark morning.

I was a bit worried that we would not be back in time for me to catch my lift back after the second trip so I wasn’t going to go on it but the lovely WSP crowd said that they would send a RIB out to get me if we didn’t get back in time – I was soooooooooo happy! They also gave me a WSP Crew T-shirt as a special leaving present and I nearly cried! We had an exclusive trip for 20 clients so there was only one crew space left so I was the only volunteer on this trip. It was hard work as the clients were a group of Russians and quite demanding. Lots of them wanted to go in the cage so I was kept very busy and didn’t manage to do much data collection. BUT we had a beautiful 4m+ female shark who stayed with us for ages around the boat. And at one point, we had a seal swimming around with her – amazing! We were convinced we would see a predation but the seal managed to stay safe and got away!

When we got back, I got myself sorted, said my goodbyes (which was really hard!) and promised I would definitely come back. I got a lift to Cape Town with a bus from one of the other shark boats and was dropped of at my friends Andrew and Janet’s house. I used to work with Andrew years ago so it was a great pleasure to see him again and to meet Janet! I was pretty tired last night but managed to stay up til 10pm chatting and catching up!

I can’t express how much I enjoyed my 3 weeks at the White Shark Projects. It was a huge privilege to see so many white sharks and to learn so much about them and work with such a fantastic group of people. I am missing them all so much already and I’m already making plans to go back again.

Almost finished!

Today is my penultimate day here at the White Shark Projects!! We had another 2 newbies joining us today so we are 8 volunteers in total!!

We had 2 trips today and it was quite hard work breaking all the newbies in! I supervised data collection with one of them but she was pretty good so I left her to it! The sharks were pretty good so I got in the cage this morning!! The sharks seemed to be staying deep so we could see them but not close enough to get any descent pictures today.

This afternoon’s trip was a full boat! I took a bit of a back seat and let the newbies do most of the work, though I organized attaching the cage to the boat with them and I also pulled anchor again at the end of the trip!! The sharks were pretty good this afternoon and I finally managed to get half descent pictures of a breeching shark :-)

I have managed to organize going out on both trips tomorrow and will get a lift into Cape Town after the second trip!! I have packed most of my stuff and just need to finish off tomorrow morning. I am really going to miss this place and will definitely come back again very soon!!!!!!

Two good trips!

This morning we had 2 more new volunteers arriving! We took the volunteers who arrived yesterday through the morning routine and then met the other two once we were back at the house for breakfast. We were all out on the boat this morning but the launch was delayed as three clients were late – grrrrrrrrrrrr!! We eventually got going and went to the site north of Dyer Island. We showed the newbies how to anchor up and then Adrian took them through lots of other stuff while we sorted out the cage. Jas was on data collection duty and we saw 5 sharks this morning, including a big female shark who had been in the wars – she had old and new bite marks around her gills and the top part of her dorsal fin was missing!! I went into the cage and she hung about for ages swimming close to us!! The newbies also had a go in the cage – it was a good start for them!

We had another trip this afternoon and I was on data collection duty. Our big shark came back as did another one we had seen this morning and we saw 7 sharks in all. I did seem to have a bit of a blonde/senior moment where I was mixing 2 sharks up completely!!!!!

This evening, Adrian and I took the newbies shopping – well, we took them to the shop and then we went to the pub for a swift beer! We have another 2 new volunteers arriving tomnorrow morning and 2 trips planned so it will be a hectic day!

Cape Agulhas

We headed off for Cape Agulhas, the most southerly tip of Africa, at about 11 this morning. On the way, we almost ran over a tortoise crossing the road!! We stopped to say hello to it and when we picked it up, it peed on us!!

We arrived in the town of Cape Agulhas and stopped off at the beach to check on the state of the tide. There are 6 resident stingrays who come to the beach on a rising tide and can be hand fed. The tide had just turned so we headed off to see the actual southerly point of Africa where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. There’s not actually much to see – apart from rocks and waves and a plaque, as you can see in the picture!!

Then we headed back to the beach and bought some pilchards to use as chum to attract the stingrays. We had to wait a little while but soon they arrived. They were huge – about 1.5m across with very long tails and a very big sting!! They eventually started swimming up to us and ate the pilchards out of our hands and around our feet – AMAZING!!!!!!!!! Adrian took about 400 photos and I will get some from him to add here.

We stopped off at a pub on the way back to have some food. When we got back, two of our new volunteers had arrived and we have spent the evening breaking them in ;-)

Two many beers!!

As planned, we had our morning trip with a 7.30am launch. It had been raining all night and it was still a bit drizzly this morning. We had to pick our site carefully as there was quite a bit of swell too. We got one beautiful shark coming to the boat and as we only had 5 clients who wanted to go into the cage, I decided to get into a wetsuit too! I eventually got into the cage but the shark didn’t come back and we didn’t get any others :-( Then the anchor line broke or may have been bitten off by a shark so we finished for the day once we recovered the anchor using the second buoyed rope also attached to the anchor as a back-up.

We didn’t go riding after all as it was Swap Shop day! We had 140 children bringing recyclables and were kept very busy for a couple of hours! Of course, after that we had to reward ourselves with a visit to the pub! I had 2 beers and even now (at 9.30pm), I’m still feeling squiffy!!!!!

We have been told that the trip planned for tomorrow has been cancelled as the weather is not looking so good. So instead we are going on a trip to the southerly-most point of South Africa where we are hoping to snorkel with rays!!

Lucky seal!!

We only had one trip out today which was a 1pm launch. We mooched about the house this morning getting in the way of the cleaning lady mostly!! When we got out to the site, there was a pretty big swell so we moved to the channel between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock where the seal colony is.

We got a shark pretty much straight away. This one had a very distinctive dorsal fin with 2 crescent-shaped pieces missing. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before but Adrian, our marine biologist, is using dorsal fin identification to ID the sharks we see. Us volunteers have to collect data on the sharks, such as markings and anything distinctive about the dorsal fin in particular. We also collect data on the sharks’ behaviour and log each time we see it and what it does. Most great whites are just passing through and we may see the same shark up to a few days later but not much after that. It’s amazing how different the sharks really look and how they can be recognized during a trip!!

We saw 2 other sharks today, including a really big female shark (about 3.8m). We also saw an unsuccessful predation – a baby seal was caught but the shark let it go and it made it back to the seal colony!

Tomorrow we have one morning trip and are planning to go horse riding in the afternoon with another volunteer, Chris, who is working on one of the other boats here. Should be good fun :-)

Fun weekend!

We had a great Friday night out and I decided to be the designated driver after all. I’m very glad I did as we didn’t eat until after 9pm and I would have been completely sizzled again!!

We had one trip again on Saturday with a 7.30am launch. We had a nice fairly flat sea and we had a good feeling about the sharks today – in fact, a few of us had a bet on how long it would be before we saw a shark…..and Adrian won by 2 mins!! The sharks were a bit intermittent but all the clients who went into the cage saw a shark. Lizzie went into the cage but unfortunately she didn’t stay in long enough :-(

When we got back, Lizzie shot straight up to the house to have a shower and finish packing and then we said our goodbyes!!

On Saturday afternoon, I managed to change my flight so that I fly to Jo’berg next Sunday rather than Saturday. I will be able to stay here for another day and then will be spending Saturday night with my friend Andrew and his family in Cape Town :-)

Today’s trip was quite bizarre! We had about 15 clients and we could tell they were troublemakers from the start!! There was a bit of a swell when we got out to the site and soon most of them were being seasick! There is a RIB which will come out to collect seasick passengers for R400 so we asked the clients and they agreed that they wanted off!! So 9 clients were taken off the boat which left 6 who were keen to stay. As we had only seen 2 sharks intermittently, our skipper decided to move us closer to Dyer Island. We then saw 5 sharks who were great entertainment – the remaining clients were very glad they stayed!!

This afternoon, I nipped into town with Adrian (our marine biologist here at the WSP) but we forgot it was Sunday and the shops were closed…..so we thought we ought to have a drink at the pub instead (hic!).

We are having take away pizza tonight and will be waiting to find out what tomorrow’s plans are!

Good shark day :-)

This morning, I actually slept right through til 5.15am when my alarm went off!!! We only had one trip today but we had a 7.30am launch. The early morning trips really are the best! The sea is usually flat and the visibility is usually better. We are usually the first boat out too so we are more likely to get sharks!!

This morning was no exception – flat calm sea and good visibility (5.5m vertical, about 2.5m horizontal). We only had 9 clients of whom only 7 wanted to go in the cage. And it was a great shark day!! We had 4 sharks but they were really active and a couple were quite feisty! So Jason and I donned wetsuits and got in the cage too!! It was freezing cold (the sea was about 13°C) and it made me remember why I now dive in a drysuit in the UK!!! But we saw the sharks up close and personal which was brilliant and well worth the numbness!

I am constantly amazed at how much I love seeing these beautiful animals!! Each shark is different in its looks and behaviour and it’s fascinating to learn all about them!

We had our final lecture from Adrian, our marine biologist, this afternoon on Shark Conservation and Research – really interesting stuff!

Tonight is Lizzie’s last night with us so we are going out for a meal with some of the WSP crowd. I have to decide whether to drink or whether to be designated river and let Adrian have a drink……………………….

Hangover Day :-(

This morning, I woke up with a bad hangover after a good night out last night!! So I missed out on the first trip today. I felt better after a fry-up and a kip so I was ok for the second trip. Lizzie missed the second trip so it was me and Jason again and it was a full boat of 18 clients. Jason was on data collection duty so I had to look after the clients – and 18 is a lot to look after!! There was a big swell today so it was twice as difficult with the boat rocking and rolling!

When we arrived on site, a baby seal swam right up to the stern of the boat and Mandla (one of the crew) helped it onto the boat! The poor thing was knackered and we let it stay on the boat for about 5 mins to get its breath back before we encouraged it back into the water. Hopefully, it got home in one piece!

We only saw 3 sharks this afternoon and the visibility was pants so the clients didn’t see much from the cage, unfortunately.

When we finished sorting the boat out, I went out food shopping and cooked a lovely beef stroganoff (even if I do say so myself :-) I’m pretty knackered so it’ll be an early night for me tonight!!

Busy day!!!

I was up at 5am ready to start work at 6am. We had an earlier launch than usual – 7am – and it was actually really nice to be out so early and before the other boats. I was originally going to be the only volunteer on the boat but another client dropped out so Jason came along too. We had 18 clients and as there were only the 2 of us, it was hard work! Jason was on data collection duty so I had to look after the clients – not always an easy job ;-)

We had a fairly good morning with 6 sharks spotted and the visibility in the water was fairly good so the clients saw the sharks!

We had another trip at 12pm and it was just Lizzie and me on the boat this afternoon. I was on data collection duty and Lizzie looked after the clients – she’s much better at that than I am!! We saw 7 sharks but the visibility was dreadful so the clients saw more from the boat than from the cage!

Tonight we are off to a braai (BBQ) with some of the White Shark Projects crowd which should be good.

Easy day!

We only had one trip today and it started at 12pm – but I still woke up at 5am!! Only 2 of us volunteers, me and Jason, were on the boat today. Lizzie wanted to go to the Swap Shop this afternoon so she didn’t come out with us.

We only had 8 clients and only 6 of those went in the cage so it was a pretty easy day really! We only saw 2 sharks but I managed to fluff up the data collection somehow (blonde senior moment ;-)

So not really much to report I’m afraid! We are now chillin’ out for the evening – I have jacket potatoes in the oven and I’m looking forward to tucking in!!

We've just been told that we have 2 trips tomorrow and the first one is with 19 clients so only 1 of us can go - and it's me!! So I'll be pretty busy then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lightweight!!

Another early morning – but earlier than usual for me! I woke up at 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep!! We had one morning trip today and went out to Dyer Island again. We are now only 3 volunteers and having one less actually makes a big difference! I hardly saqw anything of the sharks today as I was busy sorting the clients out! But we did have a bit of excitement! One shark took the bait and wouldn’t let go. He managed to wrap the rope around himself several times and it was really quite distressing. We did manage to pull him against the cage, unroll him and get the bait out of his mouth. He would have been pretty stressed after that. The clients in the cage certainly got their monies-worth!!

After we had got back and sorted the boat and kit out, we went shopping. We have 2 shopping trips a week on Mondays and Thursdays. We got food and then I needed to go to the Pharmacy as I had a mild earache and wanted to get it checked! There was a small clinic at the pharmacy and I saw the nurse who said my ear was slightly inflamed and gave me some antibacterial drops for it – it was a very good and efficient service!

We then went to the pub for one drink. And after one beer, Lightweight Castro was very squiffy!! I’ve never been very good with lunchtime drinking at the best of times!!

We have been chilling out for the rest of the day and Lizzie is now making us a roast chicken dinner – mmmmmmmmm!

Amazing Shark Weekend!!

Well, what can I say!!! What a GREAT weekend of shark encounters!! There were two boat trips planned yesterday and we only had 13 clients on the morning trip. We went out to Dyers Island again and anchored up. There was a small swell but it was a pleasant morning. I was on data collection duty and almost immediately, the sharks started coming to the boat! the bait line at the same time – AMAZING!! As we had so few clients and the shark action was so good, they let us volunteers get kitted up and into the cage – OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was one of the most incredible things I have every done! The sharks were really playing ball and were coming really close to the cage. We even had one shark which bit the cage – FANTASTIC!!!

Unfortunately, I had a migraine yesterday afternoon so I had to go to bed and that was me down and out for the rest of the day. Yesterday evening, Edwin, one of the owners of the White Shark Project, invited us to his place for dinner, just above the lodge. I went there for about 30 mins to be sociable but the other volunteers had a good evening. He does this regularly and tells the new volunteers that he is cooking baboon which he had to shoot by bow and arrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning, I felt as right as rain and we had another 2 trips planned. The first trip out was great, with 6 active sharks. I was data collecting again. We also had a French guy on the boat who spoke no English and I was the only one who could speak any French so I had to explain everything to him! He is here for 4 days so I’ll be practicing my French again tomorrow.

At the end of today’s trip, one of the clients witnessed a predation, where a shark caught and ate a seal! Unfortunately, the rest of us only heard the splash and saw the blood on the surface but hopefully, we’ll see another one soon!!

The sharks were not so co-operative this afternoon. We saw a few but they weren’t really going for the bait and so not really getting very close to the cage. But all the clients saw one shark at least so they left happy :-)

Seals and stir-fry!

We had another early morning, with only one boat trip planned today. For the first time since I arrived, we went out to nearby Dyer Island rather than staying in the bay. The sharks are in a transition period where they are moving more towards the island where they spend the winter months. So at this time of year, it’s a bit of a toss up as to whether we stay in the bay or go to the island to look for the sharks. Some of the other boats have seen more sharks these last couple of days at the island so we decided to go there today.

It was a lovely, sunny, calm day and we anchored up to the west of the island. There was a small fishing boat nearby and a shark popped up next to it so we tried to encourage it to come across to us by banging on the side of the boat and it came to have a look!! We saw only 3 sharks today but we also had a few seals who came across from the island to see us! On the way back, we drove close to the island to see the seal colony and there were hundreds of them!! There were small pups amongst the adults and lots of them were playing about in the water in front of us!!

This afternoon, we had another lecture. This one was about shark attacks and I’m very glad I’m a diver and not a surfer!! Later on, I went for a walk along the sea shore and sat on a rock watching the sea. It really is very beautiful here!!

I made a stir-fry tonight and then we all played cards for a while. We have a very busy day tomorrow with 2 trips and room for all four of us too :-)

Sharks and horses!

Today we had an early start – up at 5.15am!! We got the boat sorted for the first trip out which left at 7.30am. We had 17 clients, including my friends Louise and Jim! The visibility was pretty bad today – only about 0.5m but we got 15 clients in the shark cage and they all saw a shark! We saw 5 sharks in all of various sizes during the trip. I also had a go at chumming – the chum (tuna and anchovy oil) is mushed up with sea water in a big bucket and chucked into the sea. This has to be done for the whole time we are out so we take it in turns. It’s smelly but fun :-)

Once we got back in, we sorted and cleaned the boat for the next set of clients and then were told that only Claudia would be going out as there were too many people to fit on the boat. Then one client dropped out so Jason went on the boat as Lizzie and I had booked to go horse riding!

We mooched about for a couple of hours and then we were taken to the riding stables just up the road. We spent an hour riding on the beach and it was great! My horse was brilliant – a little feisty but we got on well. At one point while we were having a canter, she decided to head into the sea!!! But we didn’t go in too far! Lizzie’s horse was a bit stubborn and kept stopping and not wanting to go anywhere!

So now we are back in the house, eating and chilling out for the evening. We have another early start tomorrow morning and I have a feeing my thighs are gonna hurt like hell!!!!

Hiking and swimming!

This morning, we were due to take the boat out at 10.30am but, once again, the trip was cancelled due to the wind :-( So we decided to go for a hike through a Botanical Gardens in Caladon about 45 mins drive from Gansbaai. We went with Adrian, our marine biologist, again as I found out he is also the volunteer co-ordinator! We spent about about 2 hours mooching through the gardens and the surrounding area which was quite rocky and hilly. We walked up to a dam in the valley and there was a big pool of water there. So us 3 gals stripped off (well, took our t-shirts off but kept the rest of our clothes on!!) and had a swim in the pool!! It was lovely, cool water but the 2 boys wouldn't join us!!

We went back down to the car park and then drove to a local rubbish dump to see baboons!! They spend their time there foraging for food and there were loads of them!! Then we went off to have some lunch and headed back to Kleinbaai.

Tonight, I am meeting with my friend Louise (who I met up with in Cape Town) for dinner! She is coming out for a cage dive with us tomorrow and staying the night in Gansbaai :-)

Penguins and swap-shop!!

Today it was too windy for the boat to go out so we decided to go to see penguins at Rocky Point, about an hour's drive from Kleinbaai. It took us a while to find the right place but it was worth it when we did! There were lots of penguins sitting on the rocks and hiding in bushes! The ones in the bushes were sitting on eggs and, in fact, we came across a pair of penguins mating - quite a spectacle!

We had lunch in Hermanus and then we went into the township in Gansbaai to help at the swap-shop that the White Shark Project run. The local kids collect recyclable rubbish (cans, bottles etc) and bring them along. These are swapped for points and they can use the points to get toys, pens, pencils, clothes and many other things. The recyclable materials are taken to a recycling bank where they get some money and they use this to buy stuff for the swap-shop. It was great fun and, once again, the kids were great!!

We went to the pub for a beer and then back to the house where we have spent the rest of the day chatting, internetting, eating and we are about to watch a DVD!

Only one - but a big one!!!

So today was our first proper day of volunteering on the White Shark Project (WSP). We had start work at 6am, getting everything ready to take on the boat - wetsuits, booties, bait, lifejackets, food and drink for the clients (and us!). We loaded it onto the boat and then went for breakfast before meeting at the WSP Lodge to help the clients get into their lifejackets and take them to the boat.

We headed out to sea and watched how they anchored up side-on to the swell and the current. Claudia then showed me the forms we have to fill in with various bits of information on the site we were anchored at while the others sorted the clients out with wetsuits. And then we waited.....and waited......and waited......but no sharks appeared :-( Another boat nearby had seen a shark and was leaving to head to a nearby island (Dyers Island) so we uped anchor and headed to that site.

We put the cage into the water and waited.....and waited......and waited.....but the shark didn't appear :-( The wind started to pick up and the swell was getting bigger to so we decided to call it a day. We started to get the cage out of the water and THE SHARK APPEARED!!! And he was HUGE! He was 3-3.5m long and had hung about for about 20 mins. Claudia had shown me the other forms we have to fill in with information about the sharks we see and their behaviour and I was busy filling that in!

We evetually headed back to shore and once the clients were off the boat, we unloaded the boat and Claudia and I helped wash the boat down. By this time, it had also started raining so we were getting quite wet but it was good fun!

This afternoon, we went shopping for food and then had 2 lectures about Great White Shark biology and behaviour from Adrian, the resident marine biologist. It was really interesting and I know lots about Great Whites now!

I cooked dinner tonight (Spaghetti Bolognese) and we are all now tapping away at our computers!! The guys here are really good fun and I'm already having a very good time!

Kleinbaai - my next new home!!

On Saturday morning, I flew to Cape Town and spent a great day there! I was collected at the airport and taken to a B&B called Sassveld Lodge which was a whopping £15 a night including breakfast!! I spent the afternoon mooching around the area and in the evning, I met up with a friend, Louise, who had also arrived in Cape Town that day!! We met at the Waterfront, which is the trendy harbour area full of shops and restaurants. We spent a very fun evening catching up and boring Louise's friend ridig with diving tales!!

This morning, I was picked up from the B&B by the White Shark Project bus and there were 2 other new volunteers on the bus, Jason and Lizzie. There were also 4 people going there for an afternoon's cage diving. The White Shark Project is one of about 7 cage diving operations in the Gansbaai area (about 2 hours drive south-east of Cape Town). It's actually based in Kleinbaai, about 5 mins drive from Gansbaai, and right next to the sea!!

There were 5 other volunteers here but 4 of them were leaving today so there are 4 of us left. Claudia is the remaining volunteer and she is here for another week. This afternoon, they let us newbies act as clients on the boat :-) The Great Whites feed close into the shore here and it';s only a 15 min boat ride to get to the area they are in. The operations are highly regulated - the boats are only allowed to anchor in certain areas and only use certain types of chum and bait to get the sharks in close to the boat.

The volunteers work on the boat with the crews helping with everything from preparing the boat for the clients, helping clients in and out of wetsuits, anchoring, preparing the cage, chumming etc.

Today, we saw 4 Great Whites!!!!! They are beautiful :-) They are drawn in by the chum and then the bait is used to draw them closer to the boat and the cage. The volunteers make notes about the sharks' behaviour and appearance and there is a resident marine biologist whoc takes pictures of the sharks. Us newbies didn't go into the cage today but we will have plenty of chances.

So now we are in our volunteer house eating pizza and getting to know each other. So far, I am really enjoying this place!!

Bye bye Kwantu!

I can't believe it's been my last day at Kwantu already!! This morning, the ranger let us play with Ben and the lion cubs again for about 30 mins :-))) I got plenty more scratches and bites but it was worth it! After that, we went to the elephant sanctuary to check all was well as there was a party of 26 school children coming today!! We went back to the reserve and waited for them to arrive. We served them food and drinks and then they went on a game drive, which I decided to miss out. I went down to see the cubs again and as the school children were being shown the other predators, the ranger let us in with the cubs again!!! We were in for another half an hour and then I had to say my goodbyes to them :-(

I went back to my room, showered and finished packing and then went for lunch with the other volunteers and the rangers at the Day Centre where the children were taken for their lunch.

Then I had to say goodbye to everyone and I headed into Port Elizabeth in the Kwantu bus with the children!!

So now I'm in PE staying the night in a very nice backpackers' lodge. I had my dinner about an hours ago and I'm settled here for the night, chatting with other travellers. Tomorrow morning, I fly to Cape Town and spend the night in another backpackers' lodge before heading to Gansbaii for the strt of my Great White Shark adventure!!

On the hunt!

This morning, we spent a blissful 45 mins with Ben the tiger and her 4 lion cub friends :-) Of course, I got bitten, scratched and nibbled but I also had lots of cuddles and it was great! Ben now has a bath in her enclosure so she can have a soak but the lion cubs are not keen on the water at all!

We then went with a couple of the reserve staff to finish off fixing the fences we started yesterday and to help clear the weeds around the wild dog enclosure. After our morning break, we went to the local school again to give the kids lunch. I also took along some badges for them which I bought at Port Elizabeth market and gave them to the Head Mistress to distribute. The kids were so pleased to see us and after they had eaten, we showed them the pictures we had on our cameras and they loved that!

After lunch, we went to the elephant sanctuary and helped gather branches for the elephants’ dinner as well as helping to unload bags of food which had just been delivered. And to finish off our day, we went out with the ranger to hunt a sick/wounded/old animal to shoot for the tiger and lion cubs’ dinner. We did find an injured antelope and the ranger shot it in its already injured hind leg but unfortunately, it fled into the valley and they will have to go and find it tomorrow.

Long walks, fences and snakes!

Today was a day of long walks! We went to the elephant sanctuary first thing to drop off some of the reserve staff (which seems to be a daily pattern now) and then watched the elephants practice their routine for a while. We then went back to the reserve and went with 3 of the reserve staff to check one of the electric fences. This part of the fence was powered by solar panel and the guys checked this first. Then we walked along removing big tufts of grasses and plants from next to the fence.

After this, we sorted out a big pile of logs, putting logs of roughly the same length and thickness together. Some of these logs were then used to create the edge of a path for the new volunteers lodge.

After lunch, another long walk checking electric fences! I really enjoyed these walks though it was blinking hot today! Then we helped fix one of the fences surrounding the predator enclosures before we finished for the day!

One of the rangers keeps snakes so I asked if I could see them. He has a Burmese python called Girlie which I cuddled for a bit and she seemed to think I smelled quite good (though I was covered in sweat and dirt – maybe that was what attracted her!!). He also had some puff adders and some small grass-like snakes, both of which are poisonous so no cuddles from me!

Easy like Sunday mornin’!

Last night, we had a problem with the electrical system in our accommodation block and we had no electricity for the night! So we had to go to bed by candle light :-) I’m glad to say it’s all fixed now.

Today has been pretty slack. First thing this morning, we took some of the staff up to the elephant sanctuary and then had a breakfast break just after 8am. We then watched the two rangers start digging out a swimming pool behind the hotel and after about half an hour, we had another 30 min break. We then watched for another 90 mins before they sent us off for an early lunch!

This afternoon was spent in the pick-up truck mooching around the elephant sanctuary reserve and the main reserve checking all was ok and looking at the animals. We saw wild pigs and buffalo for the first time today.

That’s about it for today – easy day!!

Surfin' and smells!!!

This weekend, we stayed in a backpackers’ hostel in Jeffrey’s Bay, about 2 hours from Kwantu. I was hoping to go diving but there were no dive centres there after all :-( so instead, I had a surfing lesson!! Three of us had a go but the swell was actually quite big and very difficult to deal with so I admit that I gave up after about 20 minutes of trying! Donna also gave up but Claire was really good and managed to almost stand up on the board!

Unfortunately, 5 of the girls were moving on this weekend so we made sure we had a great final 2 days together. And the remaining 3 of us got back yesterday – though due to a lack of communication, I nearly got left behind in Port Elizabeth where there other 5 girls were spending the night!!!!

We started this morning by checking the fences with the ranger but the wheel fell of the pick-up truck! We got taken back to the reserve workshop and then went with 3 of the reserve staff to a town about 45 mins away called Alexandria – to collect a dead cow! It had been dead for a wee while and stank – yuk! The other 2 girls traveled back in the cab and I was in the back with two of the guys and the smelly beast – I don’t think I will ever forget that smell!!! When we got back, we took it to one of the lion enclosures and watched as they pulled it off the truck and tucked in!

We then took more smelly, dead bits of various animals (zebras and cows!) and fed the other predators – lions, serval, cheetahs, wild dogs and tigers. Finally, before lunch, we checked the fences and had a mooch around the reserve and the ranger took us to see the rhinos.

After lunch, we helped to collect bones from some of the predator enclosures – yes, bones!! We did the tiger/lion cubs, older lion cubs, serval, cheetah and wild dog enclosures! The cheetahs didn’t like me photographing them and they do this weird thing of doing a little jump and snarl to try to scare us off!!!!

Finally, we went to the elephant sanctuary to help prepare their food and that was the end of our working day!!

P.S. I found out that the tigers are part of a breeding programme but many of the reserves here have them!!

Packed day!!

I have managed to find a bit of time to write a quick post before we head off! And what a packed day we have had today!

Firts thing, we went to the Elephant Sanctury where they have 5 elephants which they saved from being culled. These are being trained to do various tricks and skills for the tourists but ultimately, to be used for elephant safaris in the reserve. We all had a ride on them too!

Then we went into the reserve to do a game capture. We set up 3 lines of nets and the ranger tried to herd some game into the nets - but they weren't playing ball today and all we got was a very old wildebeast! The idea is to jump on the game and hold it down when it is in the nets! We will try again next week and hopefully we'll be more lucky!

After our morning break, we went into the tiger enclosure WITH THE TIGERS to clear some cut grass - it was FANTASTIC! The rangers kept the tigers at bay but we got pretty close to them! Then we took some of the cut grass to Ben the tiger cub and his lion cub companions and played with them before going to see some older lion cubs in another enclosure. We went in with these ones too and they were lovely! There are 2 adult lions, one male and one female, in the opposite enclosure but they really don't like the rangers so they don't go in with them very often and we certainly won't!!

So that's just about been our day! I am packed and ready to go to Jeffrey's Bay for the weekend and I'll post some more photos up early next week!

Labour Day!!

A bit of sad news I'm afraid - both the baby tiger cubs died in the night :-( We were gutted, as you can imagine! But I will still try to post a piccie of one of them with me once I have finished writing this post!

This morning, we were up and at it at 7am which is the usual time we start work!! Our first task was to dig out a hole in the ground to start to make it into a pond. We did this for about 2 hours and we got the nod of approval for our work from Simon, the ranger! Then we went to clear some cut grass from around the tiger enclosure until 10am which is when we have our morning break.

After that, we went to one of the local schools to take some lunch for the children. The game reserve guys do this every week and for some of the children, it's the one decent meal they get. But they were lovely kids and we played ball and other games with them for a while!

After lunch, it was back to grass clearing but it was so hot we only did this for an hour before we were sent back to our lodgings!!

Tomorrow afternoon, we are being taken to Jeffrey's bay for the weekend! We are staying in a backpackers' lodge and will be back on Sunday evening. I am taking my dive kit and I hope I'll get a couple of dives in!! I don't know if I will have internet access so if not, I'll be back in touch on Monday!

P.S. I have been asked by a few people about the tigers i.e. why do we have them here!! I will try to find out and let you know :-)

Not for the squeamish!!

Well, where do I start!! Today has been another fantastic day! We did absolutely nothing this morning! We were supposed to be helping out with some tree clearing but for some reason it didn't happen so we hung about all morning waiting for something to happen.

After lunch, we went off in a flatbed van (I think that's how you would describe it) and the ranger shot a very sick zebra they had seen the day before. We (as in 8 girls and 1 guy!) loaded it onto the van and took it back to the workshop where we saw it being chopped up for animal feed (I helped out with that too!!).

Then we went onto the reserve again to look for rhinos but didn't see any. We did see zebras, wildebeast, various antelope and giraffe! Our ranger then took us off for shooting practise and most of us had a go at shooting with a magnum handgun :-)

Then we went to feed the week-old tiger cubs - the cutest things on the planet! They still have their eyes closed! And finally we went to play with the older lion cubs and Ben the tiger cub. He took a liking to my left armpit today and I have a few scatches and scrapes from his rather sharp teeth!!

I think we are going game capturing tomorrow!! I am pretty pooped but having an amazing time! I will try to put some photos up on the blog tomorrow - if I can work out how to do it!

Kwantu - my new home!

WOW!!!!! This place is AMAZING!! I am now settled in my new home for the next 12 days, which is Kwantu Private Game Reserve, about an hour's drive from Port Elizabeth. It's a beautiful reserve and the accomodation and hotel is wonderful! I have my own room with an en suite bathroom. There are 6 other volunteers here - all girls! - and we will be joined by another tomorrow.

I arrived at about 2pm and the volunteers were looking after a group staying here who had come off a cruise ship. This only happens occasionally and we will be back working in the reserve tomorrow or the following day.

I was shown around the 'town' (the reserve is like a small town and all the workers here live on site). There is a school, two churches, tennis courts, a cricket pitch, a shop / post office and the workers' houses.

I was also shown where they were holding 4 lion cubs and a tiger cub, all about 4-5 months old - AND I GOT TO PLAY WITH THEM!! The lion cubs were a bit shy but Ben, the tiger cub, bounded up to me and proceeded to nibble my legs, arms, shoulders and hand!! He is GORGEOUS! I'll get to play more with them while I am here. We also saw 2 new tiger cubs who are 2 days old! We will be helping fed them too - they have to be fed every 2 hours! And to top it all, we saw the keeper giving one of the adult tigers a shot of antibiotics - she wasn't best pleased!

Well, I have to go to dinner now - more tomorrow!

Touchdown!

I have finally arrived in South Africa!! I am currently in Jo'berg Airport waiting for my flight to Port Elizabeth. So far, so good! I managed about 5 hours sleep on the Heathrow to Jo'berg flight. The plane was about half full so I had a double seat to myself which was great! It's a lovely sunny morning here and I'm feeling quite bright and breezy after 11 hours of flying!!

I'm on my way!!

Well, right now, I'm sitting in Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport waiting for my gate number!! I arrive in Jo'berg at about 7am tomorrow and then onto Port Elizabeth! I'm very excited but very tired too - the last 2 mornings I've been up at 5am as I couldn't sleep!! I still can't believe I'm actually on my way!

I'm missing Jon and the pussies already but also looking forward to my BIG ADVENTURE :-)

SA here I come!!!

I really can't believe I'm going tomorrow!! I finished at work on Friday - and a BIG THANK YOU to everyone for the lovely presents and the great night out :-) Though I did suffer with a raging hangover all day yesterday!!! And another THANK YOU to everyone at Divetech who came out for our Late Christmas Party/Sands' Bon Voyage meal too!

So today, I am finishing my packing, Well, I haven't actually started as yet - I have it all in piles on the bedroom floor so it now just needs to go into my bag!!! I'm also out for lunch with the lifeboat boys and gals and just finishing off all those little jobs that need going before I leave.

So I start my Big Adventure proper at 11am tomorrow morning when the lovely Craig comes to pick me up to take me to the airport! AMAZING!!

Still lots to do!

Less than a week to go now! I still have to pack my bags - I seem to have lots of piles of things dotted around the bedroom which have to be eventually packed into my travel bag but at least it's mostly ready to go! So tomorrow I plan to sort out my dive kit for the trip.

Still busy at work finishing things off but that seems to be going well. I don't think I'll be leaving too much for my colleagues to sort out once I've gone.

Last night, my lovely hairdresser, Leigh, came over to give me a final trim and a bit of colour in my hair - which is now blonde and pink :-) Very funky!!!

Last of the shopping done!

Yesterday I shopped til I dropped!! I made a big shopping list of things I still needed to get for my trip and I pretty much bought it all!! It looked like a scarily HUGE pile of things to pack but after removing all the packaging, it wasn't as bad! So this week, I will be packing it all into my big travel bag and hope it doesn't weigh too much!!

And today, I took my RIB, 'Go Forth' out for a play with the lifeboat and she was running beautifully :-) I have also been doing some work today so I can be sure that I'll get everything done before I leave on Friday!

10 days to go!!

I can't believe that a week on Monday, I'll be on the first of my flights on my way to South Africa! Today I will go shopping to get the final bits and bobs that I need for my trip and I'll start packing!

Only 1 more week of work too - and then I'm off for 7 months! I'm finding it harder and harder to concentrate but I still have lots to do so will be working hard this week to get it all done - after all, I may well want a job back there in October so I have to leave on a good note ;-)

This is also the first time I have blogged - so I'm no longer a blog virgin!! I should have internet access just about everywhere I go so I'll try to update my blog most days if I can!