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 ;-)