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.