Month: January 2019 Page 3 of 4

I woke in the middle of the night for two reasons. Firstly the wind was whistling through the louvre doors and torrential rain was beating down outside and my sinuses were completely blocked. This I think accounts for my ear problems yesterday. I had thought the cold had gone but maybe just being in such an ideal environment masked the symptoms. As today has progressed I feel better and have eaten loads – the first time all week so perhaps I was a little under the weather.

Today I have arranged snorkelling and this time we need to catch the low tide so are leaving at 08.40. The tide is a long way out and all the boats are on dry land

We have a 10 minute walk through the mangroves to reach the next beach which has navigable water.

The beach was very busy with all the boats setting off

As we headed across the bay I questioned my decision to go snorkelling. The skies were grey and threatening more rain. It did not feel that warm and visibility would probably be dreadful.

After 30 minutes we arrived at our first site – Coral Garden. It appeared to be in the middle of the ocean and a long way from land of any description. I think if you were not a confident swimmer/snorkeller you would be in panic mode. I had dived the other end of this reef a couple of days ago so was sure it would be OK. We jumped in. The water felt cold as I was not wearing a wetsuit although my guide was. One rule for staff and another one for guests! Initially I had goose bumps but there was a moderate current so the exercise soon warmed me up.

I shall also make sure to have a massage. There is a Thai spa here and the lady that runs it is lovely. I am feeling quite stiff after so much jumping in and out of boats and also feel I have tweaked my shoulders trying to get in and out of my wetsuit. Some TLC before travel on Wednesday would seem wise. In any case it would just be nice to be pampered😀.

Off to bed now and have managed to find an armchair I can sit in that has WiFi. Hoorah!!

I woke early and contemplated whether to sit on the verandah and edit yesterday’s dive photos or hide behind the mosquito net in bed. I opted for bed as it is not only insect free but much cooler with a fan directly overhead.

The dive boat is really decrepit and part of the hand rail fell off today!

Before and after!

There were some interesting finds on the dive: a large moray eel, brightly coloured nudibranchs and a scorpion fish; the master of disguise.

This has been a brilliant afternoon’s diving. Challenging for sure but also hugely rewarding. Sadly I think this will be my last dive of the holiday. I only have 2 days left on Mafia and cannot dive for 24 hours before flying. Therefore tomorrow would be my last opportunity to dive. My ears were really a problem today so I think I should give them a rest or I will regret it on the numerous forthcoming flights.

Today is my birthday and I am greeted by the most beautiful morning.

I have booked diving today and am really looking forward to it. However, I sincerely hope that my cold has gone and I don’t have any ear or sinus problems. I take a precautionary decongestant tablet. I open my cards, take some pictures and saunter to breakfast. No rush as diving is not until 13.00. I have cut breakfast down to fruit and cereal. Eggs etc are just too much, given that there are 3 courses for lunch and dinner. Way too much for my appetite these days.

WiFi is a real issue here and is only available within 10ft of the office. So after breakfast I walk to the office to connect to the internet and see that there are loads of Happy Birthday messages for me. Thank you everyone. What a great start to my day.

I spend the rest of the morning by the pool. I have arranged an early lunch and then head off to the dive shop.

Weight restrictions meant I left most of my dive kit at home. I have rented equipment and it is all in very good condition. The wetsuit is a bit big but in this heat I don’t think I could cope with the horrendous battle to squeeze myself into anything tighter!

There is only me diving so we take the exceedingly small diveboat. Nothing about it suggests that it was ever designed for diving. There are no tank holders, but it does have a first aid kit, oxygen and an engine and I note that there is a wooden ladder that can be hung over the side to assist re-entry so that is a bonus.

Chole Bay is really beautiful and I admire the pristine coastline as we head for the first dive site. We start to kit up and I become quite apprehensive. I have not dived for nearly 2 years, the equipment is unfamiliar and entry is a back flip which I have never done before. The crew are patient and I finally get fully prepped, manoeuvre myself to sit on the edge of the boat and drop into the water.

They use steel tanks here which are much heavier than the aluminium tanks I usually use. I therefore have no idea what weight I should carry but am pretty sure whatever weight I decide on will be incorrect. That was indeed the case as I flipped off the boat backwards and tried to descend. I had to haul myself down the anchor rope and hold on tight to avoid torpedoing straight back to the surface. Another 2kg stabilised me and as I relaxed I was finally able to establish neutral buoyancy.

We set off along the reef. Visibility was not great but the coral and sealife were spectacular. A huge variety of corals and a vast array of fish thronged before my eyes. The dive was gentle and shallow – max 40 ft and lasted an hour. It was an ideal first dive and by the end of it I had “got back into the swing of it”.

The second dive seemed so much easier. Kit on, flip in water, straight to bottom. Big relief! This dive was Coral Garden and very aptly named. Terrific variety of corals, with many very shallow so wonderful light for photography.

When we returned I was looking forward to a G&T but again the tonic had run out😱. I asked the barman how this was possible particularly on my birthday. He said it’s because they could not get any more as there was none on Mafia. The island relies on deliveries from the mainland and shortages are common. I think I need to recognise my tonic deficit as a First World problem. I resolved my G&T crisis by ordering a Margherita instead and it was extremely good.

Today I had planned to dive but the weather is looking ominous.

Juma the divemaster said that normally when the tide comes in the weather gets worse so diving was cancelled.

I therefore spent a frustrating morning trying to upload photos to my blog site. This should have been a straightforward task; however…

• My tablet would not connect to the internet although my iPhone would
• In order to update media to my blog, I would need to transfer it from my tablet to phone. Easy you would think
• Connect phone to tablet, select folder structure and transfer. No!
• Transfer photos to SD card and upload to phone. No!
• Are photos on card? Yes!
• Think……
• Notice one photo has uploaded to phone but not the rest….um?
• On editing had changed file name and put ‘a’ on end. Remove letter ‘a’ and voila! It only took 2 hours – grrrrr!

I celebrated with a beer, saw the weather had improved so headed for a relaxing afternoon by the pool. The pool is lovely – not ‘chemically’ and a perfect temperature.

There are only 4 other guests here. One couple on honeymoon from Sweden and one couple (keen divers) from Germany. This evening we all ate together and it was a very funny evening.

Conversation centred on insects, particularly how useless all the insect repellents are against the mosquitos and how ineffective the mosquito coils in the room are. We noted that round the table the only person being bitten was Christiane. We decided she was the best mosquito deterrent and should be employed by the hotel to sleep in guests’ bathrooms. It was also decided that the mosquito coils were actually attractants designed by the locals to keep mosquitos away from them.

Talk turned to spiders – many a good story there but the best was about Christiane’s friend who was terrified of spiders. Apparently she phoned her husband to say there was a tarantula in the house. He scoffed and said it was not a tarantula. He was not coming home and she would need to deal with it. She thought long and hard and decided the vacuum cleaner was the best remedy. The spider was huge and got stuck in the nozzle…. When her husband came home he unblocked the hoover and disposed of the spider. 2 days later a note was posted through their door. A neighbour had been on holiday and their tarantula had escaped. Had anyone seen it??!! We found this particularly amusing after a few glasses of wine.

Woke early to the most glorious morning. Feeling sad that Chris is not here to celebrate his birthday but my planned day is one he would love.

I was told to breakfast at 7.00 so was ready for the pickup at 8.00 to snorkel with whale sharks. It turns out that Mafia time = Island time and breakfast did not appear until 07.45. This was unfortunate as I took my Malaria tablet in the room at 07.00 believing food would be forthcoming. The longer I sat at the table the more nauseous I became and had to make a rapid dash to my room, which fortunately was close by. Anyway I then felt fine and lesson learned!

I was joined by 2 other couples. We all squeezed into a rather cramped and exceedingly hot vehicle for the 20 minute drive to the other side of the island to pick up our boat. It was very interesting to drive through the villages, but unfortunately the tight confines of the vehicle provided no photo opportunity.

The west of the island receives the prevailing winds so on escaping the vehicle there was an extremely welcome breeze. The first time I’ve felt a breath of wind since my arrival. We walked down a short path to arrive on a typical fisherman’s beach. We were given a briefing by our tour guide. He was incongruously attired in neat buttoned shirt, smart tousers and black shiny shoes. Needless to say, after a short briefing about whale sharks and pointing us in the direction of our boat, he departed.

I am not sure how to describe the boat – rustic, old, functional?? It was a catamaran, I think, but unlike anything I have seen before. It was fibreglass painted red and grey. It is possible that the fibreglass was masking something flimsier beneath! It was basic to be sure. There was nowhere to stow anything so all possessions were grabbed by the crew and put in the dry hold. This included t-shirts, sunglasses etc. Fortunately I had slapped on Factor 30 when I got up so miraculously I did not burn apart from the middle of my back. Quite hard to reach on your own and a definite downside to travelling solo!

The boat was anchored in the shallows so we climbed aboard and set off. It was very interesting to see the assorted size and range of boats. None of them looked particularly seaworthy, but to see the man in a 6ft rowing boat several miles from shore, with no sail or motor, was sobering. This is a very hard life for many of the locals.

It was lovely to be out on the sea and I felt close to Chris. He would have loved it and would have had that satisfied “I’m back on a boat” grin on his face.

We stopped for a brief dip at mid-day. What they don’t tell you when you happily leap off the deck into the ocean is that there is no ladder. Getting back on board is tricky – even for the men. For those of you in the know, it is much harder than getting back in the tender after a snorkelling trip. I shall just describe my entry as assisted and inelegant!

Despite our best efforts and bobbing around for 4 hours no whale sharks were spotted so I shall try again later in the week. Although it was an unsuccessful outing it was nevertheless a very enjoyable and interesting day out.