Misfits Mid Life Crisis Adventures in ………….. Mozambique 

Week 10.

This week I have mainly been listening to…. Elbow, Blur, Fat Boy Slim, Coldplay, M.I.A, Santigold, Morrissey, Fleetwood Mac,

And have been watching…. Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Breaking bad (finished Season 3), Doctor Who (season 8/34, eps1 by Skype), Les Miserables.

Saturday was a strange day; I got a text while still in bed to say that the morning dives had been cancelled due to boat problems. I then had the boss ring me to confirm this. I took this opportunity to get out and have an early morning run. It was hot; the run was good there is something really special about an early morning run. Most people say hello and/or wave, when you come from a place like London where you’re used to not daring to look at anyone just in case you get stabbed, and wouldn’t wave and/or say hello to total strangers it still takes some getting used to here, Tofo is such a friendly place. I really love it here. I got home and watched more Breaking Bad. Made my way to the dive shop for the 13.30 dive and found that it was cancelled, I hung round for a little while just chatting to people. In the end I made my way home and relaxed. Ok I’m going to cut to the chase, today is a special day as it’s the start of a new series of Doctor Who, the start of the 12^th Doctors era. Normally I would have been sitting in front of the TV waiting for it. But because I’m in southern Africa I have access to a number of BBC channels available in/from South Africa, however these seem to be the only place in the world that’s not showing it. Then I had an idea what if I Skyped my sis Hel, I could maybe see the opening and the credits. She agreed, Hel was babysitting for our cuz, this meant I got to speak to Thomas and Amelia which was lovely. Then the big moment, at 7.50pm UK time (8.50pm Mozambique) the show started, I saw the first few minutes including the lovely new opening credit after this I left them to carry on watching it. At least I can say I saw the start of the 12^th Doctor’s era. 

Sunday, the boat is better and I was on ocean Safari at 8am we had 5 punters the captain and me on the sea for 2 hours. We came across a turtle swimming on the surface, it swam near the boat, then appeared to take a gulp of air and dived deep. The next dive was due at 13.30, but we were delayed because we were waiting for some dive gear to come back from another dive at a different location. Around 2pm there were a few huge thunder claps which was followed by a real tropical winter shower. We left for the dive at 15.15, once at the site I dived down to depth about 15 metres with the buoy line and keeled on the sand so I wouldn’t move too much, the visibility was terrible less than 5 metres.   I waited and waited looking up at the line but no one appeared. After what felt like an age Birgit appeared and signalled that we should go up. It appears that the rest of the group lost the line when going down this was due to the terrible viz they were probably only about 10 metres from me but I couldn’t see them and they couldn’t see me. I have to admit that being at the bottom of the sea on your own is strange especially when you can’t really see anything but the sound of whales in the background is something special. After surfacing I could see the clouds where heavy dark and just waiting to unload more rain upon us. We didn’t get back to the dive shop until 5pm so it was a late finish after unloading and putting gear away. My mask strap has snapped, bugger, it was second hand and I have had it a couple of years, but still bugger. Highlight of the day I Skyped with Hel, watched the whole of episode 1 of new Doctor Who, yippee. 

Monday, started with a double tank, the first dive site was Manta Reef about 25 minutes from Tofo to the south, the water was quite smooth at first but once out in open sea it became quite rough. But all that became unimportant when we came across a Humpback mum teaching her calf to breech out of the water. Mum was essentially jumping out of the water, when you consider how big an adult Humpback is how she is able to throw herself out of the water is amazing. Then baby joined in, imagine throwing a stone and watching it bounce across the water, that’s what the baby was doing a truly wonderful site. A little later we came across 2 humpbacks who appeared to be lying on their back tummies breaking the surface of the sea, they were waving there massive fins in the air. I never ever get bored with a Humpback. The dives were good but the visibility was not great 3 to 5 metres, I was on buoy line for both sweeping at the back like a sheep dog, keeping count of the divers and making sure that everyone is going in the right direction and not wondering off. A couple of punters sucked there tanks dry so I was assigned to take them to the surface doing a safety stop on the way for 3 minutes at 5 metres. On Manta Reef we were buzzed by a Manta it however didn’t hang about just sailed past us very closely. These were two really nice dives to be honest. Once back on dry land I went in to the market and got 50mts of rice and beef, diving does make you hungry (I also didn’t have any breakfast). The stall that I went to needed you to bring your own plate and knife and folk if you want take-a-way. I spend the afternoon at the dive centre, helped put things away then took advantage of being able to leave a little early. 

Tuesday was another good day here in Tofo, ok there all good days. I went out on Ocean Safari and for the second day running we had a mummy humpback teaching her calf to breech, the baby just kept bouncing out of the water.  One of the punters who was due to leave Tofo today wanted to see a whale shark, things didn’t look good as we were on our way back to the bay after not really seeing very much. Then all of a sudden our captain spotted (they have so much experience and great eyes at seeing things in the water) a shadow in the water and sure enough we had a whale shark. We got in and snorkelled with it, this whale shark appeared to be smaller maybe 5 metres than others seen recently but still a beautiful sight. The punter was so happy she swam over to me and cuddled me while floating in the sea. Once back at the dive centre I got geared up and went straight out on a dive. Today’s dive was at the lovely shallow site Clownfish its only 10 metres at its deepest but it’s so full of life, it really is like Finding Nemo and yes there are lots of clown fish. As I swim around I could easily imagine Nemo and friends having adventures.

 Wednesday started with an early morning run. PIGWATCH, didn’t see the pig today I stopped and looked around the field but couldn’t see anything, it was obviously too early the pig it hadn’t come on duty yet. Once I was back in Tofo I did some shopping and finally made my way home. The housekeeper was there, she speaks Portuguese and I don’t so we have stunted conversations. A couple of days ago it ended up with each of us writing in the sand to help each other, I felt so stupid. After watching more Breaking Bad and Top Gear I went to the dive shop. Today’s dive was a double tank to Clownfish and Salon both local shallow reefs in the bay. I was in the water first once we reached Clownfish with the buoy line; I located the anchor point on the sea floor and tied the rope off then waited for the others to come down. The viz was shocking, it felt like I was back home in a gravel lake there were times when you couldn’t see more than 2 metres in front. There was also a very strong current as well so you had to really keep up. The second dive was a little better, not so much current but the viz was still bad. I must be strange as I did still enjoyed these dives. I had a nice evening in with tank and tiger watching TV.

Thursday I went on ocean safari with a number of customers, the sea was really rough (I know other dive centres had cancelled there dives and safari’s this morning). Sitting at the front of the boat bouncing up and down on the waves you have to really hold on tight to the ropes and ride the boat like a rodeo. We were buzzed by a number of dolphin’s which as ever didn’t hang about for long, seeing them surfing the rough sea’s is amazing. The huge highlight of the safari were three Whale sharks that we snorkelled with, getting in to the water and suddenly seeing a 5 or more metre in length fish (Whale sharks are the world’s biggest fish) never gets boring. Once back at the shop, I got kitted up straight away as I was off to Salon for a dive. The waves were not much better we were still thrown about quite a lot. I’ve been really lucky this week and have done 5 or 6 dives every one of them counts. This evening Tiger the cat brought in two presents. Two very small and young chicks, I have no idea what bird they were. One was dead and the other was alive, its dark outside and I have no idea where the nest is. I decided with a heavy sad heart there was nothing I could really do so I took both chicks out in to the garden and left them in amongst the grass and bushes (I’ve watched so much Springwatch over the years I know how much energy birds put in to producing and feeding chicks). I feel so guilty about this but I don’t think I could have done anything else.

Friday was another stormy day it’s also very windy. There was a dive but sadly I was not on it. Today I have spent most of my time with the other DMT in the classroom going over EFR (emergency first response). Demoing CPR, bandaging and other first aid and emergency skills. Earlier in the week I filmed an ice bucket water challenge this has been edited by Sissi and put on to Facebook, I think it’s an original little film. Once back at home I had a lovely shower in the back of the garden. Tonight the wind is still really strong, I can hear windows flapping about the house, so I looked about making sure that they were either closed or secured well.  We have just had a small power cut, I hope that this is not the start of a weekend without power (there have been a couple in the middle of the night during the week I know this as I never really sleep great).

The end of another week, a number of really good dives and lots of Breaking Bad watched. Life really doesn’t get any better to be honest.