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

Week 5.

This week I have mainly been listening to, Beth Orten, Morrissey, PJ Harvey, Lorde and Cocteau Twins, Santigold.

And have been watching…. 50/50, Borat (still makes me laugh like a loon), Looper, Fringe (still season 1) and Event Horizon.

Saturday, was supposed to be one dive, but it became 3, two dives at Salon (15metre) and a deep dive (30metres) later on at Giants Castle. To be honest I’m not very good with the buoy at 30 metres, I had to pass it on to Jimmy (I think towards the middle of the dive), I have problems pulling it at depth. I’m much better with the buoy and reel at shallower 15 or so metre dives. Had a pizza after I closed up, very nice. After my shower ended up in the bar drinking Tipo Tinto (rum that comes in a plastic bottle) and Spar-letta (a raspberry flavour drink made by the coke people, very nice. Finished reading the wonderful “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” this evening, so love that book. Will now move on to the “Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, don’t know how many times I have read the 5 books that make up the trilogy. Today I lost my dive socks, I had them this morning then they disappeared (probably down some unsuspecting time and space wormhole that must have opened up) however like any good intergalactic Hitchhiker I always know where my towel is.

Sunday, I covered shop for a bit, I did some sign writing with chalk. I’m arty but not a sign writer, so when I was asked to write on the huge blackboard I really didn’t know what to do. Anyway it worked out ok it seemed to go down well. The shop was quite busy today with a double tank in the morning and a couple of free diving sessions. This gave me time to pull all the fins and put them back in (a sort) of order, from small to large. Have been invited to a BBQ tonight at the lovely Kris (one of the instructors) place. Not sure where it really is so will stumble about with my torch on my ASDA phone, fingers crossed.

I’m back from Kris BBQ, found the place ok. I had a vague idea where to go, when I spotted Nadia’s quad bike under a tree I knew I was in the right area, a quick phone call confirmed it. Lovely food, great company, really nice time. Jimmy lent me his manly torch to go home with. Looking up the stars were shining brightly, there is a little light pollution here from the few street lights and other lighting. But otherwise the night sky is beautifully clear and on view.

Monday, my day off. I didn’t really lay in that much, I was out running by 8.30ish, much better run then last Fridays. I saw the Pig being taken for a walk in its field, looked very sweet. When I got back I changed and had a dip in the sea, I didn’t get harpooned by the local fishermen thinking a whale had beached itself. At 3pm I net up with Lawrence who works at Casa barry, we went to the local town Inhambane. To get there we took a chapa, a small mini bus that far too many people squeeze on to. Ours was packed, so packed we were pulled over by the police (not seen the police in cars/vans over here before). I was told that they took his licence away, we were there for what felt like ages, a number of the passengers were getting loudly vocal about the delay. We carried on only ot find the police a little later, at a stall buying Coke (the drink, not the powder). Our driver approached them and was taken out of view by an officer. It was mentioned to me that maybe he has had to pay a bribe. I don’t know if he got his licence back but it took a lot longer to travel 23km than it should. Tofo and Inhambane had no electric today from about 2am to 5pm, so a number of shops and cafes were closed as they couldn’t keep things cold. It’s a small town, not a huge or overly busy place, watched the ferries that you can take the short ride to Maxixe (a lot of visitors go there to sort out visa). I will go to Inhambane earlier next time so I can go on the ferry and do other things. Had a nice drink while waiting for the cab home, the Italian owner (Fabrizio) turned out to be a Smiths and Morrissey fan, we chatted about our mutual love for “the pop of mope” , will visit there again.

Tuesday has been a wet day, not from rain Ive been in the water for most of it. Assisted Nadia with a scuba review, this is for someone who can scuba dive but hasn’t for a while, this was in the pool. After I went on an Ocean safari, plenty of humpbacks some quite close to us. A Manta did pass us but we didn’t find it again. No whale shark or dolphins today, some nice snorkelling at the end of the safari. After this I went on a dive to a local site, the viz was 3 to 5metres not good, a silty bottom, I was buoy and reel duty for most of it. Had to be careful as there was another group of divers at the site, Frieda (from Peri Peri) swam over to wave “hi” at me. As I was at the back sweeping keeping an eye on our group I didn’t really seen any of the exciting life the others saw. I didn’t see the squid (no not on a plate….though yes I have eaten Calamari), Squid, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Nautilus, and Sea Cucumbers are huge faves of mine. Once on dry land I met the 2 new DMTs that have joined us. I still haven’t found my dive socks I lost Saturday, but in my case yesterday I found I’d brought an old holey pair so am using them now, as without I’ll get blisters from the fins rubbing my feet. I had a meal of Rice and Beef in a market café for 60mts, really nice, so have added that to my list of cheap places to eat in ToFo. Don’t the places name it’s behind the fruit and veg stalls in the market.

Wednesday was shop day for me. It was very busy at the dive shop, a dive in the morning (they had mantas) and a full boat on the ocean safari (they had an awesome whaleshark snorkel). So the shop was full of people needing to be kitted up. I also started to do an inventory of all the equipment, as asked for by the manager. Because the shop was so busy, I had my work cut out trying to keep things like the fins and wetsuits in the order there supposed to be in. I helped Nadia do a DSD (Discover scuba Diving), its really fun to watch people smile after they have breathed underwater for the first time. Today was the pool session, tomorrow they will be in the sea. We had a brief kitten moment today, a small kitten maybe the same age, deffo same colouring as Swayze appeared where the dive boats are stored (there pulled on a trailer by a tractor to the beach). This kitten was caught and put in a box, poor thing was terrified. Leo and I put it round the back in a quiet place. I got some milk from the market and put in a small cup. We went back but the kitten hadn’t drank any and hissed at me when I tried to approach. A few hours later we were told that the mother had been spotted near the boats. So Leo and I returned the kitten to the location and left it there, we went and checked on it a few times and mum had found it. I will check again in the morning and hopefully mum will has moved the kitten, fingers crossed. Mikki and Sissi returned today after being away 2 weeks, so good to see them. This evening I went to Leos with everyone else for food and drink and

Thursday was dive day….woo hoo. Two lovely dives, the first was a deep at 30metres, a 1.8 to 2 metre Marble Ray visited the reef, I was only metres from it. Such a beautiful creature, its wing tips rippling, feeling the coral as it sailed by. It didn’t mind us being there as it came round for a second pass. During our safety stop (5 metres for 3 mins) we had maybe 50 Devil rays passing 10 metres or a little more underneath us. We were neutrally buoyant in the ocean hanging there watching them underneath us. The second dive was the continuation of the DSD from Yesterday, taking the people new to diving in to shallow water 10 metres and assisting them. The really loved it, I was high fived under water by the two younger people. Such a cool dive, great to see people really enjoy themselves. Enjoyed my run, a few small children ran with me for a little which was sweet, the sun was low in the sky and shined directly in to my eyes going to the petrol station making it tough to see. The pig was there, all looked good in pigland. Had a few drinks in the bar with the owner of Casa Barry.

Friday, hung over’ head felt wholly, I didn’t really feel that a double deep dive would be a good idea, there were loads of DMT’s around so I was allowed to go back home. I had a nice breakfast, and then went with Martina to her house. I’m moving in there tomorrow, as she is going away for 3 months so I’m house sitting. Also looking after their dog “Tank” and Cat “Tiger”, can’t wait will be so nice. Met the 2 lovely ladies that do housework, I’m looking forward to my new temp home. Other than that have napped and not done mush, watched a heap of fringe episodes trying to finish season 1. I spend a lot of time on my own, which is not different to when I was back home. I’m not a person that enjoys huge groups of people, I feel awkward at parties and do’s (I usually end up on my own in a corner anyway), so I find it better to just not go and do my own thing. It’s not a good solution but I think in the long run it’s what best.

Pic’s, me striking a pose, Cardito and Enock, treated myself to breakfast this morning, Tofo beach in the morning, Cardito and I a few days ago, my chalk sign writing at Liquid.