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

Week 13.

This week I have mainly been listening to….. The Pet Shop Boys, Cyndi Lauper, P.J Harvey, Suede, Morrissey, Goldfrapp

And have been watching…. I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Doctor Who “Listen” (eps 4, S8/34), The Hunger Games, lots and lots of Top Gear, Breaking Bad (season 5),

Saturday, started with a double tank however the highlight of the morning was the 10 dolphins during the surface interval. I got in the water and watched the 10 of them swimming around and playing with each other, you could hear them clicking and squeaking so loudly. Oh one of them, how can I put this nicely, did a poo in front of me and I ended up swimming in to the white stringy material. Yes you are reading the rambling’s of a woman that has swam in to Dolphin poo, woo hoo. Later I went for a run and nearly got knocked down by a quad bike. I was on the side of the tarmac as usual and the bike approached, as it continued to come in my direction I ran off the tarmac on to the dirt part of the road and stopped. But he carried on towards me; he was really coming straight for me. Luckily he turned at the last moment, I’m not going to lie but it shook me up. The recent robberies have worried me a little; I am leaving lights on at night. During days when I’m off when and I go out (like on a run or shopping) I leave the TV on this is because from outside it sounds muffled, giving the impression that the place is occupied. I am also hiding my stuff in the bed with me at night, it looks like I have someone sleeping next to me, but of course if they want to they will find things.

Sunday, there’s no petrol at the petrol station so the dives today were cancelled. I had a nap and then made my way slowly to the dive shop to collect the key as I’m on shop tomorrow. As I was walking I moved off the road to allow a car to pass, I managed to get a little too close to a large security gate, a huge dog jumped over it and barked at me. I froze and stood there for a moment I was just waiting for it to clamp its jaws on my lardy ass. It just stayed by the gate, I slowly carried on walking and didn’t look back……phew that was close. I met Miki today and he told me that he was going to the boarder tomorrow and might not get back in the country. It’s strange to think that I may never see him again; Tofo is a place where people come and go including me I suppose. Very few people actually settle down and stay for ever, in fact Leo leaves end of the week. Everyone that was here when I arrived is going or gone it’s sad. It got me thinking of my plans, I have no plans. I’m due to be here till 1 November but my visa ends 20 December so I want to look in to extending my flights. Once I become a DM I need to earn a little moment to help me along this is because I don’t have any skills that I can use to help make money. I would love to stay longer if I could make enough money to make it work I really love it here. If I do have to go home then the plan would be to work hard for 3 or 4 months try to save as much as possible then sod off again, Thailand or Indonesia are places where even I might get work as a DM and live cheaply. But as you can tell I have no real place.

Monday up early as I was shop, to be honest it was a slow day. We got petrol so we will be able to dive tomorrow. I spend the morning reading the Radio script to “The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy”; Alice Cooper kept me company which was nice. In the afternoon I got wet helping Birgit do her stress test, we were at the bottom of the pool buddy breathing while exchanging our equipment, all good. The pool was lovely as its becoming summer so you really feel the heat during the day; I think it’s much hotter in the morning. Yes am drinking lot of water and the occasional Sprite. Said goodbye to Alice Cooper at the end of the day, he gets in and out of the dive shop, he has food and water but I feel bad that he is on his own all night. But it can’t be helped, I can’t take him home as it’s not my place and it wouldn’t be fair to T&T. If I had my own place then I would actually consider taking him home. Skyped a little in the afternoon with Mum and Hel while at the dive shop, I think mum like Alice…

Tuesday, summer is definitely here it’s getting hotter every day. I’m not a sun lover you won’t find me laying out in the sun wanting a tan. Went on a lovely dive to Giants Castle this morning saw a couple of huge moray’s. As we came up for our safety stop we were engulfed in a shoal of small eye Trevally a very impressive site. Once on the surface I did my 800 metre snorkel in which you cannot use your arms. I just kept heading for the boat, every time I got near the engines started and off they went. At one point I spotter 6 to 8 Devil Rays swimming in the opposite direction about 5 to 10 metres below me. What made it extra special is only I saw them, they were my Devil Rays; I’d like to think they were cheering me on. I got a score of 4, 5 is the highest mark so a 4 is not bad. In the afternoon I went for my run ++++ PIGWATCH, I saw the pig I waved but it didn’t wave back, but I’m sure were still friends. That’s the end of PIGWATCH ++++. I had a number of small children running with me, as always I’m trying to get them to run behind me or on the dirt track next to the tarmac, I’d feel terrible if someone got hurt coz they were running with me. The electricity has died (power cuts) a number of times this evening, hoping it will stay on now.

Wednesday, happy humpday to all. I was an unconscious diver today and rescued then brought up to the surface and finally pulled on the boat. Don’t worry it was all a training exercise for Louis as part of his DM course, before that we were noodling about Clownfish reef very nice. Once back on dry land I stayed in my wetsuit as I went with Birgit on ocean safari with 5 punters. Nice couple of hours, a number of dolphins (which we didn’t get in with due to the fact that humpbacks were also quite close) very near us. We also had some mum and baby humpback action, the baby was rolling over in what might be considered sunbathing its tummy. Lovely snorkel near the end of the safari was just nice to get in the water. Said good bye to Leo today he leaves tomorrow morning, I met Leo at Joberg airport coming here so we literally arrived together. Another face leaving, it is sad when people go. Will miss his lovely chocolate cake and bread, we should have got him to make a load that we could have frozen. Been shop sitting this afternoon as the others are out on another training dive, Alice Cooper the cat is snuggled up to me asleep, Bundo the dog is also asleep, I could do with a nap now….. When I got home I found I had no water, the water pump was not working. I had to go back to the market and buy a 5ltr bottle, as I arrived at home I noticed my neighbour watering his garden. I took an empty 5ltr bottle and asked if he’d fill up, which he kindly did. You don’t realise how much water you get through, I had a cheap and cheerful shower/wash in the garden with large cups of water. I have contacted the landlord he can’t make it till Sat, until I’ll have to borrow or buy water and use it sparingly.

Thursday, went on a lovely dive to one of my fave deep sites Sherwood Forest which has a lots of green tree corals which is how the site got its name. I lead the dive, this meant I did the dive briefing at the start and then led the group at depth from the front. A huge grouper appeared out of the blue and sailed past Nadia and I so closely. I was in shop so spent the rest of the day at the dive shop sorted out things and generally made sure that everything was in order, did a little clearing up. I had some quality time with Alice Cooper the cat. I found out why there’s no water, the bill has not been paid. When I got the bill I paid the money straight away, it appears that the money or previous money has not reached the water company. So fingers crossed I get water soon. Bought 10ltrs after work and filled up another bottle 1.5ltr at the dive shop before I left. I also had a make shift shower a quick wash at the dive shop I took some shampoo and stuff in with me, at the end of the day when no one way around just did it.   I got home and guess what no electric, inside I wanted to scream…. I sat in candle light listening to my kindle lying on the sofa and dozed, the power came on at 8pm. My evening just got better.

Around 1.30am I discovered I had water, I flushed the loo without thinking (that I didn’t have water) I could clearly hear water flushing. I opened the tap and sure enough there was lots of aqua. I quickly filled all the empty water bottles; my thinking was maybe there is only water for a couple of hours and I want to make sure I had enough. In the morning I found that I still had water, in fact as I type this there is water, all I can think of is that the bill has been paid possibly last night and the water company put me back on the system. It’s strange that it happened at night, but I’m not going to question it. Had a good early morning run, didn’t see the Pig but then again it was only about 7.30am. Went on an ocean safari with a family including 3 children, 2 hadn’t snorkelled before so I did a little class on the first step of the pool with mum and dad present. The little ones got the hang of it straight away. The sea is a little rough again, but we had lots of Dolphins and a few humpbacks. We did get in but the Dolphins didn’t want to play. I did a little shopping and am planning to spend the night with T&T.

End of week 13, I have pretty much finished my Dive Master course my snorkel test won’t be far away. It’s becoming summer here, the temperature has definitely increased but being by the sea there is usually a breeze. I’m still having fun….