November 28: Had breakfast with all the staff that hadn’t left at 6 to dive, and then helped out with chores around the house. For volunteers, our duty is ... sweeping. So, that means it takes me approximately five minutes to get my chores done. After that I started studying my Dive Manual in earnest, doing the first two chapters and the corresponding tests. Went snorkelling again this afternoon, and the water was warm to the point where it makes the plus 35 C air seem cold. It’s like swimming around in a cool hot tub, and most of the time I just spent floating while looking down at the ocean floor.
November 29: Quite an eventful Saturday. A group of us headed north to Mankili, about an hour walk north of Ifaty. Our main objective was the spiny forest park, and though we started out at 7:30, the sun was soon beating down on us. Being along the ocean means that on most days, humidity sits at about 90%, and today was no different. We finally made it to the park, paid our entry fee and started out with our guide on about a half-hour walk. The baobabs were the main attraction, with the largest - all seven of us hand-in-hand could just embrace it – being 1,400 years old. We also saw some tortoises, a variety of lizards, a snake and a few different birds. Unfortunately our guide didn’t speak English fluently, so he was unable to give the names of the creatures. The Reef Doctor group couldn’t provide me with names, as their interest in all things biological lies in the sea, so I will have to peruse the guide books here and make my own identifications.
After the spiny forest we headed out to lunch, and the plan for the afternoon was just to laze around the beach until supper at a little Italian pizzeria on the beach. While the rest were sun tanning, Tom and I headed out to see a flying boat. It is a small zodiac with a hang-glider mounted to it and an ultralight engine (42 horses) mounted on the back. I decided it was worth the 72 USD for a 20 minute flight, so I headed up into the air around 4:30. I was a couple of kilos over the allowable weight, but the pilot, a Frenchman, said that if we didn’t get out of the water we could just turn around and come back. This was all relayed to me by one of the Reef Doctor staff who speaks French, as the pilot’s English is nearly as bad as my French.
We took off and headed south, about 3 kilometres off the shore, eventually reaching 320 metres. I got to see the reef and the no-take zones (places where fishing is not allowed) and then had a good overhead view of Reef Doctor. My seat was well above the gunnels of the zodiac, with the only thing holding me in being the cord that ran from my headphones to the pilot’s. It was a great way to see a bit of the bay and get an idea of how arid the inland is in this part of the country.
Had pizza in the evening and then headed back at low tide to our huts, walking along the wide expanse of beach as our flashlights caused the ghost crabs to flit back into their holes and wait for us to pass by.
Pictures are forthcoming, and if things work well today – few people are around so I can sit on the internet for a little longer today – I should be able to get a couple up.
No comments:
Post a Comment