Slowing down, calming down and blowing bubbles..... After the totally hectic dash to get to the plane, fly through what remained of the night and get to Kenya, to hop on another plane quick smart to head to Dar (having completely forgotten there are direct flights to Zanzibar, which would have saved $150 or so in flights) then a taxi transfer to Terminal 1 for a ZanAir flight to Chake-Chake in Pemba, I had enough time to breathe, grab a delicious bowl of beans and rice at the little cafe down the road and find out that I had enough time [View Full Entry]

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The aircraft lined up on the end of the runway. The pilot was making sure that every inch of Pemba’s 5000ft runway was available to him. “Pemba tower, this is 5 hotel delta alfa kilo. Twenty six souls on board, destination Zanzibar, flight level two five” “Alfa kilo, Pemba tower, confirmed Zanzibar, flight level two five” The balding Pilot turned to his bald co pilot and said: “full brakes” “full brakes” Captain Tony Baxter eased the throttles forward and the twin Pratt and Whitney wasps spluttered and growled. He glanced at the oil [View Full Entry]

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Dear Readers, and friends of Pemba, it is hard for me to write this, as of course there will be some negative connotations attatched to this blog. But those of you who read this blog on a regular basis will know that I live on Pemba and that I am contantly in awe of the incredible and unspoiled underwater environment that exists here on our paradise island. True, we do have our problems and yes true the greed of man gets in the way of conservation, but in general. Pemba is still an incredible dive location. One of the world's top [View Full Entry]

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When our Boeing 747-400 slammed down onto the runway at Heathrow, we were roused from our semi sleep. Cisca and I now had to get to Birmingham with all of our kit for the Birmingham Dive Show. We had enjoyed the US, but now it was time to get back to work. We spent two days talking to potential Pemba Divers and old friends who dropped by to say hello and sample our beer. When the show ended it was back on BA046 and yet another night flight to Dar es Salaam. BA were fine, but when we left terminal 5, [View Full Entry]

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The rains have come to Pemba, but not quite to us. Thunder booms and rumbles to our south. The sky is filled with heavy clouds but the sun beats down on us relentlessly. We have officially closed. Our last guests, a splendid pair of birdwatchers from Canada departed this morning. We have started packing up and the dive centre and kayaks are all inside the building. Stuart has been pulling gearboxes off engines, in the hope that we can find out what has gone wrong with the cooling systems of all our 60 horse power Yamaha engines. Eventually the last hidden [View Full Entry]

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The days have flown by, and in two short days, the Chepstow branch of the anti corruption unit will be off to Zanzibar for a night and then back to Chepstow via switzerland. In the short time since they have arrived we have only caught two fish. One was a small Tuna and the other a blue fin trevally. Bonefish, and dorado have come round to say hello and then left us without a bite. In fact our efforts are so poor that Emma, our residence manager has renamed us the "rod holders union". Thankfully the diving is still superb. Clear [View Full Entry]

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In a few short days the entire face of Swahili Divers and the Kervan Saray Beach lodge have been changed by the arrival of the “anti corruption unit”. A force of five to seven workers who hail from the Island of Jersey (where corruption was invented) and South Wales. (where fishing is still practiced). Still refusing to pay bribes, the team valiantly fix boats, install intercoms, mend rods and go out fishing. Our brand new Yamaha boat is coming closer and closer to completion. Our old and valiant rib, Rockhoppa is being dismantled. We have a rejuvenation program designed for he [View Full Entry]

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Dear friends, Greetings from Pemba, the emerald Island that sits in clear, deep, blue water. We are only 30 Nautical Miles off the coast of Africa, and yet we live in a different world. I have been sending out Haber News letters for some time now, and yet I feel that we are loosing something. There is indeed a power to the written word, but nothing beats a photo. I toyed with sending out word documents, but they become too heavy and they are rejected by spam filters. Then my good friend Greg Wilson from the Cook Islands set up his [View Full Entry]

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How do you even begin to describe the events and time spent these past few weeks on Misali? Incredible for one. We spent the final week of our time on the island sleeping on the beach because so many rats had chewed into our tent that it was no longer fun to even try to sleep. We must have been quite the scene…4 girls all wrapped up like cocoons to avoid the swarms of sand flies that were always around. We had gotten to be really good friends with some of the dive guides from the nearby resort Fundu Lagoon, so [View Full Entry]

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OK! here is the email that apparently no one got last week. I have a new one coming as well either tonight or tomorrow... Hello everyone! So I guess this is a long tidbit...but only part of the story! I am alive and doing ok (I have had an infected finger, but it is getting better!) and loving life on Misali! We have been here for over two weeks now, and have 5 more days to bask in the sun. My research is going well, but I have had to put it on hold for the past week due to the [View Full Entry]

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