Ah, I now have to time to catch up on my blog as I fly over Mozambique, headed to Joburg. On Monday I came down with a stomach bug. It must have been the stomach bug of all time, because I have never felt so sick in my life. I was sick enough to call upstairs for a doctor, and the owner of Peri Peri was at the guesthouse with his wife. I think I have already blogged about how he tested me for malaria, and no, I don’t have it. My CPAP was out, and most people seem to think it is some kind of oxygen or ventilator, I guess people in the rest of the world don't have CPAPs or sleep apnea, mine gives me a solid night of sleep but isn't a big ... read more

I spent a miserable night last night. On my way to bed I discovered that our electrical outlet quit working, so I had to go downstairs and sleep in the middle, airless, windowless, storeroom/bedroom. The mattress (if you can even call it that) was so thin I could feel the bed slats, so I decided to put the mattress on the floor. I did get a fan and had it on all night. I woke up aching. I then changed, went upstairs and turned on the faucet…no water. Shit. So I decided to check into Casa Do Mar a day early. I then did a two tank dive this morning. The ocean was a bit rough, with swells. The first reef was 30 minutes out, called Outback. No mantas, leopard sharks, bowmouth guitar sharks, leatherbacks or ... read more

Today I had the worst dive I think I have ever had. We went to a reef called TableTop, and the visibility was so bad I thought I was in a blizzard. Apparently we were dropped in at the wrong spot. I have never been in such a strong current, and we had to swim against the current. At times there was no choice but to hold onto the rocky coral area in order to stay put. I was very, very surprised that the dive wasn’t aborted pretty quickly, but we stayed down for 24 minutes. The visibility was maybe15 to 20 feet, at most. You didn’t really see people so much as shadows unless you were right next to them. Ironically, as I was fighting like hell to keep up and ... read more

I was supposed to be on an Ocean Sarari today, but the wind was too high, so we dove instead. The dive had quite a bit of surge, but we did see a lot: blue spotted rays, torpedo ray, jenkins whip ray, leaf fish, porcupine fish (followed me around!), lionfish and a lovely octopus! Still have not seen a manta ray on a dive, or any whale shark, leopard shark, or guitar shark. We watched a documentary today called SHIVER, it is about Mozambique's diverse marine life and how they are fishing out the sharks and the mantas. Several sharks have been harvested and slaughtered right on the beach, you can imagine what is going on in more remote areas. All for shark fin soup. Absolutely ridiculous. The soup is made from the inner fibers of ... read more

Back in Tofo after a LONG and bumpy ride back in a van that rides rougher than a go-cart! Ouch. Of course, in the 2 days I was gone a whale shark was spotted on a dive, a tiger shark, and a gray reef shark. Apparently the strong currents bring them in. Of course, the flip side is that the visability was 4 meters (12 feet). To see a tiger shark within 12 feet would be a harrowing experience I think, but often when you are afraid of something, if you dive with it once, you feel fine about it. I actually jumped in the water the other day when we sighted a Hammerhead Shark. Sadly, I didn't see it. I've always wanted to see one. So I am unsure about the way the rest of ... read more