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Published: March 11th 2012
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I realize this is my third entry about Shelly Beach, so there must be something about the place.
But before this, a little sense of place....welcome to Africa....I'v just uploaded the pictures in Joburg airport...and the text is actually written in Addis Ababa few minutes before my flight back home...did I say Welcome to Africa! Someday you'll have to remind me that Africa, back in 2007 was simply not on my radar. I spent two months in Africa in 2011....and this figure could go up in 2012 and 2013....
I've just spent 6 great days in RDC. Original plan was 8 days....than it went down to 7...and my little "Malawi excursion" cut it by one more day. This resulted in running a lot to see a lot of people, but as always, had a great time with many friends.
So I'm back in Shelly Beach, for the fourth time since June 2010....I know, we are all getting old...
Why do I come here...simple answer...to recharge....but most important, for the people, the sharks, the golf and the food and wine....and I quote, in the right order.
Because
if you ask the "people" for the place to go out after 10pm in Shelly Beach...their answer will be simple...this is Shelly Beach, this place is quiet! So you guess, I didn't come it for the social or night life!
My flight from Joburg got me in Durban just after 10pm...but my golf bag had to wait the next morning for his own flight. Rented a car and on for the nealry two hours trip to the South Coast. I made it after midnight, to wake up at 6am to go....diving!
This time, I didn't plan on diving Aliwal, it was Protea Bank for two days. Sadly for me, the sharks are on holidays. We saw 2 Zambezis on each of the three dives I did....and one lonely giant hammerhead on the second dive.
The visibility was better than the last two time I dived here, once in June, once in November...but sharks were...not here. What was here was the serious drift. The first day we had only one dive. The waves were simply too big to risk a second launch. So on ther second day, we went with two tanks and battled
the swell.....big waves time! On the first dive of the second day....we simply drift 4km over 47 minutes....short dive as the next one was just behind the corner. This is the first ever time I had to surface as we lost our DM. 3 experienced divers and a DM...and we lost the DM. We didn't really buddied, but the guy next to me spotted the same Zambezi shark....we did a small picture stop at 35 meters...and by the time we turn around, no DM, no bubble....so we surfaced...and went down after finding the bubbles...as bubbles mean divers down below...and back to 30 meters ++ for a little while!
This is also the first time I got stunk by a jelly fish...this time it seems it was a "blue bottle". Wow, and I was not even diving. After getting back on the zodiac on the third dive, I put my hand in the water with the aim to clean my face. Bad idea....as the jelly fish that I caught with my fingers burnt me to hell. I can tell you, the first five minutes we not fun. Burning it was...big time, even with an ample amount of vinegar
and special cream (they were equiped on the boat). The pain lasted for a good hour before turning into a serious discomfort for few hours....no trace of the stink the next day, but hell it hurts!
As always, I have dived here with the people of Aquaplanet in Shelly Beach....shall I say that I start to be a regular! My dream now is to bring Leslie and Tiffany for the sardine run in July...maybe 2014 or 2015...that would be something!
On the first day, my golf bag showed up at Tropical Beach B&B just after my very late breakfast. As usual here, I dive first, I do breakfast after, and what a breakfast! So it was time to hit the greens....5 hours sleep, a deep dive...18 holes carrying my own bag, I can tell you, I slept well after that day. The afternoon I went to play Southbroom. The area has amazing diving, but there are also at least 10 great golf courses in a 30 minutes drive radius....diving in the morning, playing golf in the afternoon....and a sunny day, I'm an happy guy.
Dinner on my first and only proper
evening at Shelly Beach was my usual stop at C-Bali..for yammie seafood. I now know why all these restaurants stop serving food by 9pm..."Sir, the staff is living too far away and they don't have staff rooms here"....I was going to ear this few times in 3 days!
So on the second morning we did 2 dives....and I get stunk...and it was already time to leave for small roads heading to the North....but this will be my next entry. I have the pictures, but that's about it, so I will sort out that entry once back home.
Got the pictures....but got also some nice wine...Merlust Rubicon, somethin not to be missed with a good steak and moriles cream sauce back home....
Next diving...coming soon in less than a month, this time with Leslie and Tiffany...can't wait!
See you, from Addis....and no, it's not exotic!
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