20th August 08

Date: 20th August 08
Location: Vilanculos, Mozambique
Weather: Clear blue skies, ocean like a mill pond and hot 32°c
Status: Feeling the effects of a day on the ocean…

Up at the crack of dawn around 6am for a quick but wholesome breakfast of cereal, fruit and eggs on toast as Rach and I had a full day ahead.

Met at Odessea Divers next door to the backpackers at 8am and the group of 7 divers and 6 snorkelers gathered, got all of our kit together and walked down to the beach to the awaiting dive boat.

Quentin the South African divemaster ran through the day and the procedures involved and our captain Isaac, a local guy, fired the twin Yamaha engines. We shot across the smooth ocean and 45 mins later arrived at the beach of Bazaruto Island, the largest of the 6 which make up the Archipelago.

Rach, the 5 other snorkelers and I were left whilst the divers were taken to the outer reef. We met a cool Aussie girl called Shannon who joined us for the short walk down the coast on the golden sands to the upstream part of the reef. There’s such a huge amount of water here that the tidal currents are very strong and dangerous, hence the need for the walk!

Rach and I spent the next hour weaving in and out of the reek and surrounding sandbars viewing the multitude of fish and wildlife which frequents this part of the world taking shots as I went. Even managed to spot a Lionfish under one of the precipices! The water was fairly cold even with a good shortie wetsuit on so we left the ocean and basked on the sands for a while to warm up.

The sand dunes are pretty spectacular here so we walked all the way to the top of the highest one and then slid down the 30° slope to the bottom.

The last reef of the day we ere taken to was the most stunning with a huge array of corals, fish and turtles all around, visibility had increased throughout the day to around 40m giving a super clear view all around. Only downside here was in my enthusiasm to chase and photograph one of the turtles I went below the recommended depth my amazing little Olympus camera and water got into the casing rendering it unusable….damn and it’s been so good!

Once the divers had all surfaced we headed back to the mainland, escorted for some of the ride by dolphins off the bow!

Headed into the town for a bite of late lunch and then to the internet, before back to camp to ready the Colonel for tomorrow and the drive north to Beira. I have to leave Bre unfortunately tomorrow for another week or so, Rach and I will head into Zambia and once she departs on the 2nd Sep I will turn east into Malawi to meet up again. This break up and leave thing really sucks and hurts more every time.

End of day location: Vilanculos, Mozambique
Distance covered: 70kms on the ocean