We’ve been here a month now and we’re all a bit sad that we’ve only got 1 week left. It’s been an odd week as even the local people have been saying that the weather has been un-seasonally bad. This has meant that the fishermen that did attempt to go out on Monday put a lot of effort in for very little return so we were very impressed with the two King Mackerel that they brought back from kayak fishing.
Tuesday saw us split the team to do both coral reef and also whale surveying for the first time. We’d had a lesson in the swimming pool on how to use the hydrophone and heard both Tom and Matt’s impressions of whale song to make sure it worked! The training was successful with the hydrophone being used correctly and whales were heard and recorded. Sadly the weather wasn’t good enough for a second dive so we logged the coral and whale data for the afternoon.
Weather still hadn’t improved so Wednesday’s diving was cancelled and we got given the day off. As it was Ronel’s birthday we played rounders on the beach in the afternoon and then all went to ‘Top of the World’ – a high sand dune for a stunning sunset where we could see both the ocean and the green of the countryside. The evening finished off with a communal dinner for all the LTO and dive centre members, which was lovely.
Thursday was a road trip to Maxixe for us to get our visas renewed. This was an education in local governmental bureaucracy as we spent most of the day there and still didn’t manage to get a new visa. The highlight of the day was a visit to the local shops for supplies and also a local coffee shop and bakery where we indulged in cake and coffee before driving back. Friday was a return trip to Maxixe and this time we all achieved a new visa in a record half-day.
As we’d been weathered out during the week, Saturday was a fun dive followed by a coral reef dive and whale survey. We were all enthralled by the whale songs we could hear from the moment we entered the water and throughout both dives. We picked up the songs on the hydrophones as well which was fantastic. As it was Mozambique’s Independence Day we had no swimming lessons so had the afternoon to log all the data we’d collected in the morning. We’d hoped to do another fun dive on Sunday but again the weather wasn’t cooperating so we ended up competing against each other in the first ever Egg Olympics. Events ranged from egg & spoon, egg rolling and egg boules to egg balancing and eventually egg eating. Points were hotly contested with the final winner gaining victory with a single point.
This is the last time we’re going to be a small group as we’re now looking forward to meeting the next group of volunteers who are due to arrive to start their diving course and get used to life as an LTO volunteer.
