Rough surface conditions on our second to last week in Mozambique meant no diving for one group, and no fisheries research for the other group. Instead, both groups spent time finishing up a mural at Paindane school, and whitewashing the outside of the headmaster’s office at Guinjata school. On Wednesday, Chloe and Pippa put together a Guinjata Olympics tournament to lift our spirits and brought out some friendly competition among all the volunteers. We had a ton of fun with all the different games: racing to eat chocolate, bobbing for apples, building the best sandcastle possible in 3 minutes, putting together a BCD kit blindfolded, etc. The winning team was rewarded with a bottle of Tipo Tinto (the local rum), and chocolate for those who don’t drink alcohol.

On Saturday, surface conditions improved enough for some diving and then we all went on an Ocean Safari where we were lucky enough to see and snorkel with a whale shark quite a few times before finishing the safari with some snorkeling at Paindane. In the afternoon, Laura joined Pippa and Chloe at swimming lessons. All of the kids at swimming lessons are pretty adept at swimming now, so we’ve begun teaching them different dives and flips into the pool which they greatly enjoy. Pascal is always there with the kids, too, and greatly enjoys swimming in the pool with his wetsuit. It’s incredible how much these kids love swimming – they’ll be shivering in the pool and refuse to get out while the rest of us are sitting in the sun to warm up at the end of swim lessons! The plan for the next week is to hopefully have a party with the kids at swim lessons, including some friendly competitions. We’ll also finally get to start diving and collecting data on the reefs!

Although, poor sea conditions disrupted the program this week it did bring in the whale sharks and our volunteers continued to work hard! Luck the weathers picking up and no ones going to miss any dives this week. We are sad to be starting our last week with this great bunch but everyones getting excited for Kruger now!