Seychelles--Week 2

The routine has set in. We're all awaking on our own just before 6:00 a.m. in time for 6:15 brekkie, though some people are now happy with brekkie because there is no porridge to be found on the island. Wonder why that is? Who would want porridge in 100 degree weather? Al, the boat skipper for one. Actually, it is filling, though with lunch at 11:00 a.m. who would be hungry anyway?

These past two weeks have been fun, yet we've had to work to pass our advanced diver certification course. We then had to pass an Emergency Medical Reponse course, so now I'm considering taking a Rescue Diver course. I still have to pass an exam on fishes--both on paper and in the water. Then I'll be eligible to do what I came here to do--spot fish. Actually we have to count some too, within a specified area, for certain lengths of time, so more to get used to. It is fun being in the water and realizing how I have improved as a diver. I can hover pretty well now, so maybe I should have been placed in the "coral" group. Then I could hover inches from corals and observe how they've come back from a bleaching in the area back in 1998.

There are about 16 volunteers on this GVI project. Most are young, from the UK, and taking a break before the attend "uni". I have the "position" of being the eldest of everyone here. That makes me feel old to say, but luckily I'm keeping up with the young-uns. I was snorkeling last weekend with a fellow American who is only 48 and also fit. He couldn't keep up with me!!!

Our days seem to be getting shorter, or is it longer now that some of our work is completed. That will be filled in in the coming weeks with the fish and coral research. I'm hoping to get to see how this research is actually entered and used for the long term statistics, but then that might seem to much of what I used to do for work. Maybe I'll just put together some presentations to help others learn theis fishes, but then that used powerpoint, so maybe that will remind me too much of work too. Oh well, I'll find my niche here and elsewhere sometime (soon I hope).

I'm just starting to get out to explore the Seychelles. The hour long bus ride to town today showed some picturesque seashores. The beach by the GVI base has little in the way of a beach, especially at high tide. We wad to the boats in bath hot water. No need for wetsuits of any kind if you're from Minnesota. I do wear mine more for protection from the sun than anything else. You should see my tan lines. It looks like I wear socks all the time, though these are bootie lines.

Sleepiing can be an issue here. Reading in bed after lights are out isn't fun because the small flying bugs penetrate the mesquito net so I spend more time batting them than reading. Then there are the blister bugs. They don't like to be disturbed once they're on you, so they respond with something that causes a blister. You don't feel it but sure see it. The objective is not to pop them so there's no scar, but you try that when on a diving trip. Oh well, just another travel story to talk about.

GVI's head of Operations is here for the next week. Quite a young fellow who travels from one base to another. I think there are about 11 or 12--here, in Africa, South America, and Mexico. Maybe this is the opportunity I've been waiting for. I still have to figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up!

As far as the immediate future, opportunities abound. The GVI program includes a week on Curious. I'm hoping to sail my way to LaDigue, another island that's sail to be the most traditional one here, only a few automobiles on the whole island. If not sailing, I'll travel by ferry. If that fails, I'll take the Rescue Diver course--though I've heard they throw you around in that one, which may not be too much fund with all that dive hear on, but then you are in water so that should help.

Decisions, decisions. For now, I'm going to get back on a bus back to base and enjoy a gin and tonic sans ice.

Seychelles--First Week

6:00 Wake up
6:15 Brekkie--porridge
7:00 Fish Workship
9:00 Emergency first aid
11:00 Lunch (yes, this early)
13:30 Workshop or ground/tank/boat duty--unless on kitchen duty for day
15:00 Kit up (that means prepare for dive)
15:30 Dive
16:30 Dinner
19:30 Briefing for next day
20:30 Could be another workshop, or study time
22:00 or whenever, go to bed

That's a typical day at Cap Ternay on the western coast of Mahe in the Seychelles. I've been here a week so far, with four weeks to go. So far I've started working on my advanced open water diver certification, passed my Emergency First Responder course and have been studying fish for an upcoming exam. With all that, I've had little time to wander around the island, though that's not very easy because we're a 45-minute bus ride to get to the town of Victoria. We came into town for the first time today (Saturday) only to find all the shops are closed. They're also closed on Sunday, the day I arrived. Luckily the internet is open so guess where we all are!

"We" refers to about 16 volunteers and 8 staff. There are a few Americans as volunteers and staff, many from Great Britian, one Australian, one Canadian, and one South African (too bad he's only 25). I just found out today Cheney shot a fellow hunter so that tells you I'm not getting much news. (Let me know if anything big happens cuz otherwise I might not find out.)

It is a small world. Tim, the head of the GVI operation here, apparently helped start up Pemba Afloat. That was the live aboard I enjoyed in Pemba, just off the coast of Tanzania. Oh, it was fun to recall the time I spent with Philip and Charlie on Karibou Sana along with my dive master friend Ginny. Now I'm trying to persuade Tim to charter a boat and take me up to Le Digue, the island Philip and Charlie said I just had to see. That's in the works!

The weather is very hot. High temps are the reason I'm here. Back in 1996 and again in 1998 the water temps rose to the point where the coral suffered. It's now coming back, but with animals (yes coral is part of the animial family) that grow at only a few centimeters a year, that takes a long time. I only wear my shortie when diving because it's so easy. Others dive in only a t-shirt and shorts. We all have tan lines from our booties. That looks really funny on all the English people here who are so pale.

After I finish all these tests, the work really begins. I'll be surveying fish underwater, and maybe even doing some research analysis when on land. We'll see if they want to use my skills in that way. Otherwise, I might finally get to my writing. Maybe I'll even start proofing things if/when I get the time.

Before I end, I must tell you that I spend a wonderful four days with my new South African friends, Pj and Veronique. We met on the road to Kililmanjaro. What a delightful couple. They live on an alpaca farm, living their dreams and values, giving me much to ponder.

For now, let me wish you Happy Easter, Happy Spring. I'm going to sign off now so a fellow volunteer can use the Internet.

Rain in South Africa

I always know when it's time to leave--it starts raining. My friends in South Africa, Veronique and PJ are happy to see the rain. Though the dams are full, they would like to have rain for the fields which feed their alpaca. I'm staying at their place about 4 hours southeast of Johannesburg in a little place at Moori River. How fun to see these wonderful people again. We reminisced about the climb--why we did it and why we probably won't do it again, PJ motivating me as well as himself to get to the top, and how merciless such a climb is to our bodies. He does have this thing about falling in front of me though. He did it on our last day of the big climb, seriously spraining his ankle, and again when we went on a hike an hour or so from their home. He's proving we're not infallible.

We had a few quintessential days together, relaxing on the farm, me learning about all their plans to create yarn from the alpaca wool and gardens galore, me seeing the pictures throughout their home shedding light on the lives of these people I'd not met but a few months before, and am so glad our paths crossed in this lifetime.

African Time/Soweto

Things are on African time today, and yesterday for that matter, yesterday afternoon that is. I rushed my way through Victoria Falls to get to the airport two hours early for a flight that left two hours late. Then I waited for a tour of Soweto and the Apartheid Museum, for over an hour.

Interesting that the two words that popped into my brain yesterday as I was hurrying back to get to the taxi to take me back to the hotel to get on the airport shuttle were "pole, pole". "That means slow, slow". It slowed my step down for about 2 seconds, but maybe put me in the best frame of mind to wait out the next few hours with peace of mind.

I thought going to Soweto and The Apartheid Museum would be like going to the Holocast Museum in Washington DC. That wasn't really true. One could spend an entire day in the museum to really understand the events of the past hundred years or so. Actually from the time Whites/Europeans came to the African continent--Dutch, Germans, Portuguese and English. There are many similarities betweens how the Africans have been treated here and how African-Americans and American Indians have been treated in the U.S. There is still much discrimination here, especially in the rural areas, though things are changing.

Our drive through Soweto was not as I expected. It started off in a rather upscale area. People are moving back here and have modernized and expanded the homes, installing security systems on the gates that are ever present. We then traveled to the middle class part of Soweto, then to the squatter villages. There can be 6 to 8 people living in one room that has no water or electricity. Water is 1 to 2 blocks away. Batteries, kerosene lamps and candles are used for lighting. In Winter, fires inside these one room dwelling with tin roofs are used for cooking.

We drove by two "Mandella" homes. One was the one he lived in (that had been burned three times and been rebuilt), just down the street from Desmond Tu Tu. This was a very modest brick home. Winnie Mandella had another home built, much larger, on a big piece of land, and of course enclosed by alarm-type security fence. Nelson apparently refused to live in it because it was too large, more than he needed. He did live his values.

We had a few drinks with the locals in what we were told was an illegal drinking establishment, but I don't think that was true. It was interesting watching and talking to the locals in this off the beaten path place. Some are shy at first, yet oh so friendly in a nice sort of way. It was much nicer than being asked for money or some other posession all the time, which happens in the townships though visitors are encouraged not to give the kids money.