Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
Friday, August 1, 2008
Got a taxi to the White Sands Hotel in the morning and checked in. I'd booked a dive at the dive centre there. Set off right away. Kitted up and set off with four local divers who were doing their PADI course. Set off in a twin engined rib. One outboard wouldn't start so after beating the battery terminal with a pipe for a while (we've all done that!) he dismantled the engine and started it with a cord. Not easy bouncing around in choppy seas. Once started went off like a rocket and had to hang on for dear life. Took all the skin off my fingers from the rope. First dive aborted because he lost a novice and the current was really strong pushing us off the reef. Second dive better but not a patch on the Red Sea. Other divers surfaced pretty quikly so just me and the dive-master. Saw a lobster. Lucky for it Pat doesn't dive, and a few fish and some interesting corals. Bit disappointing overall. Wore mask on the way back as spent nearly as much time underwater as when diving. Came back brusied and cut. Pat had been relaxing on the beach and looked smug.
Next day wanted to get a boat to take us to some small uninhabited offshore islands for an adventure. Pat not keen particularly when she saw you had to wade out about half a mile to climb into a leaky looking native boat. Agreed to sit on the beach where I could birdwatch with Pat with a cold beer under a sun shade. Told her if that was what she wanted then of course we would do it (I'll be storing up these brownie points for some serious South African adventures!)
