Some shots of Us at work
Tofo Beach
Crab
The Market
Nice Sunset
My day off
The front of the shop
Shop View
Boat Launch
Pool
View from our door
Our new room
Russ wondering why I am taking more pictures of our new room
Our courtyard
The Beach
July 23, 2008
Our new home is a hostel/hotel. All of the hallways or in-between areas are outside. There is a main bar area/ living room where we can help our selves and just keep track of what we drink, and a television. Then another house area with a bathroom kitchen and a couple of rooms, then outside to another kitchen, and a nice sitting area/ courtyard of sorts. Did I mention also there is HOT water. Then there is a strip of rooms, like a motel and one of these is ours. It does not have much light but we have been making it home more and more. There are 2 twin bunk beds so we moved them together which gave us a big bed and some more space. It is okay, it works for now. The living situation has lots of pros and cons. The kitchen is so much more then what we had in Zanzibar and it is like a playground for me; 2 burners, a hot plate, a microwave, a refrigerator, lots of pots and pans, and knives. That part is nice and we do not have to do our dishes, we really do not have to clean at all so that is pretty nice. There are 2 watch dogs and watch men that do the cleaning. I feel very safe here, even leaving the room unlocked when I am in the area. There are also some steps to a patio area where we can see the ocean. It is a great location, 2 minutes from the beach, 10 minutes from Tofo Scuba and then a couple of minutes to town and the market. We are living with 4 of the guys that work at the shop and 2 of the girls and the owners are around and sometimes some other random guests. It is fun for now, the guys are great and the company is nice. But we are still looking for something else more permanent. We have to go outside to go to the bathroom and it is cold at night so that part sucks. But to be fair this house has many more luxuries then we had in Zanzibar and we appreciate them all very much. It is funny to think how we still live a far more simple life then most Americans. But we like it.
August 1st
Seeing something new. I pretty much knew what I was going to see as soon as I was told there was space for me to dive. Suddenly in the past 24 hours the whales sharks and manta rays that have been gone for two months are back and they are everywhere. They spotted 14 whale sharks yesterday. These are pretty good odds, but nature is a funny thing and can always change.
I would have to say that from my experience with divers, the Whale shark is the number one most sought out fish to see. It is extremely massive, by far the largest thing I have ever seen in the water. Like a bus. It is absolutely huge 20-30 feet long and 10 feet wide. But is moves calmly and gracefully causing no harm to snorkelers chasing it through the water. The only time someone has been hurt by these giant creatures has been from getting too close and getting a little accidental slap by the 5 ft tail, as you can imagine this may hurt. This creature is part of the shark family and it feeds on the tiny particles in the water. And for some reason they LOVE Tofo Mozambique and apparently they will be here now in masses for several months. The dark blue gray skin is spotted with identifying white dots, different on each one. Today I got to see one. As the boat headed towards Manta reef I patiently waited to here the words to slid into the water. The whale sharks spend most of there time around a certain point so I was prepared and waiting. Finally the captain spotted one, how he does this must be local magic as I did not see the shadow till it was right next to us. I was the first to slide in the water and right no top of it’s gigantic tail, the visibility was to poor and the fish far too big for me to see much more then its tail and about the back 5 feet of his body as I swam with all my energy to keep up. After realizing I could not catch up I climbed back on to the boat, feeling happy but not quiet satisfied. After our dive on our way to the next site I again waited and waited and was beginning to loose hope when there one was. Again I was the first in the water and I could not find it. I looked up to ask the captain and the guy next to me yelled for me to look down. The gigantic creature was a foot below me, and actually startled me being so close, and there all of a sudden. After catching my breath I continued to swim with him watching the small fish around his mouth as he glided through the water. After several minutes there was another 10 people in swimming with him as well. And he really did not seem to care. I guess maybe he is enjoying playing with us. I wonder if this gigantic fish, that must have a brain a large as my whole body realizes that it is one of the most desirable creatures to see. Truly a magnificent piece of nature.
Manta Rays are yet another creature near the top of every divers list. I saw so many of these today we lost count. Imagine a colossal butterfly 10-20 feet wide swimming gigantic circles through the water. Then imagine 5 of these creatures circling and dancing in an out of your vision. These are really beautiful creatures and also not a bit scared of divers or their bubbles, more just interested. The mantas also have identify white marks on their gray skin, each one so different. It is hard to keep track of which one just circled and which one is new, but really to me it did not really matter, it was truly amazing.
August 2, 2008
I had a nice day today, especially after this news. Spent the whole morning on the beach. It was a beautiful day. Then found out about the job and that Russ passed his first exam and that he saw a baby whale shark which is wonderful. And there will be many more of these to come. Went to look for a place to live and meet some guys that live here and play music and they seem pretty nice. Then to the market and picked a nice lady that I can go to everyday with a beautiful child. Meet Russ, eat dinner and now I am home and drinking beer. I am just feeling so relieved that we both have jobs and that we can stay here for at least a month. Yeah for us. We are very lucky that this is working out. I feel like the stress was unnecessary but also made us both think a lot about what we want and realize where our priorities are and what really matters. LIFE IS good. Okay well I feel like I should spend some time writing about Zanzibar before I get too caught up on our new life here. More later.
The power went out last night, funny how much this did not phase or bother us at all. Candles are good. It is just interesting to think how lost and devastated some people are when they lose power especially in the states, and hour with out electricity would be a reason to panic. To me it is kind of nice. I mean I LOVE the convinces we have now compared to ZNZ but I would never take back that experience we had of living such a more simple life style. It was nice, easy. I am really looking forward to getting into a routine of work here. I can’t wait to have Russ done with his course and both of us working full time. It will be really nice. I like to have routine and a sense of home and I think we will have that here. I feel like I was resisting the want to embrace this place. I did not want to appreciate it too much due to the fear that we would have to leave. Now that we get to stay at least for a month I can start to have a real opinion and make a decision if I like it or now and if I want to be here for a while. So far it seems like it may be a good stop for us. I love the idea of getting sick of whale sharks, sounds like a good problem to have.
August 5
Life is still pretty good here. Today was my third day of work here, Russ’s first. It went well. I think we will be happy here for a little while. Russ finished his Instructor exam he other day and there was a fun party at a bar 20 minutes walk up the hill called turtle cove. Nice live music nice atmosphere in the middle of no where. Made me think of growing up in Routt County, that type of party. It was fun.
I had a really amazing dive at Manta the other day and at the end there is a spot where we just kneeled in the sand and the mantas just circled around in front of us and right by and over me. It was really very amazing. I look forward to spending more time with them. We went out tonight which was fun, but only for a couple of drinks. The people we work with are really fun and our boss is starting to be more friendly and it is all going pretty well. I think that we can be happy here for a bit. We are moving into a different bed room in a few days so that will be really nice for the month. And work is good, nice to be busy and I really do love some parts of teaching just sometimes I just don’t feel like getting wet and cold and teaching the same thing over and over again. But the rewards are very nice to see people so excited. And I really do love the customer service aspect of having a chat with people and doing my best to show them a good time and a good dive. I think that this will be nice for a while and we have the potential to make a lot of money I just think that working 6 days a week for 10 hours a day may get a bit tiring after a while. Even though we do sit around a lot some days, much like at any dive shop the boredom makes time pass so slowly.
But we could be much worse places trying to make money to get by so no complaints.
