23.8. 2017
Nothing takes longer than waiting….but now, three beers and two GnTs later we are sitting in the sky en route to Dubai.
This wasn’t easy. At the time we arrived at he airport we still didn’t have our passports. Our travelagent came to the airport and brought us the passports. Wow.,this is what one can call last minute !!!
Yesterday Beulah had the great idea to take all our dogs for a final check up to the vet so we don’t need to worry about them.
So we pack the whole family into the pick up and off we go to the vet. They of course think we are going to the beach…until we pull in at the vets driveway.
High voltage excitement turned instantly into utter horror.
And a horrorshow it was .
So Beulah gets herself into the queue while i stay outside with the ‘lions’
All the while we wait they are pulling on their chains. I need every bit of strength to stop them from going home….me and the concrete bench in tow…
First up is Smiley the African from Coffee Bay.
Poor Beulah has all hands full pulling and coaxing Smiley into the torture chambers.
Not,long after i hear this almighty screem…and it is a familiar voice….my lovely , gentle Smiley. They wanted to lift her onto the scale and my Smiley, the lady she is, did not want to be weightd…not in front of other people….
Some dogowner comes out for a smoke break and sees me sitting there. He says, dont,go inside, there is chaos in there.
I did not tell him that it is my dog…
Sometime later an exhausted Beulah and a shivering Smiley emerge.
Now is Thembis turn. Oh dear… Thembi…
She is also an African and our problem child. She will definitely go into the family chronicles as the most unruly and difficult doggie. Thembi is a no nonsense dog. She gives everybody shit but doesn’t take any herself.
So the good doctor starts pushing and squeezing on Thembi’s stomach to feel her organs when she suddenly does not like that and makes a leap to the side.
Before we know she is in attack mode. Growls like a lion ad bites the vet into his shoe. Oh dear…Poor,Beulah is so embarassed….
No,firther examination was necessary. The dog was declared perfectly healthy.
No doubt.
Last comes Irish Fergie. She is placid and huge. Half a horse. And she too hates Leon the vet.
I managed to put the Africans into the car and help Beulah towing Fergie into the examination room where she plonckes herself down and wont move. The examination was swift and successful and so we could all go home in a hurry.
Three dogs and three humans were very glad when this was over.
Yep, and now we have another three to four hours inside this flying tupe until we reach Dubai. Here we will head straight for the Jack Daniels Bar and have a few lovely draughts before we go to our room at the Dubai International Ariport Hotel.
We always stop over for a day at the airport and take it easy. It is here where usually our holiday begins and ends.
Lets see what adventures will await us….
22.8. 2017
We are working feverishly on our departure. In just over 24 hours we will make our way to the bus stop which takes us to Durban Airport. At this stage we still dont have our passports back from the Indonesian Embassy and no word of it.
Nothing goes smoothly, ever !!!
Last night i did the online check in and found we had middleseat and windowseat reserved. Total disaster. I quickly changed it to window and aisle. I really need to stretch my legs a bit else i get terribly claustophobic. The only aisle seats available were reserved for passengers with disability. Damn, but i really have this disability.
Got to go to the doctor today and ask for a confirmation that Beulah has an artificial hip. Just in case they give us a hard time.
Some years ago i tried to be clever and got myself a confirmation from the doc that i suffer severely from claustophaubia. Naturally i expected the lovely lady at the counter to offer me a lovely sest in business class.
Instead, the lovely lady called her supervisor who told me with regret that i can’t fly.
Oh shit. I started sweating profusely when he mentioned that i could pose a security risk…. I quickly backtracked and told him not to worry. My doctor exaggerated.
No, he said, unless i get a confirmation from my doc that i can in fact fly, he could not take this chance. It was Saturday and the doc was nowhere to be found.
Damn…
After half an hour of sweating and 3kg weightloss i was allowed to go on the flight.
Oh dear, what a lecture.
And Beulah hit the roof of the airport like Kim Jong Uns ballistic missile.
I am yet to hear the end of it…..
So now that years have gone by i will try it again, just a lot less severe.
I cannot sit in the middle seat or in the window seat. It’ll drive me nuts.
Lets see what happens….if we even get our passports back in time…
Never a dull moment
20.8. 2017
When you don’t work you have a lot to do….
I can’t believe how much time has passed since my last entry.
Last sunday was our last diving day. Since then we stripped the boats and covered them for the winter break. Twilight gets new pontoons next week.
We did a lot of work in the Diver Villa. New scatter carpets, new curtains, new bedside lamps.
The old Toyota Prado is parked outside my property. It broke down with an almighty bang when driving back from Durban the other day. We needed a truck to load it up and bring it home. Gearboxoil is running out the bottom…i am sure, the mechanic will be happy.
Karen is gone to England, Steve is gone to JoBurg und we are going to Bali on Wednesday. African dive Adventures is truly closed for winter.
As it stands we will resume diving operations on 9.10.
Our long awaited winterbreak has started. Glorious !!!
My dogs are happy. They get more attention than usual and thrive on it. Amazing how one can connect to one’s animals if one only takes a little time….
We go to the beach for long walks, play in the garden and fool around the house.
At night we light the open fire place and while we all snuggle down for a cosy tv evening , we hear the warming fire crackling in the background. Love it !!!
So we have to go to Bali on Wednesday. Honestly, right now that’s the last thing i want to do. Right now, that is.
As is always the case, once i am out of town i get into holiday mood.
Right now i love my house. I enjoy sitting upstairs looking out to the bast ocean. It is mostly angry with large waves and one wind chases the next. Today it is Northeast, tomorrow Southwest. The water is cold and miserable and the visibility seldom better than ten meters. Just as well business has slowed to a halt.
We have no bookings as is always the case this time of the year. Except for a couple of guys who cant plan their holidays…
Our real divers are doing summer holiday duties either at work or with their families. When this is done, we dive again on the magic Protea Banks.
Beulah and i are flying to Bali for a couple of weeks. During our absence we will get new windows at our house and a serious wendy house in the garden. Excited to see when it is all done and dusted.
So we are still waiting for our passports and visa to be sent back from the Indonesian embassy. If they dont come in the next two days we will have a problem.
Because we are staying more than a month we need a visa…
Even when we go on holidays we have stress….
I will try and report back more or less regularly about the goings on in Bali.
When do things ever go without a hitch…this makes life interesting…
8.8. 2017
It is chill time. I have waited for this time of the year for long. So happy it is finally here. Today we had seaworthy survey of two of our boats and this weekend we are doing a couple of dives. Thereafter the wheels will come off and the batteries taken out. I am even considering closing the shop until October.
The wind blows from any old direction just as it is supposed to do during the windy season Aug – Oct. The sea is always rough with swells never less than 3m
There is no better place than my room on top of the roof. I love this place. Cosy and warm and i can see right over the entire ocean. Magic !!!
When i finished reading ” The Elephant Whisperer ” i was hooked onto Lawrence Anthony. This man was ( unfortunately ) a hero. He did not simply talk about concservation and the urgent need for it, he did it !!!
He loved all animals and he had a most healthy attitide towards nature. Anthony knew what we all are up against…..
I took his second book ” Babylon’s Arc ” where he described how he went to rescue the animals of the Baghdad zoo in wartorn Irak.
I could not put this book down. And really, i am not the world’s greatest reader.
anthony speaks from my soul and contrary to me and most other people, he gets up and does something about it !!!
To me, this man was second to only Mother Theresa !!!
2.8. 2017
It is chill time here at African Dive Adventures.
We still have all hands full doing what needs to get done such as greasing, having all propellors repaired which were bent over the months, getting 2 boats ready for seaworthy survey next week, organising visa for Indonesia, claiming for my lost drone and choosing a new one, picking up new blinds for the windows and a thousand other jobs.
Sometimes i think, it is easier to go diving….at least i get a nice break under water…
Then we have to answer tons of e-mails. So many people want to come last minute. Always one or maximum two divers. And they want to do one dive on Protea Banks.
Sorry guys. Life does not work like that. We are in our quiet period which we need badly. No way will we fire up a boat for one or two people for one day only…not feasible.
We have a few more days coming up mid August and then we are shutting down until October.