25.11. 2019
Our diving on Protea Banks had a couple of not-so-great days before it recovered properly again.
Thankfully just as we got busy the diving came right again.
As soon as the current slacks off, the vis goes down and the sharks disappear.
And as soon as the current picks up, everything comes right.
Yesterday we had 20m vis, today 30m and literally thousands of hammerheads again.
On the South Side there are guitarsharks as well and on the North Side we still have a whopping 30 + raggies.
Therefore our black tips have disappeared. This is a first for us on Protea Banks. Black Tips were always here. We don’t mind having a bit of a break from them, but we do miss them on our baited dives. One lonely black tip zooms around listlessly…
Lucky there are so many hammers that we get close encounters on the baited dives.
Tomorrow i want to see if i can get good footage…
17.11. 2019
Four pm on sunday and i am sitting on my little balcony in my loft room.
It’s a bit like a lighthouse. Amazing view from top.
The sea has got white again from the wind which started about an hour ago and from the South i can see rain approaching slowly. It looks like a fog bank. Probably here in the next 5 minutes.
I sit here with a lovely single malt and a beer.
And i am totally happy.
Yesterday i was depressed though…
The whole week we have launched for 2 divers. We had amazing dives, excellent vis, lots of sharks. But business wise it was not worth it.
Then Friday finally we had two boats full of divers with everybody wanting to do two dives.
We kit up, do the briefing, drop the boat in the water and suddenly realise how ridiculously bad the launch was.
We wait and wait and wait in the bay for a break to get through. But the waves are crashing in with such a force that there is foam and bubbles everywhere.
As we wanted to take off, our boat cavitates so badly that we just creep slowly forward while our motors are screaming at a high pitch.
The propellors just do not bite.
Suddenly we find ourselves in front of a 4m wave about to eat us up.
All i can say to Spike and Steve is : We are done. ( actually i used a much stronger word >>)
And the suddenly my father – who is now working as an angel – came to help us
Literally seconds before we were going to be completely buried by this monster wave our propellors suddenly bite in the solid water and the boat shoots away from certain disaster into the safety of the bay.
Unbelievable…
It did not take us long to decide . We turned the boat around and headed straight for the beach.
Done for the day.
Beulah and the harbourmaster need counselling.
Yesterday the launch was even worse and we did not try our luck again.
So today we had to catch up with lost business and moreso, the divers wanted to make the best of a good day as time is running out for them.
One boat did 3 dives today, the second boat two.
And what a day we had. Well worth waiting for.
Visibility was 20m, water temp 22ËšC
We estimated in excess of 2500 hammerheads, 60 raggies, one tiger shark, 3 black tips, turtle and other sealife.
2500 hammerheads ? Or try 8 checked minutes with wall to wall hammerheads wherever we look. Unbelievable.
This is South Africa.
This is Protea Banks
There is no place on earth where you can see this amount of sharks and so many different species all in one day.
11.11.2019
We are back for a week and for 5 days we had rain. Especially since last weekend. It started on Saturday and hasn’t stopped since. Pouring, pouring all day.
We did have one really nice and hot summers day and loved it.
Now, all we can remember is wet, wet, wet.
In this weather i cannot imagine to dive. All i want is to get home and stay dry, hydrated and well fed.
From today onwards we are supposed to dive everyday again. The weekend looks really busy for us.
I am hoping, the weather will improve soon.
As it seems impossible to have fun out at sea in this rain and misery, the dive report of today reads of 25m vis, 22Ëš water temp and an ocean full of hammerheads.
More than one thousand animals were estimated by my staff and divers.
I am fighting with myself about whether i should really give myself a push and go diving tomorrow.
Gotto sleep over it
2.11. 2019
I don’t have to tell you what just happened !!! Everybody knows !!!
I was the only fan who shouted his heart out here at the Novotel in Munich.
Sure they heard me in every room..
Let me begin with Protea Banks :
It is unbelievable what we hear from our guests as well as staff.
Protea is at her best !!!
Visibility is 30m+ and the water temp is a pleasant 23deg
And what happens inside is completely crazy !!!
On the Southern Pinnacle of Protea Banks :
Thousands of hammerheads !!!!!
4 black tips
1 Zambezi
5 Guitar Sharks
On the Northern Pinnacle of Protea Banks :
25 raggies
dolphins
black tips
On the Baited Shark Dive :
1 tiger
7 black tips
4 duskys
2 great hammerheads and again thousands of scalloped hammers in the background.
Yesterday and the day before the reports were almost identical.
Private
So we were in Austria at the Alpenresort Schwarz.
This is a 5 star resort of the very finest.
We go there since the 60s when my father was a skiing instructor during his holidays.
Then it was a small guesthouse with central heating and running water, as the old sign outside used to read.
Today, Schwarz employs over 300 staff and won the pioneer prize in the province’s tourism ( Tyrol )
We are slightly related to the owners. My godfather married one of the owner’s sisters. This is why mother loves going there.
These 4 days cost me 2000 Euro, but it was worth every cent.
Just shows how cheap we are at African Dive Adventures !!!!
As we did not want to suffer these four days i decided to book us a suite with a full package except for alcoholic drinks.
Same for mother. We wanted to keep an eye on her and needed her next door.
The rooms are of course something out of this world. Massive
And as for the food. Best of !!!
Gourmet food
Every bite is an explosion of taste
Brilliant !!!
Unfortunately mother did not see it like that. Her room was way too large.
She didn’t know how to get to her bed or find her bathroom, says she.
She hated the food.
These cooks never learnt to cook properly, was her take
Why can’t they just cook us a cotelette with noodles ?
Everyday was filled with mother’s slap sticks
Often Beulah and i were mentally laying under the table.
Sometimes from laughter and other times we wanted to hide…
I could write a book about this holiday but the internet is not big enough…
Mother was happiest in the whirlpool.
At 36Ëš water temp and 15Ëš airtime we spent hours and hours in the various outdoor pools.
Behind and in front of us the most beautiful scenery of huge rocky mountains.
Amazing !!!
After a lovely 4 day stay we went back home to mother’s for another week.
On our way home we stopped at one of the thousands of quaint restaurants which all serve mother’s favourite cotelette and noodles.
Mother happy again.
Homeward bound
As i said, we are at the Novotel at the Munich Airport.
We love it here and spend many a night in this hotel on our travels.
Tonight we are off to Dubai where we stop over as usual.
So in the wee hours tomorrow we will be visiting the old Dutchman and sample his beer.
Old tradition …
Then it is off to the airport hotel in the Duty Free Zone.
As silver members we will do some serious damage to Emirates in the Business Class Lounge.
All booze and food there is free for members.
This is a little benefit we get for being loyal to them for 20 years.
On 4.11. we will land back home in Durban.
As we always do we will have a serious meat dish and 2 castle draughts at the Airport Spur before finally heading home.
We hear, the summer has started at home. So looking forward to this !!!
And my dogs !!! I can’t wait to see them again. Preparing myself for a very sore welcome ..
Talking of dogs and pain, my wound from the dog bite is completely healed. Just left a massive scar which attracts a lot of attention.
Yes, and then i am looking forward to finally dive Protea Banks again
Long time no see….