10.9. 2020 Lockdown Day 168 Level 2
One of those days again !!!
So we are keeping the boats at the Diver Villa where they stand under the massive tree. The one we use currently is parked on top by the garages.
First we started with the smaller boat, the Southern Comfort. Then we swapped over to use the Twilight. But this one has an endlessly long trailer neck which is now really in the way. It is probably 2.5m longer than the others to give you an idea…
So in order to get the Twilight even up to the garages, Spike eroded half the garden’s trees and shrubs. Good thing Beulah hasn’t seen it yet…
We managed to get the boat in and out. In is easy, out is not.
It usually entails for us to drive over the neighbours across the road’s outside garden. Sooner or later he will find out and give us shit..
So we deliberated and came to the conclusion that the boat has got to be in front of the car and going in first as well as going out first.
The only way to do this on the outward route is to turn the rig around.
So Spike comes halfway down the hill and swings into the lawn. The heavy weight of the boat pulls half the grass out and leaves us with a potato field of note…
Without potatoes , of course…
Okay, so we managed to turn the rig around at the cost of the garden and proceeded towards the gate. The boat went through easy but there was no space for the car to turn and so we had to go straight towards the big dip…
Long story short, we ended up with the boat being stuck 10cm under the tar of the road in front of the Diver Villa. We could neither go forward nor backward and no car could pass either way.
And this is a very busy school street…rush hour…oh dear…
Traffic piled up as far as one could see. 40 minutes it took.
And then we went diving.
The day was already a joke, but it did not end there.
The plan was to play in the caves on the Northern Pinnacle of Protea Banks.
We get out to the reef, kit up and drop on the coordinates.
I tried to orientate myself but don’t seem to recognise any familiar feature.
Eventually i see the anvil. Could it be ? Are we South ? Then the carpet and the Southern Cave…indeed i must have entered the wrong coordinates on the GPS…
What next !!!
So we make the best out of the situation.
A turtle is playing with my divers for quite sometime while i am busy filming a raggie.
Later we see an Eagle Ray, another raggie and a black tip.
The dive was absolutely magic.
Normally a day like this would have driven me mad. But now, during all the madness of Corona Time it seems insignificant.
We have forgotten what really matters in life and the old Corona seems to have reminded us.
Not all is bad…
6.9. 2020 Lockdown Phase 2
Originally i wanted to do a doublethink dive but we had some cloud coverage and straight away everything appears colder.
Besides it is Sunday and home is a nice place, especially on a Sunday.
So we decided to do only one dive and went to the Northern Pinnacles of Protea Banks.
We dropped in and as we near the First Cave we see lots of Raggies hanging out everywhere.
I tie the buoy in my usual spot and let the divers explore for a while.
As i look up i see a Tiger Shark circling curiously in the distance.
I did not have a dive since the lockdown where i did not see a Tiger Shark on Protea Banks.
Unbelievable !!!
Lots of female Raggies these days. They are a lot bigger than the males and a lot rougher looking. Too much hanky panky….
Once our bottom time was up we started ascending slowly.
The vis was great in the bottom half @ 20m plus. Top half was very murkey.
So i tried to spend as much time as possible on the edge of the visibility.
Then we moved up to 10m .
I see something funny and as i swim towards it , it materialises into two Humpback Whales.
This is Protea Banks.
20 Raggies
1 x Tiger Shark
1 x Black Tip
2 x Humpback
What can i say !!! Where in the world do you see this in one dive ???!!!
Tomorrow the weather is great again and we have nothing better to do than dive….
4.9. 2020 Lockdown Day Whatsoever
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So we are in Corona Phase 2 of 5. Two is not too bad anymore. Life is almost acceptable…
Our borders are still closed, but this is not an isolated case for South Africa but a worldwide situation.
There is talk though that our borders might be opened by the end of September ??? Rumours at this stage !!!
Our infection rate is below 1000 a day and our death rate is below 100 a day.
Bad enough, but not too shabby if we look at other countries.
A lot of luck and a lot of effort on the part of our politicians got us this far.
Me and Beulah are definitely behind our government.
Two massive events are lined up :
1. Beulah’s Birthday tomorrow. I have to behave properly for a whole day…
2. We are diving again on Sunday Yeeaayyii can’t wait.
I was just going to tell what happened this week, what we did but to be honest, not much has happened.
I am busy getting spearfishing equipment into our little shop. I am keen to cater for the local people of the South Coast and as scuba diving is essentially a luxury sport, spearfishing is not.
There are quite a number of Spearos around here and the community is growing.
I think, with the economy in tatters and more and more people out of work, why not get these youngsters off their asses, throw away the dope and the playstation and do something really good.
Learn how to shoot a proper fish and either put some food on the family table or put some cash in your pocket.
We will have everything a Spearo needs. Experienced or novice, i want to keep every spare and every piece of equipment to get a gut going.
I am working together with one of the foremost Spearos on the South Coast to get the necessary knowledge and also to offer really good training.
We are investing a couple of bucks and build it up from there.
Really exciting !!!
Once we have it all together and displayed in the shop i will post some pictures.
For now, the flags are flying again at ADA