Feeding the Fish

4 hours of fishing and snorkeling. Sounds great doesn’t it? We woke up at 5, and met Ryan and Mark for the trip at 6. We had the boat in the water by close to 6:30 and were off. 45 minutes later, I had vomited three times, and I had vowed never to get into a boat in the ocean again. I was so sick there. When I am in the car, I can at least set my eyes on a central point and stave off the motion sickness, but in a boat, no such luck.

I suppose that the positives are that I did see dolphins. It is also good that I know that this is a bad experience, because we decided to cancel our 3 day dhow safari in Vilanculos. We will spend another night here and then travel to Maputo before heading to Kruger 2 days early. We heard about some canopy excursions and white water rafting trips that sound exhilarating.

When I headed in, Ryan, Jeremy, and Mark were able to go out again for another few hours, which I was very happy about. I didn’t want to ruin anyone else’s trip, but I had to go in. So I went back to the room and slept until Jeremy returned.

When he got back, we had lunch at the Waterworks again. This time, I ordered a chicken salad sandwich. Jeremy and I shared a plate of Casquinhas (stuffed crabs). While we were eating, the rain started pouring down and we had to chill for a bit while it subsided. After lunch, we purchased some shirts in the market area and then walked back to the hotel.

Right before typing this entry, we found out that the ride that Mark promised us from Tofo to Nelspruit would not go down. This is a major disappointment, as I hopeful that we would escape two major hell rides. Anyhow, we will not probably stay here an extra day, then go to Maputo. We will spend the night at Fatima’s and then catch an early ride to Nelspruit. That will still give us 2 or so extra days in the game park.

For dinner, Jeremy and I tried to find Dina, but she was tired from a long day on the motorcycle with Miquele and had already eaten dinner. We agreed to meet up after dinner for what we hoped would be pancakes and ice cream. Jeremy and I headed to our new favorite restaurant, Black and White. This time, Jeremy ordered the prawns, but I stuck with the fish. The prawns were pan fried and delicious. Sadly, the food took a bit too long to arrive, and we were definitely starving by the time it got there. In the corner of the restaurant, was a middle aged somewhat attractive white woman who attracted a number of the local children by purchasing food and sharing it. Through Jeremy’s tales of begging, the scene bothered me. But it was mostly amusing how much it resembled one of those help the third world infomercials.

When we were back at Turtle Cove, we met Dina and she showed us some of the pictures from her travels and Jeremy showed many of his pictures. By the time we got to bed, it was pretty late and we were tired. Oh, even though pancakes and ice cream are on the menu here, it is Africa, and they didn’t have any ice cream! Arrgh. With that said, we pledged to get the English breakfast the next morning.