misteroverland

It’s been a long 2 months but finally Kevin has arrived and we are back on the road together. After making a sprint up the east coast north of Durban we reached the border. The road was good apart from the head wind that increased the fuel consumption dramatically.

Passage through the border was uneventful both on the SA and Moz side, even though we had been warned that it has been bad recently. Though we did need to remember to get car insurance (R280/month) which is keenly checked throughout the country. We also double checked we were both stamped in (another scam which creates revenue opportunities on exiting.)

The only real accommodation option was the municipal campsite in Ponto. Having stayed here previously I was not looking forward to the cockroaches. But thankfully (maybe it’s too cold) there aren’t any. The toilets are locked too which probably contributes to the slightly improved cleanliness.

It doesn’t take us long to get back into the outdoor living lifestyle. We have our own routine and jobs that make living out of the back of a landrover a lot more pleasant. Already Kevin has been under the car to tighten a nut or two, I am sure he has had withdrawal symptoms.

We are diving with backtobasics in Ponto du Ouro who we have dived with before. First dive though I manage to flood my underwater torch (total user error and hugely frustrating!). It was a clear water dive with amazing visibility though extremely cold, by their standards, with a thermocline delivering a bracing 19 degree water to us. We saw some of the usual things including large clams, nudibranch and potato grouper.
The next day the water had changed in viz but had thankfully warmed up, guess you can’t have it all! With a couple snorkelers on the boat we were also looking for dolphin and whale. The dolphins were in the bay and we took the time to ride along some of them prior to the dive. Upon entering the water we could immediately hear the song of the humpback whales, this song continued for the duration of the dive. While I was deep in concentration trying to photograph a nudibranch a rather large potato grouper snuck up behind me giving me a start when I turned around. We were also treated to a very large hawksbill turtle, a ribbon tailed ray and a cobia which look uncannily like a white tip shark at first glance. Back on the boat we tracked the whales for a time, enjoying the elegant grace of them sliding through the water.

It’s not only the sea that holds the appeal of nature. Even in camp while enjoying the sunshine, watching the breaching whales and relaxing we have been entertained by the blue headed/tree agamas (lizards) bobbing their heads at each other in the hope of mating and of course the birds which soon fly in when you are sitting still.

A further few dives in Ponto to the humpbacks song but unfortunately it’s time to move on.

Some under water pictures and the typical issue currently in Africa – driving next to a perfectly tarred road while they complete construction.