Part 1: December 24 – 31
Home Sweet Home
Christmas Eve was a cloudy and rainy day in Ponta, the first we’d had since arriving on the 20th. As you can imagine it made us miss home a little more than we probably would have if the sun had been shining. Along with some ex-pat members of the DevOcean team we headed out to celebrate Christmas the Ponta D’Ouro way – greasy food, card games and something called a Sowetan Toilet (if you’ve gone far enough to google it then I’ll just say that it IS as bad as it looks). The evening was spent playing cards and swapping stories on the deck of Café Batuque, which overlooks the main shopping hub of Ponta and the big, blue beyond. Somehow I still managed to find my way to bed before 9:00.
Christmas Day also started out rainy and chilly, but after an hour the clouds moved off and we decided to cure out homesickness and headaches with some time at the beach. Let it be a testament to the power of the ocean that floating for a while with the sun on your face can cure any ailment, physical or mental. I spent the rest of the day catching up with my parents on the phone, sending a couple of sappy emails and sharing Christmas traditions with the other DevOcean-ists. After a meal of steak and spinach I was off to bed to get some rest before the big events of Boxing Day.
The morning arrived, and if I ever thought I was done with waking up excited at Christmas this day brought me back to Grade 4 when all I wanted to see under the tree was Dream Phone. The sun was barely up when I woke to a 4:45am alarm. I brushed my teeth, slapped on a bikini and sunscreen, and walked the 3 minutes to Dolphin Encounters for the early morning launch. This cozy little wooden building is smack in the middle of Ponta and houses information on all the dolphin species that can be found in the area. After a fire in 2010 a new structure was built to house the company that has been working as a non-profit since the mid-90’s to monitor dolphin populations in and around Ponta D’Ouro. If I remember correctly their primary subjects are bottlenose, spinner and humpback dolphins.
So anyway, we’re sitting on the front step of this place at 5:00am, a full 30 minutes early. In my excitement I hadn’t eaten breakfast, which was not the wisest decision, but I was prepared to deal with the consequences. At 5:25 people started showing up and after a detailed description of the research being done and what we were and were not allowed to do on the water, we set off for the launch.
The surf launch is something that I haven’t written about yet, and it can’t be fully described without pictures to give justice to the heart-pounding thrill of the entire process. The first time you realize that you’re about to go through waves in a boat fondly referred to as ‘rubber duck’, even your earlobes start to sweat. My first surf launch way back in Sodwana Bay and although it does get less scary, it never fails to give you a morning thrill. On the skipper’s orders you start by pulling the boat so that it’s facing the surf and then drag it into the water. Once you are armpit deep you’re allowed to hop in, which takes more upper body strength than most people (or just me) possess.
Shortly after your bum has landed you are given a life preserver that ties in two places and told to secure your feet in the floor straps. You are also strongly encouraged to keep your back as straight as possible and hold on tightly to a rope that runs the length of the ducky. The skipper has constantly been watching the sets come in during this process and now has to judge the correct speed and angle to get everyone safely on the other side of where the waves break. Although it sounds harrowing you usually get a good splashing and come out on the other side laughing and feeling like you just got off a roller coaster. Coming back is also just as exciting because you ram full speed onto the beach where the boat comes to a halt and keels over to one side.
Landing
On the day of our dolphin swim the water was calmer than usual and the conditions seemed perfect for viewing a travelling pod. Usually once a group is spotted the skipper pulls the boat in front of where he thinks the dolphins are headed and gets people in the water as quickly as possible. He has to spot and observe the direction of the dolphins, pull the boat around so that it’s in their path and drop everybody in safely while keeping a constant eye out for waves, other boats and rogue mammals (people included).
After about an hour I was thinking that we probably would have to rustle up another $30CAD to try again the next day, when a guide spotted a pod of bottlenose dolphins not far from us. Everything after that happened so fast, and we were swimming within 5 minutes of the sighting. As soon as I put my head in the water I could hear their high-pitch clicking noises and it wasn’t long after that before a single dolphin swam over to us and stopped for a minute while waiting for several of his friends to catch up to him.
Within a 10-15 minute period we were in the company of several bottlenose dolphins and one humpback, who looked us over with mild curiosity before swimming beside or underneath us and continuing on their way. They were close enough to see all the tiny marks and spots on their bodies, even to catch a real feeling that they were checking you out rather than the other way around. I was smiling from ear to ear that whole day and would have been content with dolphins as the highlight of my vacation until the amazing events of the following day.
Within a 10-15 minute period we were in the company of several bottlenose dolphins and one humpback, who looked us over with mild curiosity before swimming beside or underneath us and continuing on their way. They were close enough to see all the tiny marks and spots on their bodies, even to catch a real feeling that they were checking you out rather than the other way around. I was smiling from ear to ear that whole day and would have been content with dolphins as the highlight of my vacation until the amazing events of the following day.
December 27 - I went on a morning dive at Pinnacles with a pretty lively bunch, including some students doing their Advanced Open Water dives and two clowns from Ballito. Pinnacles is said to be one of the best shark dives on the continent and is about a 30 minute ride offshore. The place is legendary for sightings of 30+ hammerheads in one dive and loads of game fish. I was beyond excited for this dive as I had never seen sharks on a dive before even though, as Carolyn says, "Technically Jill, we're always diving with sharks when we're in the ocean".
The maximum depth was 37m and we only stayed there for about 6 minutes before slowly making our way back to the surface. I swam along with a potato bass for a while and enjoyed the feeling of being so deep. Shark sightings usually happen in the blue of this dive, so as we were ascending we all did circles and tried to scan the water for any shape or sign that we were in the company of the world's greatest predators. At one point in the distance about 30m away we could just make out the shape of a Zambezi or bull shark. It had the classic and unmistakable shape that made my stomach scream SHARK, but moved so slowly and calmly that we just sat and watched it move out of our field of vision. A few meters further and we were in closer company with a single and lonesome hammerhead, who at one point turned towards us before realizing that we weren't as interesting as he thought. After that we had an encounter with a couple of ramoras before hopping back on the boat.
Although I was impressed with our two-shark sighting everyone else seemed to be a little less wowed, until the whale shark happened. On our way back we noticed that the skipper was taking us on a different route and at a place close to shore he stopped by a boat belonging to another dive company. The other divers were in the water snorkelling with a young whale shark who slowly moved around them as if they were flotsam. As soon as we saw him I felt an extreme restlessness and was itching to get in the water. Everyone grabbed their masks and snorkels and slipped back in, with a warning not to touch or annoy our big baby. And he was only a baby.
Because whale sharks can grow up to 12m as adults, this 4m darling was still a juvenile, but in spite of this we felt puny in his company. He had a large, looming figure and swam slowly even though we were within touching distance. He didn't seem to mind us getting an up-close look, and at one point he came towards me and I could see his mouth working around plankton and small jellies. It was almost comical to watch his huge mouth moving as if he was having a large, slow motion laughing fit.
As I got back on the boat afterwards I had the feeling that very old people must get when they've accomplished all their life dreams and produced lots of progeny. I could die happy. Even though I had a small Portuguese man-o-war wrapped around me (a favourite of whale sharks) I was on a whole new level of vacation. I had joked about seeing a whale shark since arriving in Ponta, but hadn't actually counted on seeing one. Anything I did after this would be minor compared to my amazing morning.
Over the next four days I rode out my whale shark high, took a mildly successful surfing lesson (much more could be written on this but I think you've suffered enough for now), and danced on the beach as the new year began. Actually, I was washing my hands in the ladies room and had to run to find Carolyn when the countdown ended, but I didn't feel like I missed anything because of the time difference. Everyone at home would have just been finishing supper.
Each new day in Ponta drew me a little closer to the locals (and by this I mean the South Africans who have made this place their home), and even sharing a story or two around the fire made me understand why people moved to this remote part of the country. All together the company, food and adventures made for a very relaxing holiday.
Boy selling chameleon on the street
View of D'Ouro from Malongane
