Tuesday 25 September 2012

My first dip


Sunday September 21st


There was a good Internet signal when I woke up so I didn’t waste it and downloaded all the work that was waiting for me. After spending much of the morning on the computer I finally took the plunge this afternoon and tried the water. 

The continental shelf is very gentle so I had to go some way out before I was able to swim.  Last year I watched some local fishermen trawling with a net so I knew it would take me a good distance before I was out of my depth. They walked out about 200m keeping a similar distance apart and when the water was about shoulder high they dropped the net and walked back to shore pulling it between them. The water was very warm but quite sandy and although I didn’t see any sharks I did have a life or death struggle with a length of seaweed that attacked my back. It was a short swim, not for any other reason than the fact that the Lonsdale torso doesn’t even see the sun in England, so, although I had sun lotion on, I felt twenty minutes was enough over here.

I am the only guest at the YMCA at the moment apart from a one day stop over last weekend but the place gets quite busy in the evening (six or seven max) as it serves beer, spirits and soft drinks.  It also has a TV with a DVD so last night’s offering was the newer version of King Kong.  They’ll have to watch without me tonight though as I have been invited out to dinner down the beach with Cliff’s friends. The food here is good but tends to be repetitive  (the local Jamie Oliver book must only have two pages) so it will be good to have something different, as I know from last year that Helema, their cook, is very good. 

As I type the power has just gone off so I will not use up the laptop battery and will sign off until tomorrow.

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