- too busy here !
The week started well with a couple of dives and best of all compressor training, the dives are getting better and better as I get to know the sites better and it's great to be able to identify the marine life you see.
But it's not all about the marine project here in Madagascar, we have a great forest conservation team that walk day and night collecting data and searching for new species. I had a bit of a quiet day last Tuesday so decided to take up the offer of a forest walk to site three which follows a dried up river bed up the mountain towards Lokobe nature reserve, we were undertaking an active search so had to note down any life we saw I was lucky to see a snake, lots of frogs, geckos, chameleons and lizards along with butterflies and birds. It's amazing being in the forest, you feel like you are in the amazon with so much going on around you, noises coming from all directions and a thick canopy above you. I had a great time time the forest and will definitely be going in again however I am a mariner at heart so you won't keep me away from the water that long !
As you may imagine rice and beans for every mean all this time has got a bit boring so when the staff offer you in on their burger night to say goodbye to minty you don't pass that up! All the guys were on meat duty making some hefty burgers along with bread, salad, chips etc. It was a great night, sad to say goodbye to minty but starting to get used to seeing people go now. We did have an entertaining night though that ended with us all forcing Margaux to draw things for us, I had a portrait done which I must say looks just like me !
It was Fred's last week and he had decided to undertake his Padi Rescue Diver course which was great news for us as for his exam we had to make his life as hard as possible which of course we did very well. Sadly we didn't make it hard enough as he passed with flying colours but had to leave us on Friday morning.
Mornings are normally early here however the past few days Kirsty and I have decided to do some sunrise walks up to site 8. The views are spectacular, the sun rises over the mountain ranges of main land and really makes you feel like you are in the lion king!
Cardiff would be very happy to hear that I am actually using my degree out here! Once our new D.O heard what I had done at university we started discussing the possibility of finding a new deep dive site for her training dives. After looking at our current nautical charts we realised they were pre 1980 and half in fathoms and half in meters, therefore I was tasked with finding us a new set. To town it was and after trolling the old university sites and a few new sites we managed to find some more accurate data, now with this we can go on some adventure trips and find some deep water.