Unsung Hero

This was a very tough decision to make as their are so many candidates for Unsung Hero.

There is Alison, the resident marine biologist for the sharks. She has been working there for 2 years recording shark information and trying to get a database organised. She is also a BBBB but she kept making fun of my accent (don't worry Alison I didn't mind!)

Another Candidate would be Anthony - the skipper on the boat who has been working with sharks for 8 years and is completely mad.

Then there is Benz the deckhand who literally showed myself and the other volunteers Chad, Kevin and Roland the ropes.

Then there is Kari and Lisa (Mama Whale) who both work on the whale boat - and in Mama whales case sometimes on the water outside the boat!

Not forgetting all the girls in the office who do all the organising of trips (esp Natalie who managed to book me on a shuttle today even though she was 50 miles away in Hermanus - thanks)

In the end there could only be one person Jose Luis Zuniga - AKA Pepe



Pepe is Mexican and works on the whale boat with Kari and Lisa. This is the second time he has been over from Baja (where he lives and works with whales) for the Southern Right whale season but already he seems to know everybody in the area. So why Pepe.

Well I am being selfish - Pepe lives with us in the volunteer house and he just happens to love cooking and is very very good at it. He can work wonders with carrots, mushrooms and garlic producing appetizers that are out of this world. This is a typical side salad which he just flung together!




He has also been able to drive us drunken volunteers to and from the local pubs in Gansbaai as there is nothing of note near the house.

Cheers Pepe. I will have a tequila shot tonight in your honour!

Long Arm Dancing

One of the boozing sessions I had at the shark project took place at the local fishing club. They were holding a dinner dance after a fishing competition that had taken place between themselves and another local fishing club and Anthony, our boat skipper had managed to get tickets. He said (and I quote) "we need to get as many young people as possible to go - Ray your not invited!". I went anyway!

It turned out to be a very interesting evening. We got to the fishing club had some drink and then were given some food that consisted of some chicken and rice. After the food they started giving out the prizes for the day.

It seemed that everyone got some sort of prize. All the speeches were in Afrikaans which meant that I hadn't a clue what was being said. I did make out some words and phrases every now and then such as "Junior", "Senior", "Motor Oil" and I think "Take it up the ass" although I might be wrong with the last one.

After the prize givings (the other club won the overall competition BTW) the music and dancing started. This was when it became a little bit surreal. I had been informed about the dance they do in South Africa called the "Long Arm" but this was the first time I seen it.

The best way I have of describing it is like Teapot's dancing. The couples hold each other in the same way as normal waltz type dancing except the way they hold their hands which looks very awkward and reminded me of a teapot spout. They then twirled around the floor very fast almost like a foxtrot. You could tell they did it quite a lot as they were very good at it but it still looked weird. The music they danced too was also unusual as it seemed to be covers of popular songs translated into Afrikaans and played on an organ. I recognised some of the tunes which ranged from disco songs to country and western - mostly in Afrikaans.

We only stayed at the dance until about 10 when Anthony drove us to a night club called Montego's. It was full of very young (under aged) kids dancing away to all sort of recent disco music. It looked like your typical under aged night club. A group of teenage boys were prancing around in the middle of the floor trying to look cool and failing miserably. They were trying to look as if they were enjoying themselves but really they were only interested in moving in on the girls dancing beside them.

Then, all of sudden, another Afrikaans song came on, half the people on the floor disappeared and the remaining ones started teapot dancing! I nearly dropped my shot glass! We stayed there for about an hour before moving on.

The last place we went to was called Stall which I think means barn in Afrikaans - and that's exactly what it was - a very large barn with a video screen at one end and a bar at the other. You could have fitting a thousand people into the place and it would have still looked half full so the 50 or so that were there hardly made a dent in the dance floor. The crowd were older than Montegos and the music was more rock than disco but they still managed to do the teapot dancing whenever possible. We just sat at the bar doing shots (another straw rum sir!) and getting very drunk before going home to bed.

A very good night but I suffered badly on the boat the next morning!

Whale Watching

One of the great things about volunteering for Marine Dynamics is that they also have a sister company - Dyer Island Cruises which does whale watching trips. As a volunteer you can get to go on these trips free of charge. I have been on two trips the first was in such choppy weather that it was more of a roller coaster ride than a boat trip. As a result the whale watching was not that good.

My Second trip was fantastic. We got to see two sets of courting whales very close (as in one of them actually rubbed up against the boat!). As well as whales the boat also looks for penguins around dyer island then goes to Geyser Island where there is a colony of cape fur seals - thousands of them! Finally the trip can go and look at shark cage diving boats if there are any out at the time.

A very worthwhile trip to do - I'd recommend it (but then I am working for them!)