I have just returned from two trips.
First I went to East London where I ran a course with Tom and Nicci Swartz at Manta Marine. Wow, they have a really cool set up, very friendly people, with cars that have a personality :)
The course went very well with an excellent day in the swimming pool, on the diving day we were not so lucky, the notoriously poor conditions of East London saw the wind pumping and bad visibility on the Sunday morning, so no dives were done, but the divers saw huge improvements in their skill and breath-holds.I made some excellent friends in East London and look forward to doing some more exciting things with them.After East London I went straight to Durban.
This was my second course with this particular group of divers. The Crocodilian freediving group. Annelize, Eliska, Paul and Stuart formed the core of this group. Jay joined from left-field, I think they are all going to work well together. The purpose of this trip was to train the whole group to become more self sufficient, not just individual skills, but group and leadership skills, to cut the umbilical, so to speak. They are maturing into a wonderful group and I am hoping to see good things coming from Durban freediving as time goes by.
During this trip the conditions were also atrocious and it saw all of us throwing up out
in the ocean, although all divers hit their mark, something I was pleased about. It really does take a particular mindset to dive in our oceans.
Nevertheless, that experience did lead to us scurrying of to Shires quarry to complete the course. I had not been to Shires for 11 years. Last time I had been there a squatter camp had developed around it and it did not feel safe or hygienic. Now after 11 years, I was pleased to find the squatter camp gone, the water clean, the quarry surrounded by a security fence and a guard posted. It really is a pleasure to dive there now.
I am back in Cape Town now and preparing for some special things over the next few weeks... more about that later.
Right now Lesley and I are just enjoying some time together as she is leaving (again) in a week to go back to the Bahamas to dive with the Tiger and Lemon sharks, lucky girl...although, those trips of hers are flipping hard work, I went with her to Durban to do some photographic work once, it was a non-stop body of work, carrying cameras, cleaning equipment, packing, charging battery packs, planning shots...any excuse and I'm out of there. Nevertheless, I wish I was going with her...
