Tuesday 18 March 2008

Shore Bound for the Day


Up when Aldabra’s coconut crabs were still roaming in the hour before dawn we were all ready and rearing to go this morning for a full day’s diving, but those tricky tides fooled us and we were half an hour too late to get over the reef. Some of us sat patiently on the beach waiting for the sun to light the water and splash some colour on the grey heron fishing along the shore and the dainty crab plovers mingling with the shark fins. Most of the team spent the rest of the morning doing more scheming and discussing the dive scenarios for the week.

Later in the day James volunteered as shark caller and for almost four hours splashed the water from the rocks above with a mackerel baited bag, just enough to gather all the black tips into the small bay where we were photographing. The sicklefin lemon sharks are finally relaxing a little and not being as timid as the first couple of days, making it possible to catch a couple of images.

As if the tide against us wasn’t enough - again are plans for an afternoon of diving were thwarted when the boatman, Steven, informed us that the boat was broken! … and Dan had a “good feeling” yesterday about today!!! Luckily, whatever was broken was fixed by sundown and we will be heading out first thing tomorrow morning.

2 comments:

Pauline said...

Samantha - You do not know me (yet) but I am Tom's Aunt. I have been enjoying your blogs and read with great pleasure about the beauty of the area. I so look forward to following the rest of the trip and seeing more of Tom's pics on his website and future books. It is such a (still) beautiful part of the world. May all your work (and Tom's) keep some of the oceans intact for the future. With much admiration and appreciation for what you both do -with warm kindness - Pauline

Anonymous said...

Hi Samantha and team

my name is ken westergreen and am a seychellois with a long family history in the seychelles. i now live in durban but have a deep longing to be back home. the seychellois and language are fantastic. My question is this : i see from the map that there is a settlement on Aldabra or is this an old unoccupied settlement ?

Please post as many pictures as possible, a panaramic one of the islands would be great. Ta.

Im using someone else's mail at the mo - mine is ken2gaclaser.co.za