mlindt
Marc Lindt
Avatar Picture by Gina Jen 2012
121 posts
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Last Seen Blogs
jwhitneynix
here i am.
zi-phonium
Zi-phonium
minamicache
Untitled
jwhitneynix
here i am.
jwhitneynix
here i am.
Text
Farewell Melbourne - back to Switzerland
I got up around 7.30 - probably old habit - called home and then organized my luggage. 48 kgs for the checked luggage. I had purchased 10 extra kgs for the first leg, as the allowance is only 35. The ongoing flight to Zurich isn’t a problem due to the upgrade and my status:-)
I also had included a breakfast in my last hotel booking to be sure I get something on xmas day. It was ok, however overpriced. Never a good idea to include breakfast.
After breakfast I got my car from the nearby car park and stuffed all my luggage in the trunk and on the back seat. I had decided to make a tour before heading to the airport and Queenscliffe seemed to be a good choice to see the Sea at the exit of Port Philipp Bay.
The drive was about 1 1/2 hours and was designed to allow me to drive back easily to catch the plane.
I arrived at Queenscliffe around 11.15 and saw, that there was the ferry across the bay loading people... I calculated quickly, whether this would work, as the ferry only departed 12.00 and needs 40 minutes to get to the other side. A quick check on the GPS showed that from Sorrento (the other side) the drive to the airport would be about 1hr 40 minutes... tight, but doable.
I boarded the ferry and watched a seal playing in the water.
Lots of tourists, quite a few nikabs and turbans.
I drove rather fast and needed also to get some petrol... but made it safely to the airport, fixed the claim for the GST and got to the counter of Singapore AIrlines, where a nice xmas surprise waited: an upgrade:-)
Off....
0 notes
Text
xmas eve in Melbourne
I was picked up by my freinds at 6.15pm. C. was quite happy to see the mangoes, as it was apparently something she was promised a long time ago by her sister and it had never happened. We drove to a friends, , a couple (aunts of the kids) in Yarraville.
It was a really nice xmas with nice food (one of the hosts is a chef) and nice conversations. The two dogs were running crazy, but in a good way.
We had Oysters, prawns, mussels to start with, then pork belly, a spicy cabbage salad, eggplant sslad with eggs, ocean trout and rice, accompanied with a nice Rosé from NZ, where one of the hosts comes from.
It was nice to have a bit of a ^n xmas feeling with the tree. The tulips however were confuding me a bit;-)
As the next celebrations will happen tomorrow (for all of them, noit me), we had a reasonably early departure and left around 22.30. I went back to the hotel, just two mangoes left for me, which is perfect. This allowed me to have a call home and write a few xmas wishes. Sadly this is the last night in Oz, even though I also am looking forward to get back home.
0 notes
Text
Melbourne and bush
I was in bed at 2am, but still got up at 7.30, hoping to catch some sleep later. Call home and packing, as check out was at 10 and I had an appointment at 10.30.
Flinders St. Station
I took again the tram and had another nice juice, before heading to Federation Sq. to meet a former coworker. We had a nice coffee and filled each other in about things that had happened. I admire his and his partner's engagement for foster children.
Still needed to do some shopping and went to Uniqlo. As I was invited for dinner by Riesling lovers, I started looking, but decided to go to my good old Dan Murphy store in Prahran, in which neighbourhood I had lived back then.
Well, today everybody has a smartphone..
First I deposited my heavy luggage in my new hotel for tomorrow and then I drove through my old neighbourhood. I found a parking spot near the WIne shop - and a guy exiting gave me his parking ticket. Neat!
I found my wine and decided, a swim at my old pool would be good for me and drove to Richmond.
Richmond City baths, where I had swum many kms
Again romantic feelings because of all the many times I was there.
From there I headed off to Daylesford, where some other friends live. Actually I had met them on their Europe trip back in August.
We had an apero and then they showed me around, which ended in another apéro.
Very nice neighbourhood indeed.
A lovely home cooked dinner and lots of discussions, especially also with their 15yo son, were concluding this nice eve. Called home quickly despite my really bad desire to sleep...
0 notes
Text
Back in Melbourne
I arrived back in Melbourne with a 45′ delay, but the exit from the airport and to my rentalm car was super smooth and I was on my way to the city in no time. s I had prebooked the car park, I could drive straight there and was again in no time in the hotel I had been before. Not exaclty the same stunning view, but still.
I had agreed to meet another friend from back then for dinner, but still had time to think about how to pack my stuff to make sure I didn’t need to pay excess baggage fees.
At 7.45pm we had agreed to meet just across the bridge from my hotel.
The weather was superb and we walked to her apartment nearby, because she wanted me to see it and also because her son and a friend of his (actually a famous singer) was there, whom I had also met years ago, even in Europe. It was great to see them and have a quick chat over a glass of wine. The apartment is really great and so central. I’d love such a place...
... with a view:-)
My friend and I went then for dinner in an Italian restaurant nearby and shared a lot of stories that had happened in bioth our lives since we had met 6 1/2 years ago, when I was last in Melbourne. Time flew and we were even “thrown out”, as it was already past midnight.
I understand tht my footwear is a bit questionable, but since Fiji I cannot really wear shoes;-)
The Tirami-su was served in a special way, but was yummy.
She had just a short walk home and so did I - we made a promise to not let again let 6 year s pass to meet again - whereever.
0 notes
Text
Melbourne to Brisbane
I was woken up by the sun rising behind Melbourne Southbank, which was my view from the bed. Awesone. I had my call home, then packed for my short trip to Brisbane, keeping most of my luggage at the hotel. The fees for luggage are just outrageous, hence I packed light.
I went out and walked through half the square block of Melbourne's CBD to find a store for the Australian boots. I was lucky and found all the sizes and styles I needed to buy and was even given a quantity discount;-) From there I went to look for a Vodafone shop to top up my data for my hotspot. It turned out that I had used far less than my hotspot showed, so I guess, I will be fine till I leave.
My next target was breakfast, and I bought a nice fruit juice and then fresh strawberries, which the girl at Woolworth's washed for me. A joghurt, some Muesli and a Latte and I was all set. Time was already kinda late and I rushed back to the hotel, this time catching a tram, which is free in the City centre. I also bought some Alka Seltzer with lemon flavour, which I had finally found at a Chemist:-)
At the Hotel I deposited my heavy luggage and went to my car to go to the airport. I had called the Rebtal car company whether I can park the car at their space rather than paying a fortune for long term car park. The answer was yes. Cool.
At the airport I had to walk a bit as this time I was flying with Jetstar. Check in was extremely fast and automatic. With a short delay I flew to Brisbane to meet a German couple I know from back then. We hadn't seen each other for 6 years, back then they lived in Singapore.
My friend picked me up at the airport, quite tricky, as there is absolutely no standing. So he was waiting in a holding area and drove up the moment I called him.
We went for a drink at the sea shore and it was great to catch up after all this time. We went back to their home, where his wife was already waiting. As it was already 6 PM we drove to the ferry to get us across the Brisbane river (probably full of Bull sharks:-)) to our dining place.
The dining place was an old electricity plant turned into event hall and restaurants.
I chose - which I do rarely - veal liver with potato mash, a salad, veggies and for dessert a sorbet, that almost killed me with its sour taste. A nice Shiraz accompanied the nice meal.
Back at their space I shared a few pictures from Fiji.
I slept nicely under a fan - quite a necessity in the damp heat.
In the morning we went out for breakfast again near the sea shore. The waiter was so gay, it almost hurt;-)
My friend then drove me to the airport.
In the news they just said something about an attack with a car in Melbourne at Flinders St....my hotel is at Flinders St. Apparently no terrorist background. Well, well. It happens when it happens.
Now I am waiting for my - delayed - flight, looking forward to catch up with more friends in Melbourne😃
0 notes
Text
Arriving in Melbourne
The flight was announced to be potentially late due to a heavy thunderstorm that had built over Sydney during the hot and stemy day. So our plane was waiting at the runway for about 30 minutes, as only one runway was operational and international flights somehow had priority.
It was breathtaking to see the large planes depart with a huge fountain behind; I took a video of an A380 of SIngapore Airlines, even though 10 minures earlier the 747 had been even more spectacular. I posted that on FB.
The flight was unexpectedly calm and the clouds really beautiful:
A nice small meal and at arrival in Melbourne the clouds were again playing up
The process at the airport was really quick, I had my suitcases in no time and alsothe rental car and followed the old tracks on Tullamarine Fwy and Flemington Road into the city. It is always a special feeling to see Melbourne’s skyline in the distance. My GPS was unfortunately not functioning properly, which was a bit of an issue in the streets of the CBD, as there are a few One way streets and a lot of different signs not to turn. I finally arrived after a biit of an Odysee and had to rush off for dinner with Ralph, whom I had met last time in Zurich. I saw on FB that he is also in Melbourne so we agreed to have a dinner, which we took at a lovely small Italian place which apparently (he knew it) hasn’t changed since years.
We had a good chat and I walked with him to Flinders Street station, where he took the train.
I walked along Flinders Street to North Melbourne, where my Hotel/Apartment is. The view form the 25th floor on to Southbank is fabulous, can’t wait to wake up with that view.
0 notes
Text
Farewell Sydney
Got up at 7am and went straight on to call home to make sure we have enough time before it gets too late there. At 9.30 I inquired about the check out to learn it is 10.00. I apcked my stuff and went to the car park, where I left everything in the car. I still had my exit ticket for the afternoon, hence I decided to take public transport and walk till then.
I walked to the Train station Town Hall, but made a quick detour to Hyde park, as I had seen some sculptures there I wanted to make a picture of:
reminded me of my army service;-)
I got on the train to Milsons’s Point, first station after the bridge, where I had driven the day before by car. Bloody expensive toickent with A$4.20 for 2 stations...Anyway the trains are really comforatbel and clean compared to back then and I remembered that the Zurich S-Bahn had actually copied the Sydney double decker trains.
I went straight to teh swimming pool and this time entered to have my first real swim for weeks. The water is salty and I opted for the fast lane. It was not really busy and I could swim my 2.1 kms under a very hot sun.
I was very happy to have managed this, because it was a ritual for me, when I lived in Australia to go there, when in Sydney. I also went there on every visit.
Id ecided to walk back into the CBD over the Cahill Walkway and documented this with a go live on FB:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10212970385727744&id=1634454265
My friend told me yesterday that teh bridge climb costs about 350 A$ these days, but there is a cheap option to go on one of the pillars, not as high as the highest point but still, and pay only 15 A$. I did that and it was really nice. Full view of the opera House, not like behind the fence on the walkway.
I went into the CBD and ws hungry, ate a salad and had a coffee.
Just a nice city view with huge trees.
Then I headed for the car park to get the car and drive to the airport. All very smooth, even found a petrol station nearby. The guy from the car rental saw my plastic bag from Migros and mentioned he had a been in Switzerland.
Off to Melbourne!
0 notes
Text
Heavenly Sydney (cont’d)
On the way back from Bondi beach after lunch I felt like just going across the Harbour Bridge, which I did. Took the first exit and drove down to the Sydney Olympic Pool in Kirribilli.
The view from here is just fantastic, the Bridge, the Opera House, the Harbour and its ferries, the pool and the Luna Park.
It was a moment of reflection, as it is so beautiful here that I just thought for a moment... what would have happened, if I had stayed back then end of 1999? Also the moments shared with my ex partner came back up.
As I had only paid for 27 minutes parking, I rushed back to my car and then drove all the way back to the hotel. I quickly ate a lemon tart and drank a latte, then inquired about a cheap barber shop nearby. They told me at reception that even in Chinatown, there is no such thing, as we are in Sydney CBD... I found one that was marginally cheaper than the other: 45 A$ instead of 50+, but only got an appointment for 5pm. So I had a good chat with my friend from Berlin who just got out of bed.
The haircut was ok, double the price of my Zurich Kurdish hairdresser, but I really needed the haircut, my hair looking like a Koala.
I had just time to get dressed after that and walked over to Darling Harbour, where a former work colleague from back then had organized a table at a Malaysian Restaurant.
Darling Harbour seems to be owned by the Accor Group with three hotels right next to each other...
I met my colleague with another ex colleague (her successor in HR back then), her daughter and her new husband. We had a tasty Banquet meal and it was also great to catch up and compare notes.
We did a selfie after that with Darling Harbour x-mas background:
I walked back to teh hotel and had a chat with home (lunch break). Tonight early bed time after yesterday’s rather disturbed sleep;-)
0 notes
Text
Heavenly Sydney
Monday 18th I woke up at 6.15am (local time) and couldn’t really sleep again. Guess the two hours difference to Fiji and my constant getting up early there kept me awake. I had a nice long call home and then had to move the car, as I wanted to get into a 24 hr mode that would allow me to pay only the reduced fee (still 35 A$) by the hotel. I wanted originally to go to Kirribilli to the Australian Olymmpic pool under the Harbour Bridge, but then I had another call with a friend, that took longer than expected.
I got quickly out to get a brekkie (Juice, Caffee Latte, Banan bread) an had a bit of a walk around town to buy a few things. Bloody difficult to get unsalted Macadamia nuts. I found them in the “Nut shop”;-)
The recent vote and legislation about same sex marriage get here even the churches to raise the rainbow flag:
At 12 I was picked up by a friend, who was the company lawyer, when I worked in Australia. We kept in touch and have met a couple of times in Australia and in Switzerland since my return (1999). He has remarried and is now with a beautiful Ukrainian woman and her lovely daughter. We drove to Cronulla, where he owns a flat on the marina and a boat. On the way his wife and I went to buy some fish and chips (Barramundi) and once arrived at the marina, we loaded the boat (the first real one on the left) with a few bottles.
We drove out, the sky was a bit overcast, but temperatures nice and waters calm. There was a forecast of thunderstorms, but it didn’t really look like.
We made it to a nice beach, which can only be accessed by boat or then with a huge detour by car and walk. It is a natural park with a pristine beach.
We had to jump into the watre to get all provisions at shore. The water was surprisingly cold, but refreshing.
We ate a but, had a couple of glasses of nice Chardonnay and then got on a short walk into the bush.
At an outside point we could again see the sea and even some dolphins in the bay.
playing funny with my friends daughter
more posing with them..
And then a nice group photo.
We walked back to the beach and I was fascinated by the bus and the wilderness.
At the beach we continued with some wine and bubbly and got more and more relaxed.
As I didn’t have any plans I was invited for dinner at their place and we made our way back to the marina.
Dinner, then a nice long chat with my friend and I must admit a few more glasses;-)
I must have fallen asleep in a split second after laying down around 11.
I woke up from the noise of birds at 6.15, but felt, I needed a bit more sleep. And so was my friend, who originally wanted to go out with the kayak onto the bay. Again a rather overcast sky, but nice and warm.
We had a quick coffee and then drove into the city, fortunately at the tail end of the rush hour. I had a marvelous time and was in the hotel at 9am. I quickly had to move the car again to avoid the fine and drove around the block.
My call home was hence a bit late as the time difference is only 10 hours from here. After that and a bit of reshuffling my agenda (Melbourne) I went to Bondi Beach by car. In the meanwhile the sky was blue and it was really hot.
I swam and then had a nice salad and an AUstralian light beer.
...to be continued
0 notes
Text
Australia - again
The boarding process was painfully slow due to a partial strike of the personnel on the ground, and the Tax Free delivery guy apparently slept and forgot the time of departure of the plane and arrived just in the last minute. Grrr or in other words a last glimpse of “Fiji time”.
I watched the movie “Jungle”, which plays in the Bolivian Amazon with Daniel Radcliffe. Soso.
Weather en route was nice, nearer to Australia more overcast.
and before landing a real thick cloud layer
The way through immigration is a piece of cake these days with all teh e-gates and soon thereafter I had my luggage and was waved through as well.
Immedialtely after exiting quarantine / customs I bough a new SIM to be online and then walked to teh AVIS counterb to get my car. In hindside I wouldn’t probably have needed one, but with my 4 suitcases it was definitely easier.
When driving into the city I had viivisd memories of the driving. But I don’t know why, but I missed the right exit (Flinders Street) and had to circle around to find the hotel at iverpool street, resp. the Parking at Kent.
The receptionist immediately informed me that my luggage probably doesn’t fit into my room... I was a bit surprised. the room is tny but functional and I repacked and stored two of the four baggages in my car.
Sweets in a window nearby
The hotel is very central and I walked into countless Asian restaurants. Unfortunately, the one I had set my eyes on, just closed - it would have been a Phô. Instead I continued my walk to find Hyde Park - which is in a wooden scaffoldage for refurbishment - and the Oxford Street.
I ended up in a Lebanese place for dinner and had great food, first a cauliflower salad with chick peas and pomegrenade, then grilled octopus on baba ganoush with oranges. Yummy. After a long time with no lcohol, I had a Tassie beer, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Pinot Noir and for dessert a Muscat Wine from Lebanon. Delicious but filling, as I also had a dessert with orange sorbet or custanrd and strawberries. All in all super yummy.
I walked back to the hotel, had my call home and will sleep well, given the two hours lost...
0 notes
Text
Departure from Fiji
A normal start at 6am, but without swimming to avoid having a wet towel and not to rush to say good bye to everybody at 7.20 before they left for diving.
Breakfast with Tobias (as usual speechless), Corlaie and Annika - they have made a little farewell drawing for me:-)
After saying goodbye to all (Kelly, Gauthier, Kate and Sydney from staff, and to the remaining volunteers Annika, Coralie, Dakota, Peer, Thomas, Michelle, Mats, Sophia and Tobias. I brough my luggage to the front.
A last view of the room I had spent many hours in:
Kitchen, dining and assembly room
Some wisdom...
and more...
The schedule board “Moce Marc” means farewell.
Oren leaves as well tonight, so I said good bye to him as well. It’s funny what to say.. “have a good life” is probably appropriate.
Lily drove me to the Arts village, as she was off to shopping, which was convenient. She dropped me at the bus station:
Art’s village; I was only theer abot 3-4 times, bought my first mangies here:-)
Locals just wave at every car, hoping to cathc a ride; one a car stops, the car is thoroughly loaded with people...
Post Office Deuda/Arts Village, where I have sent a handful of postcards from
My heavy luggage (checked in 38 kgs); I will need to repack for Melbourne-Singapore, the limit being 35;-)
The bus arrived super punctually at 9.30, but was rather full, so the first part of the travel was a bit squeezed.
I read a blog about the bus riding at crazy speed and then they started Titanic on the video. Lol.
Just 1/2 hour outside the area, stuill on the Coral Coast, the weather was much better:
The ride continued and so did the movie... I made it to the moment, when they saw the ice berg, then I had to get out at Nadi (pronounced “Nandi”) Airport.
Check in was smoot, also immigration - despite the fact, that the extension of the stay beyon 14 days was never processed. Itwas however sufficient to have logged it and paid for it.
Virgin has no lounge here :-) and I was hungry, so I had to buy a Whopper at Burger King. Now I have to wait till my flight leaves...
Moce Fiji!
0 notes
Text
Last day on site
Iwoke up at 6am and wanted originally go swimming, but then decided otherwise, as it was very windy. I was obviously early for the door to be opened for the kitchen, but then indulged in a papaya and my muesli.
I had plenty of time to make my call home, as we had agreed that we would decide at 9am, who’s joiningforthe waterfall trip (another waterfall a bit more remote). Due to the rain in the night, the guides canceled the trip on short notice. I decided to go to Suva instead and boarded the 9.30 bus.
I was lucky, there was no rain and I walked around the market, had good look at the fish market, went back to the handicraft stores to buy couple more Masis (prints) and also went to a clothing store for some shirts. I recall that Hawaiian shirts were in fashion 2017, hence I looked for the most decent ones;-)
Intrigued by the Chinese boat with all its Satellite antennas and radar equimpent - what are they up to here?
x.mas shopping offers in the local market hall
This time I was on time for the fish market to be buzzling. Not that I like the site, but I was wondering what they sell and what sizes.
Another picture of the Chinese ship...
A spotted eagle ray, sad.
the dotted one looks like Whale shark, but it is actually sun fish
A big Grouper on sale
the veg market is more colourful and nicer
No rain, all of them are outside (I heard it was raining heavily later)
Sea weed sold by the happily smiling local women
just bought some handicraft items (bad resolution due to slow connection)
I even made a video walking back to the bus station:
https://www.facebook.com/marc.lindt/videos/10212939587997820/
There was a bus within 10 minutes and I was back at site at 1pm. No lunch for me, but Annika, Coralie and Mats were in the kitchen complaining that there was no prepared lunch. Kate then helped them out making some pancakes.
I had to charge my gadgets and hence stayed a bit in the main room, before heading for a - maybe last - swim to Uprising. The sea was really choppy and the swim a struggle, but it was good to be in the water. Bart was there and studied a book about fishes.
Maybe farewell, we’ll see tomorrow morning (but the forecast isn’t promising)
At base I showered and put my - meanwhile almost dry - dive gear in the room and the bag. I had returned early to still see Bale, the lady looking after our apartments, to say good bye.
Bale, always a Frangipani flower behind her ear, a real sweet woman. Today her three daughters and a cousin were with her helping her clean.
I had a good long chat with Sophia from Austria, a typical example for wrong first impressions. She is looking forward to the 3 months, but it’s still all a bit new. She’ll manage and being in the same room with Coralie and Annika will help.
We waited for the pizza to arrive and then ate the weekly special treat (...) with Michelle, Mats, Thomas, Peer, Tobias, annika and Coralia. Today also Bart got his share, which was good.
Let’s see how the evening develops. Guess I have to pack. It starts raining.
0 notes
Text
Free Friday with diving
&am start, but no swimming due to the scheduled early dive. Breakfast after 6.30 though, as Kate opened the door only just after 6.30am. This reduced also the time to be able to call home, as the taxi service picked us up at 7.30 and brought us to the BAD base.
Today Annika, Coralie and Mats had their Advanced course and Bart, Oren, Dakota and I had our extra dive. We learned that the first destination will be Shark Reef, but wothout feeding which means, we can go into the arena and have even closer encounters with the bull sharks.
We descended slowly from the side and spent about 15 minutes in the arena, the bull sharks just 2-3 metres away, but with no wall and feeders with sticks in between. Awesome. Unfortunately the visibility was bad, but still the closeness of these majestic animals was humbling.
On the way up we swam slowly through the area with the white tip reef sharks, one couple even courting and biting each other. Due to the long bottom time at 30m, I was getting out at 20bar.
(Link to pics and vids will follow, when synched with dropbox)
We were obviously again all excited and shared our experiences.
Dakota (back), Coralie and Mats
Annika’s face, Dive master, Oren, Dakota (back) and a cut off Coralie
The whole group: Annika, DM, Oren, Dakota, Coralie, Mats and Bart
The same group drinking tea and eating biscuits. The surface time was 45 minutes to reduce the Nitrogen in the body.
Mats, Coralie and Annika enjoying a break
The second dive took us to the site 7 sisters, which are 7 pinnacles with a nice wreck. We went down and tried to find the black frog fish living there - and found it. Also a banded pipefish was there, nice. Also I saw my first nudibranch in Fiji.
We continued through the pinnacles and went through a swim through. Nice coral, better visibility than at Shark Reef and just a great dive to end my Fiji diving:-)
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dhd5o78uwpoupkp/AAB6dAB-IDae0NXlW_1KhQZUa?dl=0
This time I had to pack my dive gear and bring it back to project base (Ventura apartments). to rinse and dry it. Unfortunately the weather isn’t that good. I hope it will dry a bit till Sunday, when I fly to Sydney. I guess I will have to hang iit all up to dry in my Sydney AC’d hotel room;-)
I was planning to go to Suva this afternoon, but with downloading the GOPRO pics and rinsing my stuff I lost time and was only at the bus station at 2.50pm. There should have been a bus, but there wasn’t or I had missed it. Back at base I decided to go to the Arts Village instead and Annika also wanted to go there. She was keen to buy baking ingredients and I wanted to buy yoghurt for my last 2 brekkies here and some T-shirts or shirts.
We went back and Annika, Coralie and Peer went strait into baking mode.
Oni supervising Coralie, Annika and Peer making cookies - with loud x-mas sound coming from the loudspeaker.
The room filled later, but the real baking was done by those three.
Another pic of the bakers.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m1rxehwp1zfjsva/IMAG1545-vid.mp4?dl=0
At 5.30 pm Chicken burgers were ready, ahich Oni had prepared (and convinced me to stay for dinner). The cookies were baking, some a bit too much, when smoke came out of the oven...
Oni had asked me, whether I could make sure the kitchen is ok, which I did. There was a spare Hamburger for Bart, which I had guarded with my life, but someone just had eaten it (i.e. e second one) - omg, these spoilt brats are so uneducated (well, some of them, mainly the boys). How low. I confronted them, but nobody has any knowledge of it...Anyway the five weeks are coming to a close and while everything was really great, this stupid childish bevaiour was really a low light.
Farewell from Oni and Ma and Lina was sad, we really had an excellent report - and so it was pretty much with all staff.
Guess I stay home tonight and have an early swim tomorrow - weather permitting. The plan is to go hiking to a waterfall with MaryAnne and two local guides. So far only Bart is in. We’ll see.
0 notes
Text
Last working day on project site
With an early dive start, there was no time for a swim, as I still had to eat my breakfast and have my call home before heading to BAD (Beqa Adventure Divers) for my last “Shark dive”. Papaya is now in season and I prepared one for me for breakfast
The morning was actually beautiful and I was looking forward to the dive.
With me were Oren, Mats, Annika, Sharifa, Bart and Peer, all duly excited for the dive to come. We picked up some other people from “Uprising” on our way to BAD.
On site it first looked like Ben, the marine biologist, would be on our boat, but he decided to be on the other boat with the paying tourists. Too bad. But we had a good crew and headed out to the dive site “Shark Reef Marine Reserve”. As I have done this dive now already twice, it was kind of routine: more weights to be stable kneeling and laying down at 30, resp. 25 m.
Peer, Sharifa and Bart waiting for things to happen
Sharifa, Bart and the “feeder” on their way out to the reef.
The first dive at 30m kneeling was already spectacular, as meanwhile 25 Bull sharks are around, some females after having given birth, some pregnant females, some with mating scars, some younger sharks and only few males. The scenery was breathtaking and the visibility very good.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f4yp74j9kk3tif4/AAAAcqx7BN2Zsz1QqU0eL9zHa?dl=0
Annika and Mats excited for the second dive
Annika, Mats, Oren and Peer waiting in between dives
The second dive was at 25m and the Bulls kept coming. Unbelievably close. An extraordinary experience.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gjteyezz24urcsb/AACoOthhjYXi9Aozuzf0yVeja?dl=0
This was now my third shark dive with BAD and they do a really great job. The Bull sharks keep coming and going, once pregnant, once juvenile, once after giving birth, etc. They also take regularly some tissue samples to check whether their diet is too much dependent on the feeding – which so far it isn’t as the bull sharks are seen in other parts as well.
We drove back to base, all super happy with what we have seen today.
I was dropped at Pacific Harbour Arts Village together with Sharifa, Annika and Bart. I was there to send a couple of post cards and go and buy some small presents for staff (chocolate). I walked back to project base, as Bart seemed to stay and the girls had left already.
Lunch was fried noodles and I was eager to download my videos and pics from my GOPRO. In the beginning it showed “nothing to show” and I was already getting nervous, but then, somehow the pics and videos appeared and I copied then asap onto my PC.
I had something to read through for home and missed the 2pm deadline for the start of the “Sustainable work”. When I joined them at 2.30, they were already done, they had planted some seedlings for watermelon and other stuff. We decided to play all a game of Volley ball, which was enormous fun and ended in the pool to “refresh” (the pool is at 28 degrees). Again this was huge fun and I had to rush to get showered and changed for the shark dive debriefing at 3.30pm. Sydney came to let us know, that there is a delay. We were hanging around waiting, as also the weekly meeting had been pushed back to 4.30. A quick debrief and again the excitement to have seen 25 bull sharks.
The weekly meeting started and given my upcoming departure I was chief and had the Kava drinking under control. I had to order a couple of “Tsunamis” (big bowls for people, who made remarks or the like. I thanked the team for an amazing experience and was thanked likewise. I will see almost all staff on Sunday morning early, but I had to say good bye to MaryAnne, the local volunteer, I had a really nice report with. We sat around chatting, mostly staff and the music and Kava were giving it the nice weekend feeling.
Dinner was Meat Balls with Pasta and Salad, which was yummy. I prepared a bit of pineapple. Annika was also still sitting there and we realized that there will be no morning swim together anymore, as we both have diving early tomorrow, she has it as well on Sat and on Sunday, I have to be early to say goodbye to the whole group (going all diving in the morning).
I went to my apartment, passing the “bull shark* apartment, where Tobias, the new guy from Denmark was walking around. I had a chat with him and gave him a few tips. Then I went definitely across to my apartment and finished the day screening my pictures and videos.
0 notes
Text
Last land based work & survey dive
First a post scriptum for yesterday:
The names of the sharks we learned are in the following presentation, which also suggests, which specific traits you should look for to distinguish them:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sr4aohd5353rs31/Meet%20SRMR%20Sharks.pdf?dl=0
And then, Bale geve me a Frangipani flower to go out for the survey in the city yesterday and Annika made a picture:
Now to today’s events:
I woke up at 6am to a beautiful morning and met 6.15 with Annika in front of the building to walk to “Uprising”. She went jogging first and I started my swimming laps, which I now made 200 x 3 down and back up the beach.
Back at site, the normal routine, brekkie with fresh papaya and pineapple and then my call home.
Land based would have been the feedback for my project time, which I had completed already last night, hence I volunteered for data entry. ANd that was, what I did till 12 - using my computer and Hotspot to have a decent response time.
Lunch was quick with a sandwich and off we went to the dive site for my last survey dive.
The water was a bit choppy and we decided to go to heh Shark reef for the first dive. We were today accompanied by Lily, Gauthier and Kate, so the boat was quite full with 13 divers.
We dropped the BRUV and then moved toThe first dive was super cool. We knelt down (as with the planned shark dives with feeding) and waitied a bit. A couple of bull sharks came a bit closer and also a Grey Reef Shark. We decided to swim along the wall and then it really got interesting. Out of a sudden, there were 5 bull sharks, coming really close and being a bit inquisitive. That felt more real than the feeding, as there was in some instances nothing but water between you and a fully grown bull shark:-)
We were all really excited and hardly wanted to leave the site.
Gauthier, Lily and Kate
Gauthier Bart and Lily
Michelle very concentrated on her “data” job
Annika twisting her hair and Ace the captain
the back of Oren, Mats, Michelle
The second dive was at Combe and was a Coral dive. Gauthier claimed he saw a Bull shark, but visibility was really bad and I didn’t. Anyway it was a nice slow coral dive and I even managed to go a bit deeper than 18m (the limit).
We drove back to the dive base and I inquired about the chance for a wreck dive on Friday. it will happen, but in the morning, as they don’t seem to have anybody for the shark dive that day. Cool.
Mats and Corali
Gauthier joking with Dakota and Oren
We drove back to base, I had my shower and dinner was already prepared. Sate with ta nice peanut sauce.
I cleaned the kitchen with Annika, as Bart (kitchen duty with Annika) was still in the Arts village. When we were done, he came back and I had a chat with him. He was a bit annoyed about the noise during the night, when the boys come back from the “Establishment”. I am lucky, as I am sleeping in the outmost corner and hence don’t hear anything.
I was sitting with Mats, Sophia, Thomas and Sharifa at the pool, when they decided (except Sharifa) to go to “Establishment” as well. Just don’t feel like it, actually Bart the same. So, it will be an early night, which is good for the early shark dive tomorrow.
0 notes
Text
Shark ID and LEK
Woke up from the rainfall at 5am an fell asleep again hoping for it to be over by 6am. It was the case. I met Annika outside and we headed to the Uprising beach for morning sports.
There was still rain in the air, and in a distance you saw the rainy curtains against the sunrise. Swimming was nice, as the water was reasonably calm. I swam my 300 x 3 freestyle strokes and - as Annika was only just starting to go swimming - accompanied her with breaststroke for another 15 minutes.
We headed back for shower and brekkie and I had my call home.
At 9 we were distributed into groups and Oren and I were on to Shark ID, which menas looking at distinctive features at a particular shark to reconize it later. There are about 120 named Bull sharks in the region, from “Bold” and “Blunt” to “Corners”, “Coke” and “Crush”, mostly after their fins being damaged in a certain way. Those 5 I could identify on my last 2 shark dives.
After this introduction by Kate I was checking tha database first and then looking at my own shark videos to try to name the ones I had shot. It is really difficult, especially when there are many just swimming over each other.
Lunch was remains from yesterday and fried rice. Also they had bought pineapple and papayas - as the mango season seems to be definitely over.
Local staff ate again some of the fish caught yesterday while waiting on the tagging checks:
At 13.30 Lilly, Kate and Sydney were informing about LEK (local Environmental Knowledge survey), which is regularly performed in nearby villages, today in Navua. We distinguish between people who fish and theose who don’t and it is all about getting a feel for the perception of the locals.
We drove to Navua and got out with our survey sheets. We (MaryAnne, Sharifa and I) went as a team, Coralie, Michelle and Annika were the other team.
We did quite well, our first interview partner was a women, who does sometimes fis. She considers sharks as a dangerous pest that should be eradicated. Interesting for a Fijian, as the shark has a religios meaning and is kind of a god, but then again, Fijians are not Fijians and there are a lot of immigrants, like Indian and Chinese - and they obviously have a different concept. We then interviewed a few others, including some rather intoxicated fishermen, but willing to answer. A lot of them don’t fish for sharks, as one is not supposed to. One of them benefits of the payments of the BAD shop doing shark dives, as he lives it the village benefiting from the dives.
In the break time we had an ice cream and some indian sweets, before heading off a second time.
MaryAnne, Sharifa and I.
The second round ws completed quickly: I asked a policeman and two fishermen and the answers wer mostly similar. No shark products. Nice. Of course we were not at all judgmental when intervieweing, which was a bit difficult, when the lady talked about eradication...
MaryAnne was critical, despite her love for sharks, as she said she could understand the woman, as for her, feeding her family, sharks are a nuisance and a danger. Obviously rich Westerners can have a more “educated” view, as it doesn’t harm them.
Lilly, the lady in charge at the project site was our driver and satisfied with our work and showed her gratitude making faces;-)
We returned to base at 5pm and this conclused our wiork day, while the others were going tagging. I wonder whether they will be more successfulwith more overcast skies.
The indian sweets still sit in my stomach, ich Guess, I will not eat much for dinner...
I went swimming another time at the Uprising beach and met - Anniak, who just came from a walk. We walked back to base together and just about arrived when it started raining.
Dinner was ready: Fish or eggplant with a jummy pineapple chili sauce and potato gratin (Oni had asked me what I liked of her kitchen and I had answered potato gratin and here we go:-)
We had a nice chat with Annika, Sophia, the new girl from Austria and Michelle and I went for a shower. Going out of the main room the tagging crew had already arrived back. They were half lucky with a Guitar fish (Bottlenose wedgefish) - which is actually not a shark, but a ray (with the gills on the belly).
I wanted to have my shower, but Oren was in ours for the longest time, so I remembered that our apartment is now - after Verena’s and Svenja’s departures - empty, so I used the girl shower.
I helped Michelle and Coralie a bit in the kitchen, when the water stopped running. Fortunately, Kate was still in, so she led me to the switch and now I know, where to switch the water back on, if there is another stop.
It looks pretty rainy and I wonder, how tomorrow will look like - for my swim, but also for our Survey dives. Let’s think positive.
0 notes
Text
Mangrove Monday and Tagging
I woke up at 5.15, when Oren came into the room. They (he, Dakota and Thomas) had an early start to go to the Beqa Resort for their Tiger Shark dive. I had tried to get a seat as well, but then pulled out after we had seen a Tiger shark on the shark dive with BAD (Beqa Adventure Divers). They do it purely commercially, while BAD is doing it in the Marine Protected Area and accompanied with monitoring, etc.
I fell asleep again and woke up at 6 with my alarm. Annika wanted to accompany me to go swimming, but I got her Whatsapp at 6.00 that she would not join today. I had an early start then and made my way to the beach, finding a choppy sea, but a beautiful morning.
After my swim I went back and had my normal breakfast, loving my Greek yoghurt with the muesli. As I knew that I would have to work in the Mangroves I allowed myself some fried eggs and hash browns and a pancake (a treat on Mondays and Thursdays). The followed an intense call home working through a few items.
At 9 we went to the Mangrove nursery (Sydney, Michelle, MaryAnn and I) and worked through a lot of pots, emptying them and recycling the good pots (1/2 Pet bottles of 2 l), tossing the bad ones. Also there were a few propaguls that showed life and we saved them. It was hard work in the heat of the day, but we made good progress. I needed however another shower before lunch.
Over lunch Bart had called BAD for an extra Wreck dive on Friday afternoon. I had brought that up and he got on it. It needs 6 people and costs 240 F$ p.p. I hope we can get the team together…For Saturday Bart has suggested to go to another but wilder waterfall. Surely I don’t mind to join on my last day.-)
At 14.30 we departed for Tagging (see description of last Tuesday), just a small crew: Annika, Coralie, Michelle, Sharifa, MaryAnn and I obviously guided by Gauthier and Sydney and Al-Fan (driver and very capable fisherman).
For bait we had Black Snapper, and Gauthier was this time prepared to drop a drum line with a fish head to see whether we could attract a big shark.
Due to high tide we could board the boat at the village Serua, where we had planted the Mangrove propaguls. We only saw a few sticking out their leaves, but were satisfied to see that they seemed to be surviving and growing.
I was on the boat with Sydney this time, again long line fishing, accompanied by Coralie and Annika. We drove out and prepared our long line. All went well and we drove into calmer waters to wait.
After an hour we went to see our line – nothing, and all the bait untouched.
Another hour of waiting in beautiful sunshine with a bit of wind and we went checking for the second time. – Nothing. Also the other boat wasn’t successful, with the exception of a nice Snapper that was caught by the gill net.
We left the other boat going to check on their drum line – they came back disappointed that there was neither bait nor hook, but a bitten of fishing line. There must have been something big, a shark or a big Grouper… but tough.
We went back to pick up our long line, again unsuccessful in terms of catch and Sydney showed great skills to roll an intermingled rope. We arrived now in low tide and walked back to the village, seeing our planted Mangrove propaguls nicely standing.
We drove back to find a nice platter of pasta in the fridge. After unloading, Coralie and I dug in and heated out plates. I went to my room and had a shower. Tired I finished my day.
0 notes