Dr Fridjthof Nansen

When we boarded the boat by jumping onto the gangway from the little boat, we were shown to our cabins and were stoked to find out that we had an awesome room. The only drawback was that there were four of us sharing but hey, it’s a great way to get to know people really well. Cabin mates include: Charine Collins, friend from Masters, Kate Munnik, office mate for a month in June, Sofia, Madagascan PhD student. We had a quick tour of the ship, all ~50m from stern to bow. The most important areas were the galley (mmm food), the labs and the “day room”, where the 50inch plasma screen lives.

We unpacked and were familiarizing ourselves with everything. The ship was waiting for some more people to arrive, so we were able to go on land for a walkabout that evening and on an island tour the next day.

It was a bit strange walking around because people were staring at us. I suppose it was a bit unusual to see so many foreigners arbing around.

The next day we went on an island tour which consisted of a drive to the north of the island, through villages and constantly changing landscapes, to the gorgeous crater and to the best beach on the island (according to our local guide, Joseph). This was the BEST beach that I’ve ever been to in my life!!!! The water was something like 27degrees and so clear, the beach had white sand and palm trees, perfectly tropical. We spent some time swimming and snorkeling in the water and had coconut drinks (see pic in previous post).

It was an awesome day. We went back to the ship and started sailing to our first sampling station. And we got our cruise on!

Since then, it's been a mixture of hectic work and then hurrying up and waiting. Ship life has been interesting at times, but more about that later.

Liefies to you all!

Peace!

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Pics for SId

We went on a tour of the island and ended up at this beach...


View of our hotel with the volcano in the background

Le Grande Comoros

We arrived and were carted onto a minibus, almost like our SA taxis, with half our luggage strapped to the roof. About eight of us were squashed into the back of this taxi and we set out on our drive to our hotel. The drive from the airport to the hotel was 20km away but due to the giant pothole, cars driving like mad and people walking on the side of the road, it took us about an hour. We were very happy to get to our destination in one piece. Along the way, we got a glimpse of the island, with tropical vegetation meeting black larva and white beaches, with the poorest people I have ever seen. Gugs is like Monaco compared to some parts of Moroni. There were so many hecticly contrasting scenes.

When we arrived at our hotel, we found out that we had all been given our own rooms. The rooms were really great and they had aircon, which is such a relief in the hot and humid weather. We had supper at the restaurant which took the form of a large open-air patio with wrought iron tables and chairs and beautiful candles. The smell of ylang ylang permeated through the air as we indulged in the local cuisine. I was adventurous and tried the only non-fishy local dish which consisted of lamb liver, kidneys etc. The Kilimanjaro beer went down like a dream.

Aahh, Moroni.  We were bushed after our long journey, so we went on a little walkabout around the hotel and discovered the swimming area in the dark but couldn’t see much.

In the morning, we awoke early to make the most of our time on the island. Our group leader told us that we had to be packed and ready to board the ship by 11. So we missioned to the swimming area at the crack of dawn (no, not that crack and there was no-one called dawn). The water temperature was approximately 27degrees, Durban eat your heart out!  The swimming area consisted of a slipway that was surrounded by black lava rocks. The ocean was a clear blue shimmering delight (cheesy but true). Some of us snorkeled and saw some fishies. We eventually left the area after our stomachs protested and we made our way to breakfast at the restaurant.

On our way to breakfast we met Joseph, a budding entrepreneur. He told us that the Grand Comoros supplies about 90% of the world’s ylang ylang essential oil, which is used as a base for all perfume. And he just happened to be a ylang ylang farmer. So he convinced us that we should get some along with some vanilla pods. He then told us about his side business, think this was his fourth business, of tour operating. What a guy and what a salesman!!! He gave us the low down about all the options and costs and we were keen to go on an island tour but we had to board the ship in a couple of hours. So we hatched a plan with him to take us into town and see the market. The five of us squashed into his Peugeot and off we went.

The market place consisted of many stalls that were stocked with all sorts of stuff, some that were about four metres high with hanging shirts. We went to the centre of the market place which had the meat and fish sections. There were carcasses hanging around in the open with flies everywhere and the smell… The fish were also just lying in water and some just in buckets with flies everywhere. I had a flashback to the meat that I had eaten the previous night and had a bit of a panic attack and felt slightly ill. Anyway, so the ichthy guy bought some red fish, which he believed was a new species.

We then moved on to the stalls with the baskets and colourful wraps, and we got a bit carried away. Six baskets, three wraps later, we had to leave as our time was up. We tried to buy some spices from some merchants but language and the constant chirping at us made us change our mind. Not sure what the chirping was all about but we thought that it was because we were wearing shorts and little tops in the midst of conservative women, who were covered except for the faces…

We hopped into the car again and then off we went to collect our bags and we went straight to the harbour. We were stopped at the harbour gate and after a little karakara (Comorian word for bribe) we were let in. We offloaded everything and waited for the little boat to arrive to take us through to the research vessel. The sun beat down on us and we felt like Patrick and Sponge Bob when they were in the bait and curio shop (in the movie) under the lamp. After loosing about 5 litres of water in sweat, we were picked up and boarded the Dr Fridtjof Nansen Research Vessel. Aaahh, the ship had aircon and water! Yay!!  And ofcourse, we finally made it onto the ship!!!

That’s all folks…well, for now.

More to follow soonish.

Liefies en drukkies!

Cape Town to Moroni, at least they didn't send us to Dubai first

From the moment we stepped onto the plane in Johannesburg, I knew that this trip would be one that I would not forget.

After touching down in Nairobi we had some time to kill in the transit lounge. This was my first time in Nairobi and it was so interesting to see all the different kinds of people sitting in the airport. I saw this one guy who I guess was from the “jumping” tribe (remember that movie about the basketball guys from Kenya, I’m sure you’ve seen the movie, he was probably an extra), he was so tall. The most interesting person that I saw sitting in the transit section was this old Muslim man, he was wearing his traditional Muslim attire (long white “dress with pants” (help, Sid) and a fez). The thing that struck me was that he was so black and the beard that he had been growing for who knows how long was red!! I guess this shows my lack of knowledge or experience, but I’ve never seen a black person with red hair before. It was so cool. I tried not to stare and I think I managed to get a couple of peeks with out him knowing.

So then we get on our flight to Maroni, the capital of the Grand Comoros. While enjoying our in-flight meal, we find out that we are going to fly over our destination and land at another island to pick up some other passengers. This was all very well and good, as the islands were so close that it would take only another 30mins to get to this other island, Mayotte. It was so cool to fly over our destination island and to see the rest of the archipelago, with the coral reefs and amazing colours of the water. We touched down and waited for the rest of the passengers to get on while the temperature in the tin bird started to increase. We thought, ah well, it won’t be long before we get going and the aircon will kick in. WRONG. To be continued…

Taking a leaf from Sid’s book and leaving it there.

NOT, I freaking hate that!!

Anyway, so then the plane fills up with people, there’s not a seat left. We all are excited to get going and then we start watching the safety video again, as the temperature on the plane slowly starts to creep up. At this point we have not moved an inch, and the captain informs us that there is a technical issue that needs to be sorted out and we should be on our way in 5mins. All fine, except it doesn’t take 5 minutes. The technical issue with the plane is that the starter is not working and they cannot turn on the aircon until the plane starts. We were sitting inside the plane, with 80 people, on a tropical island for 40mins without aircon!!!!!! It was gross to say the least. I though that I might faint. After 40mins they decided to move us off the plane. So then we have the chance to spend some time in the transit area of the Mayotte airport, buying bottled water at 2euros a pop!! About an hour later, we get news that the plane’s technical issue has been sorted out and we are once again on our way. We finally get to our destination, Moroni, at about 3pm on Sunday – travel time totaling approx 19 hours (for a trip that should have only taken us around four hours, bloody cheap skates!!).

That’s all for now, will post again very soon. Hope you guys are all well. Send me an email without any attachments to my gmail addy to let me know what’s happening on your side. Take care!