23rd May - Last day at Fansu's

Today's blog will be in two parts as David and I partook in different activities for the most part! Me first, me first J

 

I once again arose at the crack of noon, I could get used to this! I had some bread and honey for breakfast and watched David, Tony and Fansu depart on their sea fishing trip. I had no regrets about not going, I was very happy to laze on the beach all day!

 

I decided to go for a dip in the sea before I started my sunbathing. So off I went, bypassing four men playing football, two of whom worked in the restaurant. Those two decided to swim as well, well in fact they splashed rather than swam as not many Africans can swim seemingly. Then one of them said "I have a present for you" and presented me with a necklace. I said "Thank you, that is very kind of you." He instructed me to shut my eyes while he put it on. After a bit I opened my eyes (as a couple of large waves had wiped me out because obviously with my eyes shut I couldn't see them coming) and I found the guy leaning in to kiss me! I shrieked and ducked out the way, and he said "You are welcome, you are welcome!" (which they say a lot here, normally said in a nice way but on this occasion I was thinking I don't think I want to be welcomed!!). As soon as I could I made a hasty exit out the sea and shot into the truck were I stayed for most of the morning! I was very alarmed as this has not happened in Africa as yet, teach me to drop my guard!

 

So I ventured outside a bit later and plugged myself into my iPod and took my book out. As soon as I appeared so did the two guys, but I made a point of looking busy and eventually they gave up. The hassle continued intermittently all afternoon however, with things said such as "He will be a good husband for you" and "You have to write to him", despite my retorts of "I have a boyfriend in England" and "No I already have a boyfriend!". Now you can see why I pretend to be married to David most of the time!

 

My other event of the day was finding an ingenious use for gaffer tape – for waxing my legs!! So I spent a busy few hours with the tape and my tweezers and they are looking a lot better than before! I wasn't really bothered till I started meeting other English people, but seeing as we have another whole roll I went for it. Good travelling tip there!

 

Lunch passed uneventfully and a while later the fishing crew returned. Apparently it was quite rough and Fansu was sea sick, so I was definitely pleased I didn't go! They were out for 3 ½ hours as well, a bit of a long time in the midday sun for me I think. Soon after this I washed my hair using Tony's shower. It is a great invention, involving a container of water that heats up in the sun attached to a hose with a little motor and shower head on the other end. It was pretty powerful and was fresh water, so my hair is feeling a lot cleaner although looking a little fluffy thanks to the sea breeze.

 

Tonight the teachers have come to wish us goodbye and we are having another campfire. I have ordered prawns for dinner, I say prawns but I really mean prawn as there is only one and it is HUGE! The size of a small lobster, which is the reason David is sticking to fish tonight I think. Our last night will be a late one I think, it will be sad to leave Fansu's tomorrow but I am looking forward to escaping the recent advances!!

 

My turn now (David that is).  Just a quick report on the fishing trip.   We hired a pirogue, one of the local all-purpose boats, this one with an engine (but some of the smaller ones only have sails).  They're made of long, shaped planks, I think the length of the whole boat, stuck together with pins and caulked.   They're long and thin, ours was about 25' long and about 4' wide, and have a very deep-v profile.  This means they cut through the waves nicely, but it also means they lean all over the place, and have a tendency to broach with a following sea.   The fishermen are used to this, and were happy to stand up with the boat veering around with water slopping over the gunwales, but it didn't come so naturally to us.   (Tony says the pirogue we had today is much more stable than the last one they went in.  Glad I wasn't in that one!)

 

The pirogues also have a tendency to leak quite generously.  You could easily see the water slopping in between the planks on ours, although it had been patched with fibre glass and matting in places.   This doesn't perturb the fisherman, who have a sturdy bucket for bailing it out.

 

We headed out to about a couple of miles offshore, where it was still only about three or four metres deep.   On the way we had to avoid some shoals and reefs, where you could see the surf breaking.  Some other boats were already out there, so we were in company in case the boat sank.   (The crew and Fansu were wearing lifejackets – as Nicki observed, most Africans can't swim – but Tony and I would have to take our chances!)  We anchored and cast out our lines, using some European-style rods and reels which Tony brought from Spain.  The local fishermen seem to use heavier lines, which they reel in and out on small wooden frames.

 

We used squid for bait, and to start with had plenty of nibbles, but not so many bites.  I caught the first fish, a grouper of a few pounds in weight, and then the second one.  I also caught a little catfish, which are not so good to eat, but can be dried and eaten.   Occasionally one of us snagged a rock, and the fishermen, who are used to recovering as much of their kit as possible, would manoeuvre the boat around and pull the line until it freed up.

 

At one point we pulled up next to a much smaller pirogue with two fishermen in, and they had some whomper fish, including some gurnards and something which looked like a sea bream, all at least three feet long.   I'm not sure what they were doing that we weren't, but they had been out all day, which probably helped.  Their tiny boat had a sail instead of an engine, and given the instability of pirogues, I think it would have been a bit hairy with the sail up.

 

We were out for three and a half hours, and the final tally was:

            Tony:  1 fish, 4 rocks, wasn't sick

            Fansu:  1 fish, no rocks, was sick 4 times

            David:  3 fish, 2 rocks, wasn't sick

I consider this a good result.  At the end of the afternoon we motored back to shore through the reefs, broaching like crazy, and at the last minute surfed in onto the beach, which seemed a bit touch-and-go to me, but of course the fishermen are totally used to it.