Bay Diving Newsletter #35 August 2008
“SOLD”
For once the rumours are true. It is with a cocktail of emotions that I write the last of what can only loosely be termed a newsletter. Although this, more than any other probably fits the bill. The news being that we have sold Bay Diving. See, even as I wrote that I burst out crying and laughing at the same time. Having spent one fifth of my life (and a more complicated fraction in Arthur's case) confined in this paradise, it is time we go west.
So we are emigrating to the other side of the bay. That isolated point opposite the restaurant that you thought was an island. There where the sun says goodnight. There where there is no restaurant, no employees, no leaking toilets, lost keys or unannounced visits. Where there is, in fact, nothing. Nothing except natural bush and surrounding beach. We will build a small house for ourselves but the plan is clearly not to develop too much.
Felix the Pig has been fitted with water wings and a snorkel for the journey and Jock is just tying up loose ends regarding paternity claims and pension fund and said he will walk around and meet us there rather than have to put one of his three feet on a boat. There has been some concern amongst the animals regarding the issue of food as they have correctly predicted a sharp decline in the amount of Tbones which they have become accustomed to.
From 01 September 2008 Bay Diving will be in the hands of Louis and his family, who will be taking the lodge to the next level, quite literally, as they build on the lower slope and develop timeshare type houses on adjacent property above. At the resort you can expect an upgrade on the accommodation, new and bigger boats, maybe a jetski or two and other entertainment features which I will leave for them to introduce. They hail from the Cape in South Africa and bring with them a fresh approach to lodge management which probably doesn't include hurling abuse at clients, definately doesn't involve midnight sessions on the beach with Captain Morgan and war stories and hopefully doesn't acknowledge the (holey) Speedo as an official uniform of management.
The sale does include the recipe for Amarula Tart and a huge book filled with all the tricks learned over the years to keep the pool clean (a relatively new addition), the restaurant stocked and the taxman happy. Still to organise when we hand over is a personal tour of the prisons and basic training in gogga identification and handling.
Anyone who has built anything in this country has stories, and fistfuls of their own hair, to illustrate the frustrations encountered when working with the building masters as well as the incredibility at the wanderlust of bags of cement which travel almost as often as the tools. (reference Newsletter #1 through to #34) Louis is an expert on a radical new form of eco-friendly house building which uses a system of wooden frames packed with sandbags. (see http://www.sustainablesolutions.co.za/ - it looks a lot better than it sounds)This new form of construction is both economically and environmentally viable, and you will be able to see it put in practise at the lodge and for those of you visiting our new house.
Bay Diving will continue to operate as a dive lodge, and you can make all your enquiries and bookings to the same number and email address as before. fimdomundo@teledata.mz The website will change, it is not confirmed to what yet, and will be linked to our existing one: www.fimdomundosafaris.com We continue with our other company WaterWorks and our email address will change to waterworks.moz@gmail.com The famous Fim do Mundo trademark, while still belonging to Arthur, will continue to be used to market Bay Diving as it has become inseparable. If you are now confused, please bear a thought for those of us dealing with the admin behind all this!
Our dhow Ietermagog is of course, not part of the lodge sale. She has been overhauled during a six week sojourn in the port and came motoring out at twice the speed she went in. We managed to get almost the same amount of paint onto her as we did ourselves, and she is a sparklingly beautiful aquamarine colour, with gorgeous oiled wood finishings and interiors. With a bit of creative engineering the cabins were enlarged slightly and new mattresses have been cut and covered. The most welcome addition for some is an electric button next to the toilet which flushes away your deposits without you even having time to recount.
She will be based with us on the other side, and available for liveaboard charters in the months of April to May and September to November to explore within and beyond the bay where you can get your dose of abuse, rum, Speedos etc. All land based accommodation can still be enjoyed at Bay Diving, and even if you're not keen on a long trip, the option is still available to join us on a whale watching expedition for a few hours as the Humpbacks make their grand entrance into the bay as usual this year.
Our fantastic Swazi chef MaryAnn is also off on her travels in September and we thank her so much for the contribution she has made here. While I will never miss the kitchen, I will always remember the giggles we had in it. We have had the brilliant and also the less than shiny staff over the years, the loyal and the not. I won't list them all, but they know how they fitted in here and the impact we had on each other's lives, and they have been blessed or cursed as is appropriate. There is a profound statement which applies to this special place. It doesn't translate so eloquently, but the gist of it says "Here there are no rules, but don't anyone dare break one."
Thank you for making Bay Diving what it is. Everyone who has been here has contributed to her unique character. And don't worry about us, we will send smoke signals from the point when we need more beer.
Cheers from Arthur and Sarah and the soon to be traveling zoo.
WaterWorks Lda and Fim do Mundo Safaris
Arthur Telephone: +258 82 5116925 / 82 3042908
Satellite phone: 881631546816
(send a free short message to this number via www.iridium.com otherwise standard costs apply for satellite calls)
Email: waterworks.moz(at)gmail.com
hearn.sarah(at)gmail.com
Site designed and developed by Gnu
World. Website
design, e-commerce, development, hosting, translations, content creation and promotion.
Copyright © Gnu World and its licensors. All rights reserved. |
