One great thing about scuba diving is that no two dives are alike. Last week-end I had a good reminder that scuba diving can also be an extreme sport.
The scuba diving clubs that are based on “Petite Terre” or around Mamoudzou make most of their dives in “La Passe En S”, it is indeed a great place to dive but one needs a change of scenery from time to time. The north and the south of “Grande Terre” offer a great choice of dive spots which are really different from “La Passe En S”. We headed to Boueni on Friday evening to avoid driving for an hour on Saturday morning to the diving school and we spent the night at “Le Soleil Couchant” in bungalows. I really recommend this place as it is quite cheap and has a great restaurant, you can't go to this place without trying the “Cari Crabe” where you will have the challenge of eating a very large crab. Even if you can't eat all the crab you won't regret it.
On Saturday morning we went to the diving center and were on our way to the diving spot as soon as our gear was ready. The instructors didn't want to waste too much time because they wanted to avoid the tide. It took us almost an hour to get there, we were around 12 on the boat and to avoid confusion when it would be time to go in the water each team would dive at a different spot. We were the last 5 to go so we had plenty of time to get prepared. As soon as the boat driver found the right spot with not to much current we jumped in the water and as it was an open water dive we went underwater facing each other: that is when trouble started.
As I was going down I could feel the strength of the current increasing, the floor was around 5 meters deep and I had to grab it to be able to move in the direction of the instructor. In those case grabbing the floor allows you to go forward without getting tired from trying to palm against the current. The more I would want to go down, the more difficult it would get for me to do so. At the same time as I was fighting to move forward, my mask would fill itself with water in a mater of minutes. When you dive with a moustache the mask will not be able to stick properly to your skin in the area located just below your nose, thus it is common to have to empty the water in the mask two or three times during a dive. But in this case it was like my mask was filling with water as fast as I would empty it. Behind the coral reef, the current would throw us back on the reef, it would be very difficult to find balance and on top of that I had the impression my mask was filling even faster. In normal conditions I have no problems emptying my mask and putting it back so that water doesn't come back in too quickly. I was using one hand to try and steady myself but you need both of them to empty your mask properly or can use one hand if you are in good diving conditions, I tried to empty the water repeatedly with one hand but no success.
I was feeling panic starting to take over so I showed the instructor the sign for “I'm not feeling so good”. He took me to a place where I would be able to sit and was a little bit protected by the current. I then took my mask with both hands, emptied the water, put the mask back on, looked left, looked right, looked at the instructor, made the sign “I'm OK” and we went on with the dive. If I would not have been able to solve that water in the mask thing I am sure I would have asked to go back to the surface. The four of us each have used a lot of air during the beginning of the dive as it was quite an experience but as soon as the current strength lessened we managed to start breathing properly again and ended up staying underwater for almost 50 minutes (I usually dive for a minimum of 60 minutes). The instructor congratulated us because he expected the dive to be finished after only 30 minutes.
It was a tough dive but I believe we have learned a little bit about ourselves during those 50 minutes.
La suite!
Last week-end I went to a small town on the south-western part of the bigger island of Mayotte called Boueni. As I live on the smaller island of Mayotte, this trip gave me the opportunity to see the difference between the two islands.
A few minutes after exiting Mamoudzou and the cities filled with poor people that are the suburbs you get to see some nature. The smaller island is not as green as the bigger one because a lot of trees have been cut down to build roads and housing. You don't get the pleasure to drive under the trees. The bigger island doesn't have a lot of inhabitants so you can drive for a while before seeing any house. It is always quite fun to think about the life of the people you pass by, some of them have never been to the smaller island even though it is so close. Whenever you start to be hungry don't hesitate to stop when you see some boueni (woman in the local language) selling some food on the side of the road, you will find some local vegetables and fruit and they will be cheaper than in the city even though they come from the same place. In a way the smaller island is quite urban, I really like what the bigger island offers in comparison.
I stayed in a small hotel called “Le Soleil Couchant”, the owners were very welcoming and for 30€ I got a nice wooden bungalow. I had to share the toilets and the bathroom but for such a cheap price there was no reason to complain. I didn't forget to spray some mosquito repellent because I didn't want to fight with mosquitoes when I was having diner or when I was chilling on the terrace of the bungalow. There was no need to go far to have diner, the hotel was also serving food for an excellent value for your money; I ate a great crab cari that filled me up real nice. To be fair I mostly concentrated on the crab and left the cari on the side. I really enjoyed myself when opening the crab without the tools because there is no better noise when I am eating crab than the sound of shell breaking under my teeth. I took my time to eat this crab that had claws as big as three of my fingers. I would have gladly eaten a second one but one had to be reasonable and the home made chocolate mousse was a great way to fill what space was left.
In the morning I tried the home made mango-vanilla jam for breakfast and then went for a walk on the beach. Boueni doesn't have the most beautiful beach in Mayotte thus it is not packed with people but it is still worth a look, I was almost alone on that pretty beach. Close your eyes and think that you are on a sandy beach with colours varying from brown to light yellow. There is no one around you, the only sound you are hearing comes from the wind and the waves, the water temperature is 28°C and the sun is gently heating your body. I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to be there and the people living there know that very well. It is a great place if you want to be alone with nature.
Scuba diving was my end of the week end activity. On the way to the diving site we saw what looked like a fin. We first thought it was a guy snorkeling but no one was convinced. Everyone was curious so we headed the boat were the weird shape was, it could have been a dolphin or a shark. It was neither, once we were close to the shape we found out that it was a turtle or to be more precise it was a dead turtle with no head, no legs and no tail. The poor one had probably been eaten by a shark who couldn't eat what was in the shell because its mouth was too big. The diving instructors knew someone who was studying turtles and they wanted to bring the shell back to the shore but where could we tie something with no head or legs available. We then tried to get the shell out of the water but it weighed a ton and with nowhere to properly grab the thing it was almost impossible. We decided to keep the shell steady for a few seconds so that I could take some pictures to bring to the one making the study. This dead turtle didn't stop me from having a great dive because I forget everything when I am underwater.
La suite!
I am now in Mayotte! I have been here for almost a month now and it is a real change compared to La Reunion because Mayotte is like Africa.
It doesn't look like it when you step out of the plane but Mayotte is a part of France and it will soon become the latest French county. I soon got the same feeling I used to have when I was spending my holidays in Africa. Everybody is staying and living outside as it is extremely hot. There is no cafeteria in the schools so the kids all go home at lunch time and they meet again in the streets in the evening while waiting for dinner time. Everything is slower around here because of the heat, even the locals who drive don't go faster than 40kmh; you wonder sometime if they are afraid of going faster to not disturb the way things are. It is quite common to see women lying on the side of the road: why move around when it is so hot?
If you do not have a lot of money, your house will be made of metal sheets and the fence limiting your property will either be made of braided palm leafs, metal sheets or straightened recovered oil barrels. If you have more money, you will build your house room per room; it is quite common to see houses where each room has an external door because the use of the room will vary over the time. In this case you will find on the roof the metallic rods that strengthen concrete ready to support the extension of the house and on the side the stairs which will one day lead to the first floor once it is built. You have to be very careful when you settle close to those houses because one day you have a great view of Grande Terre and the next you only get to look at the neighbour's bathroom. Whatever the house you can always count on one thing: there will always be a satellite dish on the roof.
There was a water shortage for a few days two weeks after my arrival. We were surprised the first time it happened when we came back from work, we told ourselves that we would be able to take a shower in the morning but there was also no water in the morning. It is always nice to go to work smelling like yesterday's sweat and I can tell you that thinking that you are not the only one in the neighbourhood in this situation doesn't help much. In any case we told ourselves that it would not last long but it was the exact same thing when we got back to work the next afternoon. It lasted almost a week, we would be checking the tap in the evening not to miss the moment when we would be able to take a shower. It is funny because the schedule for the water shortage would be printed in the newspapers but it would never be followed. The company in charge of the water released a statement saying that there was a problem with a water pipe when in fact they were replacing the old ones with new ones. This is what they call communication in Mayotte.
I am a m'zungu, it means foreigner in the local language. Most of the m'zungus living here are either doing peacekeeping work (military, police, customs), health work (doctors, nurses, child doctors) or teaching work. Each time you will meet someone you will be part of the guessing game: You're military? No? A teacher? No? You're a doctor then? No? So what are you doing here are you on holiday? It seems that their imagination stops once the obvious choices have been exhausted. The m'zungus and the locals live in separate worlds but thankfully school is where all the kids interact. The m'zungus who work in the law enforcement often act as cowboys even when they are not on the job just creating some aggravation for the locals. Most teachers come here for the money, depending on their pay grade one teacher can get up to 100000€ incentive for a 4 years stay here thus Mayotte doesn't get the most skilled teachers nor the most motivated by their work. Thankfully some people understand that Mayotte is a special place and don't expect everyone to act the same way we act in France; of course those people are the one who have the best life here.
La suite!
