We headed out to sea. Everyone started getting sick. The captain spent 15 minutes setting up all the fishing poles. Joel helped. Everyone got sick. The captain spent 15 minutes taking down all the fishing poles. Joel helped. We went to the beach.
The end.
:)
So, as you can see, not much came of our deep sea trip. We headed out this morning around 9 or so. We got picked up by the family who was hosting us- the mother of one of my students (we'll call her M1), and both of her daughters, and then went to pick up another mother of one of my students (M2) and her eldest daughter (the one in my class was sick). So, poor Joel it was him and 6 females. He's such a trooper.
We got to the boat, everyone got strapped into their life vests, it was good. This was my first time going out deep sea I suppose ever, although I know for sure I have been out on boats on big water before like in the middle of Lake Michigan, which is big enough that you can't see either shore from the middle. It was not Joel's. It was also M2's first time. M1 and her daughters had been out before, on this same boat.
I guess the water was very choppy today. The captain said it was because of the wet season. There was a pretty big swell. Heading out it was ok though, because when you're going fast, while there is some bouncing on the water, it's not that sick-inducing (although I guess it starts to build). When we stopped to hook up the fishing poles though, we were totally at the mercy of the swell, and we were all over the place- up and down and up and down and nearly sideways.
My student who was there turned green and then puked, right there on the boat. Luckily she had an empty stomach, so it was just a bit of yuck, and then mom went and held her over the edge to finish. M2 started turning green at this point too, and I have to admit, I wasn't feeling 100% myself.
M1 though, was pretty keen on catching some fish- she said the captain told her that recently everytime anyone went out fishing they were coming back with 10-15 dorado. So she really wanted to catch one or two, just to have some fish, and enough to give her help at home some (the maid, the driver, the gardener). Well, she made the mistake of saying, "But whenever we get bored, we just tell the captain, and he'll take us to the beach."
Once the fishing poles were set up, it took about 10 minutes if that, of slow movement through the water for M2 to finally just say, "Can we go to the beach NOW?" She was NOT feeling well- you could tell. Her daughter had also really quieted down. Both of the other girls had fallen asleep. Joel and M1 seemed to be the only ones that were totally ok- Joel was even drinking a beer. But, sick people are not fun people, so, they took down the poles they had just taken so long to put up, and we headed to the beach, sans fish.
We didn't even take any pictures during any of this, because it all happened so quickly.
But, here are some beach pictures. You may recall that soon after we arrived in Luanda, we took a trip to the beach on an island just off shore. We headed back to the same island today- although to a different spot.
This spot had bigger shelters, but there is no restaurant or toilet. That is mostly ok, because we had all packed food today, and had plenty to go round. Pretty nice shelters at that- look like they are made of palm trees- trunks for structure, and fronds for shade. Works for me!
Just behind where we were across a little bay of the island are these "weekend houses" for local rich people.
This is the view down the island from where we were. Nice, hey?
This is the boat that we actually rode today. It was pretty nice.
These are the kids.
Me on the boat- these pictures were all taken basically when we were packing up and leaving.
Us posing at the front of the boat. :)
So we ended up having quite a nice day that was quite different than what we had set out thinking we would get. The beach was beautiful and really serene. There was one other group of people on the beach, but they were a few huts down, and weren't loud, so, it was really peaceful out there. Both of the moms we were with are cool, good for conversation, etc, so it was nice to just sit around and chat. The water there at the beach was nice and warm and clear- there were hundreds and hundreds of little fish. And they were swimming so close to us- we could see them through the water- there were just MASSES of them. We also found a few hermit crabs, and saw some tiny, tiny shrimp. But that was unfortunately all the wildlife we saw today- no dolphins, no turtles and no whales. Apparently it's not even the right season right now, which I didn't know until today. Oh well.
My souvenir from today? This is what you get from sitting on a boat for hours without having put sunscreen on yet!
(Unfortunately, the tops of my arms look similar!)
