Gap Year Experiences

Updates and info from on the ground during our 11 week and 5 week Experiences in South Africa

Underwater at Umkomaas

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Hello from a hot and happy Umkomaas where we have been doing all sorts of adventurous scuba diving at the below-mentioned Aliwal Shoal dive spot. We've been here since Sunday and have already compiled an impressive 18 dives between the six of us. It really does seem to take it out of you though, as shown by the amount of chilling and afternoon snoozes that have been going on.

We're staying in the perfect place for doing the diving and chilling combo too - a great place called Lala Manzi's, just over the road from the Dive Centre, it has a pool, huge deck area and loads of dangerously comfy sofas.

The dives themselves have been awesome. Early rises and a bumpy ride through the Umkomasi river mouth and the Indian Ocean swell on the dinghy boat makes for a great start to any day but I don't think anyone, expect perhaps Vince who's been here before, was prepared for what we were about to see. In spite of supposedly average visibility of about 8-10 metres, in the space of 45 minutes, we saw common dolphins, a white-tipped reef shark, a massive loggerhead turtle and seven spotted ragged-tooth sharks, among countless other species of smaller but no less cool fish. Three dives later and Carrie is now a fully qualified Open-Water Diver and Jules can complete the course before we leave here on Friday.

This coming weekend represents an emotional moment in our trip. We are faced with the until-now hushed departure of tour-leader Vince from these shores. It is difficult enough for us to see him go so we can only imagine just how hard he will find it to part from this awesome group. Our only reason for cheer is that we will be blessed with the unique presence of part two's tour leader, Johnny, from Saturday. He will certainly have words for this blog shortly.

Until then then
Doug

A hot week at Gozololo

Saturday 21 February 2009



Greetings from a sweltering day in Durban. It is 32 degrees already and its not even mid-day. The humidity is also incredibly high which makes it seem at least 40. Basically its hot. I'm sitting writing this in the shade of a palm tree with Carrie and Lucy in the pool below me. All in all life isn't too bad in Durban. We have been here for a little over a week now and it has been a good week. Our days have been spent at Gozololo children's shelter just outside the city and afternoons have been a mix of swimming, the beach and gateway shopping centre where the girls have been taking advantage of the sales. We also managed to fit in a 20/20 cricket match which ended with an unbelievable 6 off the last ball to see the home side, the Dolphins draw the game.

Gozololo is a truly remarkable place. Meaning "stay a while" or halfway-house, it began just over 10 years ago in its founder, Miriam's kitchen. She realised the need for a place that young children from the surrounding areas could spend time in, off the streets and in a safe environment. It has now grown to 3 centres, taking care of more than 300 kids up to the age of 6. Most of the children are either orphans or have a single parent and come from very impoverished areas. Gozololo provides a place where they can spend their days, with other children and teachers taking care of them. The amazing thing to see is how happy all these kids are. Spending a while there is a real privilege and its great to see it growing bigger every time I visit.

Our week consisted of a lot of DIY activities. The first task was painting and putting in shelves in the new tuck shop. This was followed by varnishing the playground jungle gym and repainting the playground fencing. The girls were seriously impressive with their DIY skills, putting everything into into the drilling and painting. Lucy's painting skills were unbelievable with her attention to detail second to none. We also spent a morning visiting a brand new centre where the building has just been finished and the kids are starting to arrive.

On Friday morning we popped in for a sad farewell to all the kids. I think everyone found it hard to let go of some of the kids but its was a great week and it had to end at some point. Last night saw us back at Joe Cools for a few chilled drinks and this evening we are going down to Kings Park rugby stadium to watch the home side, the Sharks play their opening home super14 game of the season. It should be a great evening as the Sharks always put on a good show. Tomorrow morning its 30 minutes down the coast to Umkomaas where we will spend the week diving Aliwal Shoal, voted one of the top ten dive spots in the world.
Cheers
Vince

A lyrical duet from Lucy and Jules

Sunday 15 February 2009

I blog to you from our latest stop on the Pepper trip, Nomad's backpackers in Durban.
We've all been in a bit of a sombre mood after our departure from the Secret Spot in Ballito, which, I'm sure everyone will agree, has been our best stop yet! The Secret Spot had the most incredible atmosphere and vibe and we all felt right at home straight away - and we've made some amazing new friends in Bongi, Stacey and Tam.
We spent the most incredible week surfing, skating and socialising, which included a very messy night out at Boston's Action Bar with some very enthusiastic and slightly questionable dance moves from everyone, namely Vince!
We were also lucky enough to experience the surf both in Salt Rock and on South Beach in Durban, getting some amazing conditions and, combining that with Bongi and Tam's enthusiasm and faith in our surfing capabilities (even when we were seriously questioning them ourselves) we all managed to get really stoked about surfing which made the week all the more exciting.
This is all from me, and Luce is going to take over now to charm you with her wit and eloquence.
love from SA, Jules xxxx

After reading Jules half I realised that she failed to mention she managed to jump straight into a sewage river. I don't know how she forgot to write about it but I thought you should all know about her truly special moment. Jules was first to volunteer to retrieve a wayward skateboard which had found its way into what seemed like harmless mud. She, however just sunk straight into it which looked bad enough but then we realised it was actually sewage. She got a few nicknames after that!
As Jules said we have all had an incredible week at The Secret Spot. Even though I wouldn't really call it surfing on my part the surf camp was a lot of fun and even though my personal best standing up time is about 3 seconds I can definitely understand why people get hooked on the sport. At first I wasn't so keen on being battered by the waves and swallowing gallons of water and then realising I was only a metre out from shore, I have now convinced myself (with a little help from Vince) that it just adds to the fun of the surfing experience. I also contemplated making our warm up ( a run along the beach) part of my daily routine ...
We have now been in Durban for 2 nights and we are all loving it so far. We spent the first night at Joe Cools, a bar/club which is right on the beachfront with a convenient Wimpy beneath it. We all massively took advantage of the buy 1 get 1 free drink offer and had a great night all round. We spent the day after on the beach, working on the tans, and amazingly none of us got burnt! which is definitely a first (I was personally very proud of myself!).
Anyway that is all from me as its breakfast time.
Lucy x x

Surfing, skating and running

Thursday 12 February 2009

Yesterday marked the end of our surf coaching programme. It was an incredible week with some amazing coaching from one of SA's top surfing judges, Bongi Xulu and one of the top female surfers in the country Tammy-Lee Smith. During the week we have surfed, skate-boarded, been to the flowrider standing wave and spent an early morning out at sea with the Natal sharks board. The girls have been coached, lectured on all things surfing and made to run up and down the beach during some early morning sessions. And by yesterday, everyone was standing, an unbelievable achievement for their 5th day in the water! It has to said though, that the standout from the camp was Eloise who is a complete natural on a surfboard. It was awesome to see the stoke on her face after catching a wave all the way from the backline in to the beach. Even after getting dumped when Tammy told her to paddle in to the biggest wave of the day as it was breaking. The camp has been a great base for everyone to get into the sport of surfing and there will be more than enough opportunity to progress as we move down the coast over the next 2 months.
Cheers for now,
Vince

A visual treat

Saturday 7 February 2009