The Mazuri Lakes (2)

(Life Jacket Raft)
On the third day i am pretty much sick of the sun. Temperatures are in the high 20s most of the time and there is no relief from the sun apart from the stuffy cabins. Worse, there was no wind. Of the 3 days we only have a decent 2 hours worth of wind to which I would term 'exciting' the rest was spent drifting in the gentle breeze. The water look so still that you would think the boat not moving. This provided us with a good opportunity to have a swim. So for six days its a bath twice a day with the perk of being able to dive in and belly flop. I discovered that not washing my hair with soap was extremely good. First, it cured my dandruff problem where Head & Shoulders failed (Proctor & Gamble Lies). Second, my hair is naturally conditioned and it feels so nice that I find myself forced to stop stroking my head.
(Unshaven, unshowered)

(This is one of the smaller lakes in Mazuri)

(Stunning sunset)

The fourth day is much the same. Baking in the sun, belly flopping in the water and was almost left behind as the yatch as decievingly fast. I was breast stroking in behind the yatch with a life rope swimming next to me. I didn't have contacts on so in between dipping my head in the water and misjudging the distance of the boat, I broke surface just in time to see the rope quietly slipping away. In a slight moment of panic I put all my energy into my free style to catch it. But due to my weak swimming abilities, the yatch glided further away. Fortunately, someone on the yatch loosened the line and with heartfelt relief I grabbed the rope and hauled myself in. It was kind of scary imagining yourself floating in the middle of the lake, wouldn't want to be at sea... (this photo speaks for itself)

The fifth day was mostly uneventful apart from gusts of wind that made everyone whoop with delight if not only for the relief from the sun. At times the yatch as leaning so much that it felt like we were vertical, which sent anything unbolted flying from one side to the other. I felt like a sailor with the wind rustling my hair and it was especially exciting when we needed to turn as I got 2 seconds worth of thrills by pulling the 'short' (name of the rope) which changed the position of the 'focker' (one the sails).

By this time I was wishing I knew Polish as Mark and I were pretty much left out of most the conversations. I had enough Polish only to detect when they decide to go shopping and make food which is rather sad as we missed out on all the jokes. I kind of resented this, but short of learning the language I couldn't really do anything, nor was it anyone's fault. So throughout the entire trip we had to be content to only talk to one of the girls named Ola, as she had excellent english and between ourselves. Man Polish is so hard to learn, or maybe its just me.

(Disembowling)

The fishing line I brought with me lies unused making me feel as though I failed to capture the essence of this trip. When I first told my boat that I was going to fish, they were unconvinced. Added to the difficulty of not having proper equipment, we had no bait. So pretty much over the last 5 days Sandy (who promised to find me worms) and I strangly failed to dig up worms. Fortunately our resident woodsman and captain found a nice patch of earth swarming with mossies and sand flies and with me was able to dig up five very hungry looking worms. Excitedly I raced to the docks where a couple others were fishing. They laughed when they saw my pityful 6zl ($3NZD) fishing line that barely strechted 10m and old school worm bait. Well that didn't stop me from trying after about 1 hour I was rewarded with 2 hand sized fish. Man, I was so excited that I got them to kiss before disembowling and grilled them on our BBQ. They were the sweetest fish I ever had despite tasting a little like mud :). (Kiss of Death)

(Having a can of lychees with Sandy and Mark. Why do I look so sleepy?)

Then on the sixth day we docked at where we started, cleaned the boat and I rushed to train station. I got home in time for the second half of the World Cup finals after having spent another grueling 10 hours on the train back. Reflecting on my experience, think it would be a whole lot more interesting if I did sailing in NZ. So when I get back, I might pick up sailing then organise a trip from Auckland to Tauranga when there isn't a storm. I can imagine it, fresh snapper filleted and ready for sashimi. Or alternatively grilled with lemon juice marinated with lemon grass, seasame oil and soy. yummmmm.