Raggie Reef

 Okay so this is on me but because I've been slacking with my writing, my brain is like overloaded so instead of everyday details like you would normally get I'm just gonna do posts on like what we do generally and a few detailed days posts, like for my birthday. Which honestly I'm here for 2 months so it's probably better for ya'll that way anyways but yeah just keeping you updated. And then hopefully I'll do better about writing once I'm caught up but I'm just always so tired after our busy days so we'll see. 

But for this one I guess I'll explain what we do for Raggie Reef, which we do once a week. 

So Raggie Reef is in the Sanctuary which is 40km or 25 miles south of Jesser's Point, where we launch the boat. Nobody is allowed in there except for us with our research permit - no divers or fishermen or anything. It's like an hour and a half boatride one way and we have to bring extra fuel to fill up for the way back. So we stick a hose in the new fuel and the fuel tank then create a seal with our hands and blow into the new fuel to fill the empty part with air so that gracity will then push the fuel into the hose and down to the empty gas tank. Raggie Reef is where the sand tiger (raggie) sharks hang out so we go down to count and ID them by taking pictures of their spots which we then use I3S to match and track the shark. So Grant and 1 intern (we take turns each week) go down on scuba to change out the RUV cameras, which take pictures every 30 seconds for a week. The others can freedive to count and take pics and this is where you can also collect shark teeth. 

This week it was my turn to dive with Grant and I got 8 shark teeth. The other time I got to go I got 3 but there were 3 of us interns so I gave one to Nick and unfortunately lost the 3rd before I could give it to Craig. 

Then on the way back we normally stop at Red Sands, which is just a place in the middle of nowhere on the Sanctuary line to check out the life there. The first time Michelle and Sam saw a bull shark and Michelle's Eckerd-ness kicked in and she got back on the boat and we left. The next time was Craig's turn to dive at Raggie but Grant let me dive at Red Sands and we made friends with a potato bass that followed us the whole time. Grant says those fish have clearly never seen divers before and were super curious. Anyways this past time, we freedove there and swam with a manta, a tiger shark, and the bull shark! Woo hoo! Just need to add in a hammerhead to the mix. 

Once we get the footage on the computer, then we organize by date then I go and delete everything that doesn't have a shark, ray, or turtle, and record all the info (date, time, species, photo number) for the ones that do. We also have them plugged into power banks not batteries for the week so it lasts for 7 days underwater. The more you know. 

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

Who Are You, Who Who

 

Remember when I said I was gonna work backwards to catch ya'll up? Forget that. We're just gonna start at the beginning and move forward and yesterday's post is gonna be out of place in the middle. 

Okay so we left off with diving for a week and finally being able to equalize. Dang, that was literally like the beginning of this trip lol 

Okay so all I've told you about was Nick, hurricaning, I3S, and diving. So if you read my last post you're probably confused about who are all these people lol 

I have introduced Nick - basically South African Kai. 

Craig is the other intern.

Sam is the researcher that works at Sharklife; Josh is her boyfriend and Chidi is her dog. 

Michelle is a manta researcher that went to Eckerd with me. 

Natalie is a turtle researcher. She's super nice and helpful and she's also from South Africa but doesn't sound like Nick or Sam. I think Candice said she's originally from Portugal or Peru or something so that's probably why. Her dog is Dexter. 

Candice and Grant own Sharklife. Dennis also works for Sharklife and is the Zulu chief's son or something. 

Summer is another researcher. She works with Natalie and Michelle. She is super nice too and her voice sounds like Phoebe Tonkin's if you know that actress. 

Matt works at Occi Lodge and EAT restaurant, which are basically attached to Sharklife. He practically knows everything that's happening at all times and thinks I go to Visagies every night, which sometimes I do lol 

That's basically it for Sharklife people and then there's 4 main dive companies I have friends at and of course my bartender friends. Let's start with the bartenders just because there's fewer of them. 

Sodwana Bay Lodge is my favorite. I just really like the vibes there and the staff is super nice. Jared and his wife Samantha are the bartenders there and they've been here for like 5 years I think. There's also a blonde lady with short hair that runs the restaurant but I don't know her name (update her name is Cindy). Alan also likes to hang out at Lodge Bar and he makes the necklaces that everyone here has - he's making me a pilot whale (update I got a mermaid tail instead). 

Robbie is one of the main bartneders at Maak n Jol (literally "Make a Party") but honestly he kinda creeps me out a little. He's harmless but still. 

Carl and Janet are the waitstaff at EAT and Brandon or Brendan, idk, (update it's actually Reyno, how the heck did I get Brandon from Reyno) is the owner and his dog is Sammy. 

Ash is the bartneder at Visagie. She's super cool. Bianca is the owner's daughter and she's really pretty and her dog is Augi (or Auti, I'm not really sure but he's the cutest dog in Sodwana). 

My loves Donno and Laura also worked at Visagie during the fishing tournament to help out but they're Coral people so we'll get there lol 

Fabio's is a pizza place and idk that guy's name but I feel I should mention the dog there is Suntoe. She has a monkey/limp paw. She's technically a stray and Craig wants to adopt her but she lives there. 

Ngunis is a restaurant right across the street from us and idk anyone there but just in case I mention it. 

Adventure Mania is next to Ngunis. This is one of the dive centers. I love their logo because it's like ACDC but AMDC but like with the lightning and everything. Bryce works for Adventure Mania and his brother is Garrett. Also I forgot to mention Clayton. So ya know how Mitch is the "Uncle of Bishopville"? Clay would be the Uncle of Sodwana and his wife is Karin and they have like 4 dogs. They host parties with daisy (BB) guns at their house and like to watch us practice breathholds in the Visagie pool. 

Moving on to Pisces Diving. This is where Chris and Ace and Martin work. Martin is a spearfisherman with long blonde dreads. Ace is really nice and Chris reminds me of Ted; he's really nice too. 

Scuba Center used to be my main group and it's where Nick is going back to once he's back from his weeks with his dad. They're called the Ninja Turtles because their shirts are green. Josh works for Scuba Center and they're normally very nice and let me just hang around them. Ryan, Connor, Chelsea, Keanu, Cam, Liam, Verne, Nix, 3 or 4 Germans (I think one's name is Levin? (update as I'm typing, Levin, Ono, another Cam, and I don't know the tall one's name)) and a bunch of others work there. Ryan just finished, sad face, he's super fun because he's always singing and having a good time but still responsible. Connor, Chelsea, and Ryan are all from the same little town and were friends before Sodwana. Connor and Chelsea go home April 5. Liam's girlfriend has amazing style but idk her name (update her name is Brittany and she's actually also Chelsea's sister!). Cam is super nice and sometimes I wish I looked like her. Keanu likes to play DJ at Visagie and he is a beautiful human and actually pretty nice as well. Oh! Grant (different than Sharklife Grant) also works at Scuba Center and he looks just like Christian from Beach Patrol and he's always smiling and nice. There's also another Ryan and a guy with dark hair that are always actually doing work while the rest are on like beach/boat/scuba duty (which is still definitely work, just a different kind). 

Time for Coral! We spent 3 days diving with them this week so now I feel more comfortable with the rest of them (aside from our little group) than I did (kinda like when NCL was my favorite cruise line til we sailed Carnival a million times. Scuba Center is NCL and Coral is Carnival LOL).

There's tons of Coral Divers, it's run as a school and they'd give you a student visa if needed. They provide housing and meals but it is a lot of work and the most expensive. Some Coral people that aren't necessarily in my little group but that I might mention are Sascha, Amy (basically South African Graceanne), Liam, Tyyrone, Damian, Shannon (boy not girl), Bridget, Kristen, Robin, Montene, and Stef (4/14 update also Dylan). 

In my group we have Ingrid and Donne; they're the best. Ingrid always makes sure I know the plans and am included. Donne is like my confidant and she's great. James is one of Donno's (not to be confused with Donne lol we'll get there) best friends and like Ryan, he's always down to sing and dance and have a good time. He taught me a fun Afrikaans dance (update it's actually Swedish not Afrikaans) and I taught him Cotton Eyed Joe. His dad is in Bahamas so hopefully we can meet up there after this sometime. I forgot to mention Isaac, he's not really part of our group but sometimes he is I guess but he's another Coral guy and he's one of those human sunshines. Always smiling, always in a good mood, always high energy. He has a great smile and it's actually really easy to latch onto it and let his energy increase your own mood until you're having a good time as well, which is super helpful and useful as I normally tend to attach to the negative energies instead so being around Isaac is a welcomed positive change. 

Laura is basically Donno's Nick. I really want a pic of the 4 of us once Nick and Laura are back from their break next week. To be honest at first I didn't really like her but now her and Donne are definitely my Sodwana Bay besties. 

Feb 18 we (Nick, maybe Craig if he was here already, and I) went to Maak n Jol and that's where I ment Donno and James (Laura was probably there too) and I cheered him (Donno) on in beer pong and bam, new friend. He's from Secunda and he's South African but his ethnicity is Polish because Nick makes fun of him for it and his name is Donavan not just Donno lol. Anyways he's my favorite. Oh and he's a cancer (zodiac). 

Donno, Donne, Laura, James, and Ingrid are all here til the end of the year for their dive internship. Makes me wanna stay too but I only have a few months to make money at home for mermaid season and that money goes a long way here, so gotta make the bank while I can then I can come bring mermaiding to South Africa during the off season because wouldn't that be cool? (also update they didn't have a divemaster class starting near when I was done at Sharklife anywayssss) 

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

'Cause Ya Had a Bad Day

 Okay, wow, so it's already almost April and I haven't caught up since the end of Feb. I think that I'm just gonna work backwards and maybe when I post I'll post them in the right order and if not, sorry. Internet and time are two commodities that I just don't really have here. So yeah sorry. 

March 22

Today is Monday, March 22. We finally have a day off so I could sleep in and I only slept until 8am but I guess that was good enough because no puking this morning, yay! For those of you that don't know, when I don't get enough sleep, I throw up. It's not the heat or bugs, this bed is just rough and the walls are literally made of paper so there's so much light and noise constantly coming in. But I finally got some good sleep last night so that's very exciting. 

So yesterday we went diving again! Woo hoo. Sam is on vacation and Nick isn't at Sharklife anymore (he'll be back to Sodwana in a week but with Scuba Center). So in the past week we (Craig and I) have gone diving with Coral 3 days and it was my week to dive Raggie Reef. So I've been diving a lot. Glad to get my logged dived numbers up as I didn't even have a dive log until my Advanced (so I'm missing all the dives between open water and advanced) and everyone keeps harping me on not being "experienced enough" even tho I only need 40 logged dives to start my divemaster, which I'm gonna go to Honduras to get after mermaid season.

Sidenote, I turned music on to help me focus but it's doing the opposite and I've been jamming instead of writing for a half hour lol ya'll might never get these blog posts just know I'm having a great time and I love South Africa. 

Anyways, yesterday's dives. So I love diving with Donno. It's so fun when we go diving because I can just relax and we just have so much fun finding shark teeth and booping regs and making bubble rings and such. So whenever I dive with Coral and he doesn't get to come I get a little sad but yesterday's dive was actually SO GOOD and Donno wasn't even on it. I know a lot of the Coral divers because as Matt said, I spend like every night at Vis-agie, the bar/restaurant/resort (they have the best Wifi in town). So we were supposed to go diving with Liam, Craig's old instructor, so I was like "okay at least I know him" but then he got bumped off onto a different dive so we ended up with someone I didn't know, but it was one of the best dives I've had here. 

We got to go to Ribbon, which is on 5-mile, which is so much sweeter than 2 mile AGAIN. I hadn't been to Ribbon so I was actually pretty excited. So our divemaster, Stef, actually has family on Kent Island, of all places! and NoVa and Annapolis, so he actually visits Maryland quite a bit and learned to sail in Baltimore. Interesting. So I should make friends with him (4/14 as I'm typing update I did make friends and have his WhatsApp). But back to the dive, we saw a grey reef shark! I love sharkies! (Duh) and I was working on my breathing because the day before at Raggie Reef, Grant said my bubbles are too loud and scare away the raggies, so I need to exhale slower. So Nat was saying how she breathes in 8 out 16 and it helps preserve air too. I'm already really good at not using air but I need to not scare away the sharks so I tried and I was like very concerned because breathing like that actually makes me breathe a lot more, but it is more controlled and after the 45 min dive I still had 140 bar of air left so even tho I breathed more it used less.

There was also a Scuba Center boat there before us and on our fancy dive I found a GoPro! I figured it came from Scuba Center boat and I'd look at the footage to see who to give it back to but dude our boat wasn't even pulled onto the beach yet when the Coral guy driving the tractor was like "did you find a GoPro it's from Scuba Center" like yes I know that, chill, they'll get it back. So we took it back over there and turns out it's Nat and Summer's manager/friend, Nikki's! I just had dinner with her yesterday. Honestly, not a fan but whatever, she gave me a piece of peanut butter fudge as a thank you and since I was already at Scuba Center, I went to say hi to Connor and them and he was like "go back to Coral" ok fine then, be that way. Whatever. 

By the time I got back over to Coral, Donno had arrived but he was busy with some Caitlyn girl from Joburg that he met on Valentine's Day which is 4 days before he met me and she was just back down to visit for the weekend and they were gonna go spearfishing after her dive. So between the Scuba Center encounter and being replaced, if only for the weekend, had me feeling a little salty, which is sad because I was in such a good mood after the dive and talking to Stef. & ya'll know how I'm not very good at fixing my face and when I get upset it looks like my best friends just died. So Donne and Donno kept asking me if I was okay, oopsie. So then Donno and Craig and I went snorkeling until it was time for our next dive and my dang GoPro was dead! Wouldn't even turn on even tho I thought I charged it all night. The stupid wire was loose, it's fine now but I didn't have it for snorkeling with Donno or my second dive. 

So anyways since I was in a mood I was like "oh wait I'm a mermaid, I can just go chill on the bottom til I calm down" so I go down and LOL I am in a town of divers so Donno comes down too but he's wearing a weight belt and I'm not so he can chill down longer than me so that plan went horribly lol. On the way back up from snorkeling Donno was like "did you have fun" and I was like "sure" and he was like "well if you didn't have fun I just won't invite you again" and I know he was joking but I probably looked like I was going to cry. Then we got back up to the Coral area. He was hungry so I gave him a granola bar and pretzels and I didn't want any pretzels but he kept feeding them to me anyways and with each pretzel I felt a lot better lol 

Our second dive was with Sascha and in the afternoon the winds and current pick up so it was a drift dive over 2 mile. There were only 5 of us including Sascha so she tried to convince Donno to come with us but he had a blister on his toe and his gear was back at camp so he refused but at least she tried. 

The topography was actually really cool and there were a lot of places to swim in/out/below/through so that was fun. I also practiced breathing like Natalie said again and this time over about 76 minutes only went from 225 to 130 bar. Craig is amazed at how little air I use. With Natalie's way of breathing I can't even hold my breath (which you should never do on scuba anyways!). Unfortunately, I really, really, really had to pee and I have 2 rules - don't pee in the tail and don't pee in the wetsuit. So I was really hoping Craig would run out of air soon so we could go up and he did, but it was only like less than 10 minutes before everyone else anyways. 

Then when we got back I saw Caitlyn was using the towel Donno brought which is actually Nick's towel and it put me in a mood again but then My Girl (the country song, not the Motown song) started playing and reminded me of home and my Bville boys and I was comforted. Then we got back to Sharklife and I had a Snapchat from Jacob! 9000 miles away and he still got my ESP. I really love those Travers boys. They always pull thru when I need them. 

So I spent the rest of the night snapchatting Jacob until our CSP scheduling meeting. I was scared Morgana wouldn't book me due to me being in Africa and therefore not vaccinated yet, but the first few gigs are in Delaware/Ocean City so I was the first one offered! I'm pleasantly surprised the internet worked for the whole thing but it did and now my schedule is full and after the call I determined where I can fit in Mermaid Camps and holy poop, it's gonna be a busy summer/fall. Literally no days off because lifeguarding, but I only have those few months to make all my money for the year so bet I'm gonna make it worth it. & the mermaid camps are all client depended of course, I think I need at least 4 per camp to have it run. Then it looks like Nov-Dec I can go to Honduras for my divemaster and be back in time for Christmas. Things are looking bright for a career/future full of mermaiding, diving, and travel. 

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha

February 2021

 March 2, 2021

!Hola mis amigos! 

Let's get this blog writ! I've been trying to write this for hours, actually weeks lol, but then I was distracted by texting my grandmother. So, as you know, my computer and/or the internet is constantly caput. Which makes it super hard to do the business accelerator program I'm in until the end of the month as well, which I should be doing right now to be honest but oh whale. Another thing I don't like about having to hand write my posts than transfer them online is that my handwriting is super sloppy so I hope I can read what I'm writing bc my hand already hurts which makes my chickenscratch worse. 

Anywhos, it's now March. March 2nd. I've been here since February and have updated ya'll on nothing but sucky internet. Oops. So I guess I'll just start at the beginning and along the way we'll see if it's a big summary or lots of little detail posts but the more detailed posts will come after Nick leaves because he leaves me tired lol he's only here for a few more weeks, sadly. Not sure if I mentioned it in my other post or not, but Nick is like South African Kai, like they are carbon copies of each other (except Kai is skinnier and older with blue eyes) and it is so nice to have friends that are like family and just like idk what I'd do without Kai at home, idk what I'm gonna do without Nick here. I've been trying to make other friends too of course but it's just not the same as having a "brother" here with me. Nick is coming to school in America tho so that's cool, maybe we can go diving in the States. 

So that's not the beginning lol. The beginning is I arrived at Sharklife. I already told ya'll about the room and food. So the first day, we got up at like 5 and were supposed to go out on the boat so we take the boat to the beach (they do beach launches here) and the water was super rough and we came right back and didn't even go out. Nick's mom and girlfriends and friends were here for Nick's mom's birthday so she took us to lunch/breakfast and I got a banana milkshake and it was actually kinda gross but now I get the Oreo milkshakes and those are great. Anyways, so since Nick's mom was here, he got the day off and Sam showed me how to do I3S, the database system we use to match raggies based on their spots so we can track when we've seen which raggie shark where to track their migration patterns and movements. Then, since Craig still wasn't here, Grant said I could have the rest of the day off too to rest. But like these walls are literal paper (bamboo paper) thin and I can't sleep during the day so I was just laying here wishing I was better at making friends, snapchatting my friends back home and then Sam needed help finding her dog, Chidi, so I helped them look and poor Nick, I haven't left his side since lol.

The next few days it was tropical storming so we just stayed in the office doing I3S. At first it was really easy because the matches came really easy but it gets frustrating because the quality of the photos aren't the best and it's hard to see the spots and I'm already like blind so sometimes it's hard. Lila suggested I print the pictures and highlight the spots to match but I can't because there's literally thousands of pictures and it needs to be in the database system. Eventually Craig arrived and we did I3S and had some lessons on the boat and how to set it up and take care of it and all that, but Nick already showed us so we already knew a bit.

Eventually, it stopped hurricaning, but it lasted for a solid week and stretched all the way from Africa to Madagascar (which is another place I want to go - these South Africans have me wanting to explore all over. I've already told Avnish for years I'd come visit him in Mauritius and now let's add Mozambique and Madagascar to the list as well).

So on February 18 I went on a dive and I had a hard time equalizing and was freaking out. Madison said the storm pressure was probably affecting it and Lila and my dad said I just needed to practice but I was very upset because I didn't want all my dives here to be so awful because dives like that are why I lowkey hated diving. Hated past tense because now I love it, bring on instructor, but we'll get there lol. So anyway, it was still hurricaning so then we didn't go out again until Feb 23rd, with a girl I actually went to college with! 

Michelle is getting her PhD and doing her thesis on Manta Rays so she came to Sharklife to do some research for that thesis. Turns out she was a senior at Eckerd when I was a freshman! I didn't know her, but we do have a few mutual friends and I was like Sharklife would be a great winter term for Eckerd and she was like "yeah I'm already talking to Grant about it" lol so yeah. Anyways, before we went down I was like "it might take me a bit to get down because sometimes I have equalization issues" but BRO. MY EARS EQUALIZED ON COMMAND! For the first time in my entire life, including all my dives and rescue diver and all the planes I've flown and everything! So that's amazing. It only took almost 24 years, tons of scuba and freediving classes, and countless plane rides but I can FINALLY equalize! Woo hoo! I was so excited to call and tell my dad but he was working.

I then went out diving every single day until our day off on Saturday and haven't experienced equalization problems since. Woo hoo! Happy days. Now I love diving and will definitely advance to dive master and even probably instructor. 

Okay, Nick is saying we're going out in 15 minutes now so I guess I'll end this post here and catch up with ya'll next time. Just keep swimming ya'll! 

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha