Bay Day

Unfortunately Mary was on call this weekend. I was torn between keeping her company and joining some of the other doctors in a beach trip. After much agonising, I gave Mary a kiss and headed for the sand.

Our destination was Sodwana Bay. This is a 1.5 hour drive from Ingwavuma and is on the coast (as the ‘bay’ bit suggests). We set off Friday night for our hostel. Not having been told the name of our accommodation I was hesitant when we arrived. We slowed to enter the gates. A big sign read, ‘Natural Moments’. A moment of fright. Was I meant to have packed clothes? It quickly became clear that being ‘sans vetements’ was not expected.

Having unpacked we headed for evening entertainment at a local bar to sample South African beers. The ‘entertainment’ boiled down to playing ‘crazy’ pool. The ‘crazy’ dimension was provided by a giant super strong fan just behind the table. It blew all the balls to one side of the table. The only benefit of this was that it meant we got great value for every 2 Rand we put in.

There were only two South Africans in the bar. One was too drunk to be coherent. The other joined our pool game. I began to ask him (the first time I have done this in SA) about the possibility of watching premiership games, declaring my particular interest in Spurs. This immediately sparked a ‘natural moment’ as he tore off his top. Lo and behold a big cockerel standing proudly above the Latin ‘audere est facere’. I told him I reckoned the odds of him being an actual Spurs fan must just about equal those of THFC being involved in a clandestine operation to brand Africans with the club crest. He assured me he had not been tortured*.

Sodwana Bay is written up in the guide book as being a little slice of paradise. On this basis, God has made room in the after world for car thieves and vandals. Waking to go for an early morning dive, Nics – a teacher who drove us all to the Bay, found her car had been broken into. She was amazingly forgiving. I am already fearing the worst for our defenceless Ford Fiesta.

The biggest attraction Sodwana bay is the diving. Without Mary I decided to snorkel. I had a lot of fun paddling around marvelling at lots of funny coloured fish. I have no idea what I saw but they were red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue. Next time I will try to get some names.

At 1700 we headed back to the bar to watch a tri-nations game between Australia and South Africa. The first ten minutes of the game were extraordinary and resulted in five tries. By the end of the game South Africa had won. The bar bounced to a Boer beat as we left.

Nics and I then headed back to Ingwavuma. This involved a challenging night drive over some patchwork roads. Playing ‘spot the pothole’ and ‘avoid the cow’ were games that preoccupied us the whole way home.

Sunday – today I will be cooking Mary a fillet steak supper. I will tell you all about the South African supermarket in another blog.

(I didn’t tell South Africa’s Spurs fan that THFC have recently changed the club crest so his act of devotion is now out of date).