Highway Surfer

Although I roll by the alias of "Justasurferdude", I have to admit that I haven't been in the water for a while and can hardly call myself a hard-core surfer anymore. When I was a kid we always used to joke about guys riding with surfboards on their roof racks that never see the water. "Highway surfers" we called them. My surfboard is not on my car, mine is hanging on the wall in my garage most of the time, but then again if I allocate equal amount of time to all the other toys against my wall then I can hardly blame the surfboard for having collected some dust over the last couple of months. When I heard about the record attempt this weekend at Muizenburg to have the most surfers standing on one wave I thought this might be a good time to get the surfboard wet again. After all, I have a new GoPro camera and it was a good opportunity to try it out.

When I arrived at Muizenburg this morning I was excited like a kid in a toy shop about getting into the water again. At least the water on this side of the Peninsula is warmer than on the other side. This is probably one of the main reason my frequency of hitting the water has dwindled over the last few years. Two days ago when I attached the bracket of the GoPro camera to my board, getting the dust of was harder than getting the sand, salt and surf wax off. Today I was not only going to break a Guinness world record, but I was also testing out my new GoPro Camera and I was hoping for some good shots.

At 10 o'clock the registration started and I was about 7th in line. I was a bit worried that they were going to ask questions like "when last did you surf?" or "how fit are you?", but I guess fifty bucks is all they were after and anyone could enter. My biggest concern however was not my fitness but rather whether my GoPro was going to stay stuck to my board. I saw a couple of other guys with GoPros and asked them whether they had close calls before. I got some advice on how to tighten the small chord so that it does not come off, but I was still worried even though no-one has lost their cameras before. At 12:30 when we all lined up I was still trying to figure out how to set the camera to take intermittent pictures of 10 second intervals. In the rush to not to get left behind on the beach I set it on 20 seconds and would only later realize the consequences of my mistake. 

There were around 400 surfers ready to take on the challenge and even though the conditions looked good, it will never be possible for all 400 to take the same wave. With a combination of longs boards, shortboards and a few SUPs (stand-up paddle boards) the different positions to take off on a wave for these three types of boards meant that lying in a straight line would not work. Longboarders and SUP's have the ability to catch a wave much earlier than shortboards, and this left the line-up a bit messy. The last record was 110 surfers, but with 400 in the water just over 25% had to catch the wave to break the old record. Although instructions on which wave to catch were announced from the beach, some younger surfer with less patience didn't wait for the call and took whatever wave they thought was good enough to take. I have to admit that sitting in the water watching the prefect wave goes past is kind of hard to resist. When the actual wave came, the surfers who took the first wave was either missing in action or floating around in front of the line-up, leaving a difficult take-off for the others. The waves were good, but the sets also did not play along as well as the weather did. The rules state that 8 waves could be ridden in one hour, but the sets were so far apart from each other that their were only about 3 proper attempts made and each time on the third wave of the set. For some reason today the 3rd wave of the set was not the best one and after watching two perfect waves go past, it was a bit harder to catch a weaker third wave.

My eyes were on my camera most of the time, not to see myself in pictures afterwards, but to make sure that it was still attached to my board. I realised afterwards that because of the slow setting of 20 seconds, as well as the fact that not many waves were ridden, I could not get a nice picture were I was actually surfing. Just a bunch of paddling shots with lots of water in my face. I will definitely have to do a re-shoot on my surfboard in the near future, but all I know from today is that the angle of my camera needs to change and I have to find a way to prevent the condensation on my lens. The camera stayed put and the clarity of some of the shots were quite good. The setting unfortunately were too slow and 5 or 10 seconds should be better to get more action pics

The record was not broken today, the most surfers on one wave was 85. I doesn't really bother me because the day turned out to be very enjoyable. My camera works, I discovered a new beach break (although located 40 km form where I live), and the surfing vibe was absolutely great. Seeing 400 surfers in the water was spectacular and being able to take part was a real privilege. My board is clean today and summer is here. You will definitely see me more often on Muizenburg beach from now on and maybe I can keep the dust of my board this time. 

Curiosity on Mars

I think this is what they hope to find on Mars.....

I found it on my local beach in Cape Town.

Don't get bugged in Kenya to be diagnosed in South Africa

I haven't had much health issues while travelling in Africa over the last ten years and I think that I can count the serious cases on my hand one. But trust me, they were SERIOUS. In Cameroon I ended up in hospital and that was probably the worst experience I've had. Not because of the service I got from a very basic hospital, but because I felt as if I was dying a certain death. The doctors were fantastic and the I managed (against the doctor's instructions) to send one nurse across the street to buy me a Coca-Cola...which I believe was the last "medication" I needed to deal that virus a final blow. So, I guess I have been lucky because I am not very cautious about what I eat and I never say "NO ice" like many visitors do because they don't trust the source of drinking water that might have been  used to make the ice.

Last week in Kenya I felt a strange feeling in my muscles, you now that feeling when you know that flu is on its way. Funny enough my throat was not sore and I was hoping it would go away.  I arrived in Cape Town on the Thursday night and went to the office the next morning. At the office I could feel that something was not right, my head started to ache and my whole body was getting jittery. I went home and by 7 pm I was sick as a dog. I eventually believed I had malaria and tested myself with a malaria kit, but the results were negative. That night I couldn't sleep, the pain was unbearable, I was sweating like a horse but was as cold as an Eskimo skin diver. I still couldn't believe it was flu because the symptoms were more in the line of tick fever, malaria or bird flu.

The next morning I went to the doctor and asked for more blood test because I thought I was going to die. At least this time I was in South Africa and not in Cameroon, so I  was more relaxed about where I would end up, even though mortuary also felt like a good option at that stage. The results came back and the doctor told me it was a bacterial infection and not malaria or flu. At least if  I die they could say what it was NOT, but still could not say because of what. The doctor prescribed antibiotics and send me home to sleep it off.

On Monday morning the antibiotics has not shown any positive results, and the pain pills I was taking every three hours made me wonder if they had any "active ingredients" in them. I went back to the doctor to ask for a medical certificate for work as it was obvious that I would not be going to work for the next few days. The doctor was quite surprised that I was still not well, but what surprised ME more was that she put "Respiratory tract infection" on my Medical Certificate. She obviously had NO idea what pain I've been going through over the past couple of days. My head feels like it could explode at any time, and she believes I have a sore throat? She did however say that I should come back the next day if I was still not well so that we can do further blood tests.

Two nights ago my wife jumped in to see if she could quicken the recovery process and did her own diagnosis and prescription. I went to bed that night with more chemicals in my body than what you would find in a US Superfund site. It was still not a sedated night, but I had the headache under control. At around 12:30 I could feel the effect of the painkillers working out and topped up with some more. This morning I feel better, but the headache is lurking in the background and when I type it feels as if I am falling over onto the keyboard. I picked up a cough and I am pretty sure that my bug did eventually turn into flu due to the strain my immune system was taking in fighting this unwanted guess. It allowed a loophole for the flu virus to enter and today I am definitely sitting with an additional "respiratory tract infection" on top of what I had two days ago. If this is the pain and discomfort one has to go through to get common flu, then I would rather catch malaria and get the recognition I deserve, but "respiratory tract infection" is NOT going to cut it.

When I look back at Cameroon I am glad I was forced by the doctor to stay in the hospital that day. They saved my life. Had I come back to South Africa to be told I had "respiratory tract infection" I might not have made it. I am still not sure what I had in Cameroon, or Kenya for that matter, but I know the difference between "flu" and "you are about to die". Maybe in Kenya I would've been treated differently. We all believe South African doctors are very good, and yes, they are, but do they really know the difference between "I am not feeling well" and "I think I am going to die"? Probably not.

It is Wednesday morning now, a week after I first had a funny feeling in my arms and muscles. I have just made another appointment with another doctor. I still feel miserable with a headache that feels like a knock on the head with a 10 pound hammer each time I cough. Maybe they will identify this bacteria at last so that we can target the enemy by name......

Breakfast Review - Zandbar Restaurant-Lounge

There is a new restaurant in town situated on the second floor right above News Cafe at Marine Circle in Blouberg. Even though my wife received an sms about the breakfast special, it was not the reason why we ended up there this morning. While on our way to have breakfast at Eden on the Bay, we remembered that at 8 in the morning all restaurants at Eden on the Bay would still be closed, so we stopped at the first place where we saw people sitting. It was on our way to News Cafe that we saw the Zandbar Restaurant-Lounge with a breakfast special of only R19.95, so we opted for that.

 It was clear that the place was just opening, it was probably a minute before 8 when we walked in. The waiters were still arranging the furniture and we were probably the second or so customers hoping to order a nice breakfast for a cheap price. I immediately made my way to the balcony, because from there it has a spectacular view of Table Mountain. It is just a pity that there are 7 or so lamp post standing right in the way. I suggested to the waiter that they have them removed. I doubt whether that would happen. Looking down was right on top of News Cafe's customers, and I have to admit their breakfasts from were I was sitting didn't look bad either.

We initially had our doubts about Zanbar when we ordered our breakfast and the waiter ran away before we could tell him how we would like to have our eggs done and which bread we wanted. My wife, as usual, went through the menu first and decided that she is not as stingy as I am and went for the Classic French Toast for R33, complete with deep fried banana and blueberries. My son's "fresh" apple juice was fizzing like Appletizer and when she told the waiter that the juice is fermenting, he looked at her as if she was from a different planet. He did eventually give a new glass and it did taste better than the first. This was more or less where the "bad" experience ended, from there on everything went quit fine.

Both breakfasts look really good and well presented. I noticed that the breakfast which was on a special wasn't listed on the menu, so I couldn't see what it would normally cost. For nineteen bucks I think it was a bargain, seeing that the coffee was bottomless too. When the special ends I don't know, so better go now before the special is over and you missed out.

It seems like the restaurant is more set up for cocktails and afternoon summer parties, with a white coloured cocktail bar that speaks for itself. The view is excellent and the food wasn't bad at all. So, while the special is still on, do yourself as favour and go check out the place, it was really worth the visit. When we drove past it this aternoon the place was packed.

Update Review - 11/9/2012

I decided this morning to pop in again at the Zandbar restaurant for a quick breakfast. The interior looks the same as well as the view, but there was definitely a warmer atmosphere than the first time. One could see that after a few months the staff for one was already more experienced and that there are more regulars than the first time.  That I guess should be obvious, but I was really impressed with their "cheapie" breakfast at R24.95. I did not take pictures this time as I wasn't there to "review" them, but the presentation of the food was quite remarkable and I honestly believe that I got value for my money. I am pretty sure that this will be my Summer '12/'13 spot for a quick breakfast in the morning before work or after that early morning surf session.

Do you walk like an European?

Mombasa Beach. Yep, the sand is really that white

I'm in Mombasa at the moment staying in a not-so-bad hotel at Nyali Beach. I checked the local outdoor entertainment (like I always do when I arrive at a new destination) hoping to find something interesting to do. I discovered a kite surfing school at Mombasa Beach and decided to go check it out as I really wanted to kite surf here. I did not bring any equipment along and was hoping that I could hire some.

After quite a long walk with Lorcan, a colleague of mine from Irish descent, we found the kite surfing school three hotels further from where we were expecting to find it. I struggled to keep up with my Irish friend who obviously was more determined to find the kite surfing school than to appreciate the white beach which he has seen many times before. While we were negotiating prices and sharing kite surfing stories, the tide steadily moved in preventing us access to the other side of a rocky outcrop which we passed on our way to Mombasa Beach. As we couldn't walk back along the beach, we asked if there was an alternative route to get back to where our driver had dropped us a few minutes ago. Kepher (I told him that word is close to a swear word in South Africa), one of the kite surfing instructors volunteered to walk us back. It was quite obvious from the start that Kepher could not keep up with the pace set by Lorcan, we were walking way too fast for him. Kepher who was supposed to be "showing us the way" was behind us most of the time. At a point Kepher ran to the front and said:" You guys walk just like Europeans". I couldn't help but burst out laughing. If I had to comment on Kepher's slow pace, I probably would have blamed him for walking on "African time"

Kepher's comment again made me realize why Africa is so relaxed and why the rest of the world suffers from heart burn and stress. We were racing like we were running out of precious time, but there was absolutely no reason for us to be in any hurry. What made it even more interesting was the fact that Africans and Europeans are so different in many ways, and even though they sometimes find it hard to get along we can all learn from each other. They say in Rome you do like the Romans, shouldn't that count for Africa as well? Even if you don't want to walk slow in Africa, isn't it time we learn from Africans and stop walking like Europeans? Maybe we can do it for our own sake, to slow down our heart rates and to enjoy what we have around us. Thanks to Kepher for teaching us our "lesson of the day".....  

Mombasa Beach

Seli (G)one soon?

Although the Seli One is breaking up into small pieces and probably would soon be called Seli Gone rather than Seli One, it is very unfortunate that she is not going to go silently without a fight. After the recent storms in Cape Town the Seli was broken up even further, but was bleeding more oil into our beautiful ocean and onto the beach. This tragedy happened because our government cannot take decisions. Everything seems to be a"challenge" in South Africa, even moving a frikken ship cannot be done without pointing fingers and blame.

This is what you get if you don't get your act together and react fast. I have no problem with the Seli slowly disappearing, but I have a huge problem with the damage it is leaving behind. I shouldn;t even put a frame around this picture....

Bus vs Bike

It's been a while now that I wanted to try Cape Town's new MyCiti IRT for commuting to work. I was thinking that on really wet days it might be a good alternative for the bike seeing that getting stuck in traffic with a car on a rainy day in Cape Town traffic is something you prefer to avoid at all costs. I had to wait for an actual day with a rain forecast because until now I just could not get myself to leave the bike at home while the sun was shining outside. Well, today rain was predicted and I decided to give it a go. Armed with an umbrella and my MyCiti bus card I hitched a ride with my neighbour to the main bus stop in Tableview. If he was not around I would've had to walk about 10 minutes to the closest bus stop, get a feeder bus to Tableview and that would've taken 20 minutes at least. So I scored on some time and effort here.

I am not really that unfamiliar with riding bus. I frequently have to take the bus from the terminals at the airport to the plane. So how much different could this be? I first had to pay to get sufficient funds on my card. The bus card is also a debit card and you cannot ride without one. No cash any more. Fortunately the card I had, but the PIN number eluded me for a moment and with anxious passengers behind me in line I had to try all the PIN numbers I had stored in my brain somewhere. Fortunately for me the first one worked and the sun came out at the same time. It seemed like it was going to be a good day after all. There was still time to turn around and go get the bike now with the sun out, but I was not backing out now. 

Last 10 min walk to my office

We left the house at 7 and got on the bus at 7:30. We were last in line but because of my PIN issue we missed the first bus and was first in the line for the next one. This meant that we could get seats. I like riding bus while standing, it is like surfing or skateboarding on a bigger scale, but the ride was about to last 35 minutes to town and sitting would just make it easier to at least have a conversation with my buddy. I guess it can get boring with no-one to talk to all the way. The people look better than the ones I saw on the Metro in Prague, but no-one was talking much, except for this girl behind me who was explaining events from the Bible to her friend like she was there when Jesus walked on the water. My buddy and I talked about kite surfing, RC helicopters, various gadgets, travelling and the normal stuff guys talk about. Time passed quickly and soon I had to change buses at the Civic Centre. My next bus would be the Waterfront feeder bus with the second stop being the one where I need to get off. Transferring were easier than at Schipol Airport and soon I was on my second leg. I arrived at my stop at 8:20 and was left with another 10 minute walk to get to the office. I arrived at 8:30.

So, what's the verdict, bike or bus? Time wise, the bike is better, 20 mins compared to 90 mins. Money wise, if you have a bike already it works out more or less the same, approximately R25 a day. Comfort wise, I think walking in the rain for 20 minutes might be just as bad a riding in the rain for 20 mins. Definitely safer to take the bus but with no excitement and adrenalin I would prefer to be on a bike. The worst of it all is that I am in town now with NO transport, and if I want to get back home in a rush, then I have to prepare myself for another 90 minutes before I get home, even more if I have to wait for buses and if I add the last walk to my house. Unless you can sit on the bus and meditate or answer emails, I cannot see how anyone can waste 3 hours a day on just commuting. Life is too short for that. 

The sun is shining at the moment and I am probably the only one with an umbrella today, but at least now I know what it's like and no-one can accuse me of not trying. In future I will however stick to the bike, thank you.

Those were the days....

This was many years ago before we had GoPro Cameras and other fancy video recorders to capture that "first jump". This however wasn't my first jump, it was indeed my first free fall of 5 seconds.  Not much, but having to pull your own rip cord after 8 static line jumps it felt like forever. With me is Henk van Wyk, my jump master from Mossel Bay Skydivers and the same guy on the tandem picture from my previous post. I did a few more jumps after this but eventually stopped skydiving after I moved to Cape Town. I changed  over to paragliding and invested all my money in paragliding gear. Those were the days.....  

Blood stains on the carpet

Guess who's been having more fun than me lately?

I just stumbled upon a picture of a friend of mine on facebook where she did a tandem jump a few months ago. I spoke to her last night to hear how she was doing. Over the past few weeks she has been paragliding in Barberton, 4 x 4-ing (if you get such a word) in the Richtersveld, been to Mauritius for a break and then returned via Mozambique where she was deep-sea angling from a jet ski."I'm going to climb out of my skin" she said, "I am as bored as hell."

Two weeks ago after shark cage diving and returning from a trip to Prague I told my wife I am totally annoyed as everybody is doing fun things and I am about to cut my wrists, bored as hell. Depression was not only written on my forehead, it was tattooed across my whole face. My one biking buddy did a trip to Sutherland with his wife, the other went to Lesotho and saw the thickest snow this country has ever seen and I was at home dealing with boredom and bad weather. Yes, I have just been to Prague and stuck my head under the water to see some sharks, but that does not mean I can sit back and relax now and that I have done my outings for the year. No, it means that I kept myself sane for a few weeks longer during this cold and raining winter season which does not seem to have an end in sight. 

Where was I when my buddy took this photo? (Photo: Francois Joubert)

While talking to the "I'm-bored-as-hell" buddy of mine last night I realized that we both suffer from something most people won't understand. It has been bugging me since I was a child as my mother always wanted to know why I could not sit still. At a point I thought I was being selfish because I always wanted to be involved in some sort of adrenalin adventure. I even thought there was something missing in my life and that I was looking for it by doing dangerous stuff. I am not an irresponsible person otherwise I would not be sitting with a steady job and a beautiful family, but today there is DEFINITELY something missing in my life....I need to do something exciting or I am going to kill myself AND the people around me. I am sitting waiting for summer to return and I have a list of things I want (need) to do. So please Mother Nature, I beg of you, bring "Summer" back, I miss her tremendously...! 

We've made a date for the weekend to discuss plans on how we are going to make sure we going to keep ourselves "alive". My only salvation is the fact that I have slightly more activities I can get busy with when the weather does not play along, but we still seem to be fighting our own boredom wars alone while we could be sharing ideas and trips. I wanted to finally do my scuba course this year, but I think I would rather invest more time and money in my paragliding. I need a new kite for kitesurfing and she said she is going to give it a try too. Then for rainy days there is indoor rock climbing maybe. I also play squash a lot although I would not classify that under "dangerous stuff", but it surely helps for seasonal affective disorder. Sadly I am a sufferer of that too. Anyway, what I need is balance in my life because at the moment it is toppling over towards boring and suicidal and it has to be corrected. No-one likes cleaning blood stains from the carpet.....

XT 600 through Africa?

For the past three mornings while having breakfast at Russel's in Pemba, I been checking these bikes out hoping to get a chance to speak to the guys who it belong to. I have not seen them, because it seems they party late and sleep late. I assume they are guys and not a girl and a guy because they don't share a tent. This morning one of the tents was open, but no-one around looking like a biker that is crossing Africa on an XT 600.

From the number plates I assume that they are Swizz. Whether they are going down or up in Africa I cannot tell, but I can only make an assumption there as well. What I do know is that they are in no hurry because they have been there for 3 days already. If someone knows them, please tell them I wanted to ask them about their trip so far....

Restaurant 556

The more visits I do to Pemba, the more surprised I am with the amount of South Africans living here. On this trip I met Cor who owns the Restaurant 556. He's been living here for many years and he makes sure that the South Africans that do come here do not get homesick. His restaurant specializes in South African cuisine, and if you don't know what that is just think anything MEAT.

I loved the menu, definitely more than what I loved the furniture and decorations. Fortunately I pay for the service and food and not for the looks. In Africa that is a bonus if it's good. A friend suggested I go for the "Beef 556" with peppercorn sauce. I did just that and added beer for starters along with some really good chilli bites (the biltong kind). All the meat on his menu comes from South Africa, so I was not worried about bush meat and/or possible road kill landing up on my plate.

The place is a bit pricey, but it definitely caters for the upmarket people with no fuss over fancy serviettes and fine china. The typical South African meat loving type of guys. Apparently the view from the restaurant is also good, but I didn't even see that; I think we were seated at the wrong side of the restaurant, at the bar area. 

The Beef 556 is a piece of rump steak filled with cheese and mushrooms, done as per your request. My buddy ordered lamp chops. Cor added an extra chop just because he felt the ones he had was a bit small. Both meals were well prepared. Will definitely go there again.....

Instant headache

Three weeks ago I spend a a few days in Prague where I drank more beer in 5 days than what I normally do in a year. The beer was cheap, cold, and tasted sweet like a fairy peeing on your tongue. On my way to Mozambique I bough a South African travel magazine where one particular writer suggested that 2M (pronounced "doshem"), the Mazambican beer is far better than another local beer called Laurentina Premium...just in case you had to choose. Listening to his advice I wished an hour later that I didn't. This is instant headache stuff.  My opinion...rather go for the Premium...or go to Prague.

I love my picture

I took this picture in Pemba and edited it with some basic software I have on my phone. This happened at 3 am as I was awake and couldn't sleep. I love the final product though....

What you see and what you get...

Choosing the best angle for your pictures

I posted a couple of photos on Facebook which I took in Pemba. The response from the few who commented was all in the line of "wow" and "you lucky fish". When we see beautiful pictures we all want to be there, plan our next holiday there, or wish we could permanently live there. We see pictures of tropical islands and wonder what we must do to sell everything and move to "PARADISE".  But where or what is Paradise?

Yes, the beaches in Pemba are extraordinary. It is beautiful and the pictures I took really give it the impression of a tropical paradise. But it is because of the angle I took the pictures from. Had I turned my camera a few degrees down I probably would've captured a few broken bottles or plastic bags on the sand;  a few degrees south and I would've included dilapidated houses and poor people who have no reason to believe that they find themselves in paradise right now.

I live in Cape Town which is considered by many to be a very beautiful place. Some might even call it paradise. Not everyone living in Cape Town necessarily see it as a beautiful place. Once you live in one of these post card picture places one thing you cannot escape from is reality. The reality of having to work to earn a living, or the reality of noisy neighbours, or what South Africans have to deal with at the moment, a government which is busy throwing the beauty of the country to the dogs. All of a sudden the pretty pictures of Cape Town don't seem to be so pretty anymore just because we see it from a "different angle".

So from which angle do you take your pictures? Where and what is your paradise? Is is it a dream on a post card, or is it a place in your heart? You can live in the most beautiful place, but is it really paradise? What makes a place "paradise"? Definitely not a beautiful beach alone. It is the way you see life, the people you care about, your contentment with who you are, where you happen to find yourself in life and the appreciation you have for your possessions, or the lack thereof. Once you have that then you can play around with your camera and only focus on the beauty around you. Then it become as simple as the angle you choose before you press the button....