How lightly dance the waves that play
Like dolphins in our lee!
The restless waters seem to say,
In smothered tones to me,
How many thousand miles away
My native land must be!~Adam Lindsay Gordon, An Exile’s Farewell
Eyes still bleary, I reluctantly blinked into consciousness when our van jolted over a bump in the road. When I’d fallen asleep, it had still been dark out, but now I looked out of my window to see sunlight pouring over the horizon from the east, bathing the landscape in warmth. Vince, Caleb, Anna, and I were well on our way to the sun-soaked beach town of Ponta do Ouro, where we were scheduled to go on a SCUBA dive as soon as we arrived. Our driver, Charles, from Tours Maputo had picked us up from our hotel in Maputo at five o’clock that morning. A quick glance at the time on my phone told me I’d been asleep for at least an hour. We were about halfway to Ponta, and were probably passing through the Maputo Special Reserve, an area that was originally designated for the protection of a small number of coastal elephants that live there.
I looked out of my window to watch for wildlife and as the drive continued, and the four of us called out any time we saw an animal-the most notable sightings were a kudu and a giraffe. We were also graced with the sight a beautiful rainbow that spanned across the sky shortly before we arrived on a wide, sandy stretch of road that runs through Ponta. There wasn’t time to check into our hotel before our dive, so Charles dropped us straight off at Gozo Azul, the dive shop I’d booked us with. We unloaded our luggage, and waved a goodbye to Charles, then headed over to the dive shop’s front desk to check in.
Vince and I were scheduled to head out on a shark dive at one of Ponta’s most famous dive sites, Pinnacles, while Caleb and Anna were going to start the day with the pool portion of a Discover SCUBA dive. Later, we would all meet back up for a shallow, ocean dive together. We were able to stash our luggage in a back room, and then a divemaster helped Vince and I find our rental gear, while an instructor started briefing Caleb and Anna on their program.
All the while, I was feeling iffy at best. All of the early mornings, unfamiliar food, and long days of travel were finally catching up to me, resulting in an overall “out of sorts” feeling, especially in my stomach. But there wasn’t time to worry about that. Once our gear was settled, we had a dive briefing. Then when loaded up onto a trailer that was hitched behind a tractor, alongside a handful of other divers. The tractor towed us down the bumpy road until we pulled out onto a wide beach where a zodiac sat waiting for us.
Part of our dive briefing had included how we were going to enter the water. We would all stand alongside the zodiac, and help pull it into the surf. On our captain’s signal, all of the women would jump aboard the little boat, while the men pushed a bit further. Then the captain would signal for the men to jump on board too, and we would all seat ourselves on the boat’s inflatable hull. Once seated, we were supposed to put on a life vest, secure our feet under loops of webbing affixed to the deck, and hang onto a rope that ran along the top of the inflatable tube. From there, we had to hang on tight as the captain steered us passed the breaking waves along the shore.
That all sounded simple enough during the dive briefing. It was a different story when it was actually time to spring into action. I tugged with all of my might as water swelled around my ankles and then up to my thighs. On the captain’s signal, I launched upward onto the side of the zodiac, but couldn’t quite get my leg all the up. Thankfully, someone helped drag me on board, where I picked the nearest available seat and began clinging onto the rope for dear life. The zodiac was already pitching in the waves when the men heaved themselves up, and I didn’t even want to let go of the rope long enough to pull a life vest over my head. With Vince’s help, I managed to get it on just in time for the captain to angle the little vessel directly into the oncoming surf. We crested a wave, and then slammed back down hard, then we repeated this a few more times before we were finally free of the breakers and safe to take off our vests.
I thought this would be the end of the heavy swell, and I was soon deeply disappointed. My stomach lurched along with the waves as we plowed through a pitching sea to get to the dive site. Pinnacles was a half hour ride away, and at times I was sure I was about to throw up into the wind-I was deeply sorry for whoever would get caught in the cross-fire. But just when I thought I couldn’t hold it in any longer, we mercifully arrived at the dive site, where gearing up became its own challenge. Trying to put on SCUBA gear on a tiny boat that was rolling and heaving in large waves was a challenge that I didn’t know I’d have to tackle that day. Luckily for me, Gozo Azul’s divemasters are used to such conditions, because I needed way more help than I normally do to get into my BCD. When I was geared up, I did a double check of all of my equipment, just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything in my distraction. Then our captain handed me my GoPro rig, and I rolled backwards into the water alongside all of the other divers. At least now that I was in the water, my seasickness would subside quickly right? RIGHT?
It took me a minute to sink alongside the rest of the divers when our divemaster gave the thumbs down hand signal to tell us to descend. I was so stressed out that I couldn’t expel enough air from my body to actually dive at first, but I was able to calm myself down enough to exhale and then I was on track with everyone else as we descended to the ocean floor at about ninety feet. As I sank, I realized I hadn’t felt this stressed on a dive since me and Vince’s first time diving after taking our Open Water course. We’d bitten off more than we could chew with a river drift dive that ended up having only a foot of visibility paired with a 60 mph current. On that occasion, I knew I was in over my head the second I sank below the surface. Now, that feeling of incompetence was threatening to overtake me, and I had to forcefully remind myself that there was nothing happening that I wasn’t prepared for. The ride to the dive site had been tumultuous, and I was still battling nausea, but neither of those things meant I needed to panic.
By the time I reached the bottom, I was feeling a lot better, both physically and emotionally. The group spent a couple of minutes at the bottom amidst a school of snappers before it was time to start ascending.
With all of the commotion, I’d nearly forgotten that the whole point of this dive was to try to see sharks, and that most of our time would be spent slowly ascending through open water as we waited for them. Ponta is known for having lots of big shark action. Some of the species we could hope to see on this dive were tigers, bulls, and great hammerheads. Any of these would be a first for me and Vince, and this was the whole reason I’d hatched the plan to extend our vacation by two extra days.
I looked in every direction as we ascended, hoping that a shark would appear. But as we got ever closer to the surface, the swell became more and more pronounced, and soon the ocean floor was completely invisible behind a wall of haze. Now I was floating in open water that was seizing back and forth every few seconds, with no solid object to fix my vision on. As we floated and waited, seasickness once again crept up on me.
Just as I was starting to feel sorry for myself, our divemaster pointed outward into the haze, and I was able to just make out the shadow of a big shark gliding through the water. I’m nearsighted, and it was still quite far away, so I wasn’t exactly sure of what species it was, but something about the way it moved had me thinking hammerhead. Over the course of the dive, three more sharks of the same species circled us, but none of them came any closer.
Then, before I knew it, we were at fifteen feet, and my dive computer began my three minute safety stop countdown. This close to the surface, the swell was significantly pronounced, and by the time my three minutes were up, my nausea was dangling from a precipice, ready to spill over into all-out underwater vomit. Other people still had time left on their computers, but I signaled to our divemaster and to Vince that I was heading up.
It took all of three seconds for me to start puking after my head broke the surface, and I kept my regulator in my mouth at first so I wouldn’t accidentally inhale seawater between bouts of retching. Vince surfaced a few moments later, and seeing my plight, began to offer moral support as the zodiac floated over to pick us all up. In the end, I had to be dragged onto the boat, and then stripped of gear without me being able to offer much help in the matter. I kept my eyes super-glued to the horizon for the turbulent ride back to shore, and subsequent beaching of the zodiac, which ended in a rather violent screech to a halt.
Finally, I was able to roll off the side of the boat and onto solid sand. Like Katy Perry returning from space, I sank to the ground and buried my fingers in the warm sand as the Gozo Azul crew got everything ready for our return to the dive shop. Another zodiac from a different dive shop was just getting ready to head out, and their divemaster noticed my plight and offered me a chocolate flavored lollypop to help settle my stomach. I felt blurry as I thanked him and popped the candy into my mouth. I still felt blurry as we got back on the trailer and rode back to Gozo Azul, and still as I stumbled over to the dive shop’s seating area and sat on the floor with my head resting on a couch.
I must have drifted off to sleep, because sometime later I was jolted awake to the sound of Vince saying, “Yeah, I don’t think we’re going to make the second dive.”
I sat bolt upright and seamlessly declared, “Yes we are.” The Pinnacles might not have gone as well as I’d hoped, but I’d come all this way and I was not going to give up a dive just because of a little bit of puke.
Vince and our divemaster both looked at me with a mixture of surprise and skepticism. But over the next fifteen minutes, I choked down a bottle of water, and a few Cheetohs crackers (provided by Caleb), and I was starting to feel marginally better. We had a smaller group for the second dive, and all of us gathered around for a briefing about the next dive site, which was called Bee Hive. Since we had the Discover SCUBA group with us, this would be a straight-forward, shallow dive, much closer to shore. I was excited for Caleb and Anna to join us this time, even if I was somewhat dreading getting back on the zodiac.
So I braced myself as we returned to the beach, launched the zodiac, and zipped off towards the dive site. It only took a few minutes to get there this time, which really saved me from re-triggering my seasickness. I was actually feeling excited when we rolled back into the water and descended to the bottom. The water was only about fifty-five feet deep, and Vince and I drifted down to the ocean floor and immediately found an absolutely huge green turtle. This was easily the biggest sea turtle I’ve ever encountered on a dive.
It was contentedly eating coral, and we watched until it swam off, disappearing behind a moving wall of bigeye snapper. I swam straight into the school, joining them as the surge of the waves rocked us back and forth with the rhythm of the ocean.
Soon the snappers gave way to a school of goatfish, who also flowed hypnotically with the current.
I was feeling so much better by now, and I was actually enjoying floating back and forth with the movement of the waves, and hanging out with the schools of fish swimming around me. In addition to the large schools of fish, which I always find fun, we found several other amazing species on this dive. There was a strikingly patterned clown triggerfish, and a redlip parrotfish with a rainbow of different colored scales.
We also found an octopus who was doing such a good job of camouflaging with the reef that I couldn’t get any good pictures of it. But my favorite two species on this dive were a large yellow-edged moray, and a couple of even larger potato bass. Much like other groupers I’ve met while diving, the potato bass lingered nearby us as we dove. In my experience, I’ve found groupers to be oddly personable fish, and they are always a welcome sight on a dive for me.
Our hour underwater flew by this time. Just as it was time to to start ascending, we got one last surprise when we caught a split second glance at a juvenile whitetip reef shark before it swam away. Then we headed back to the surface, making our three minute safety stop on the way.
With our second dive done, we had the rest of the day free, and one of the divemasters from Gozo Azul was nice enough to drive us and our luggage down the street to our hotel, the Underwater Explorer, with the tractor trailer. The hotel’s manager, Martin, met us at the entrance, and gave us a tour of the property, highlighting the communal kitchen, bar, and dive shop, before showing us to our beachside chalets. He had such a great attitude that we felt at home right away, especially when he affably proclaimed his catch phrase “Happy days!” as he left us alone to settle in. Our chalets were basic, but perfect for a couple of days of relaxing on the beach before we had to start our long journey back to the US. And who could complain about the amazing beach view right on our doorsteps?
Now that we had some down time, it was time to address the continuing saga of the head wound Caleb had picked up back in Madagascar. It had now been eleven days since the accident, and his skin was starting to heal over his stitches. There was no way we’d make it to a hospital before our flight home, so Anna decided she was going to get the stitches out with whatever tools we had on hand, which happened to be some dull tweezers and a set of nail clippers. It took some effort, but eventually she managed to get all three stitches out, bringing a happy ending to what was hands-down the most dramatic story from this trip.
We celebrated with dinner (our first square meal of the day) at a nearby rooftop restaurant called Mango Café. The food here was delicious, and watched the clouds roll over the Indian Ocean as we ate. It had begun to downpour on and off while we were dealing with the stitches, and the resulting storm clouds were beautiful.
After dinner we took a walk along the shoreline and then spent the rest of the evening chilling out at the Underwater Explorer. We got to bed early, which was perfect. By the next morning I felt well-rested for the first time in days despite another early wake up call.
This morning, we were starting the day with a dolphin swimming excursion instead of a SCUBA dive. We strolled across the street to the Dolphin Centre first thing in the morning, but the skies started down-pouring right when the tour was supposed to start. Thankfully the forecast showed the rain clearing up soon, so the trip was only postponed for an hour, and we used the extra time to grab a cup of coffee at a cafe called Toe Beans, which was right across the street from Gozo Azul. Vince and I also took the opportunity to check in with Gozo Azul and let them know that we’d like to join their second dive of the day.
Then, it was back to the Dolphin Centre, where we got a briefing about the different species of dolphins we might see that day, and how we should behave while swimming with them. After that we headed down to the beach to launch the boat, a routine that I was already getting used to, and we headed out into much calmer waters than the previous day.
I was feeling happy and excited as we zipped along, keeping an eye out for any sign of wild dolphins while also enjoying the beautiful scenery of the shoreline. It didn’t take long to find a pair of dolphins, and my heart raced with anticipation as we all got ready to drop into the water with them.
Swimming with dolphins has been a dream of mine for a long time, but I have always wanted it to be in the wild, not in captivity like I’ve seen advertised as cruise excursions. When I started researching Ponta do Ouro, I knew this was the perfect place to make that dream a reality because the tour operators in Ponta have been able to forge an amazing relationship with their local dolphins over the years. There are only two dolphin operators in town. They are each allowed to run two tours a day, and each tour is only allowed to drop in with the dolphins twice. They are also really good about making sure the dolphins’ needs are put first with every interaction. We were asked to swim with our hands behind our backs, and not free dive at all. Because the tour operators have been able to make their interactions with the dolphins so respectful, the dolphins are cool with being around people. I think it’s really awesome when tourism can coincide with wildlife in such a respectful way, resulting in a good experience for both the humans and the animals, and I was so excited to get in the water and meet the dolphins.
Now that we’d located some dolphins, our captain positioned the boat, and then gave us the signal to drop in. I hopped off the side of the boat and purged my snorkel after dipping briefly underwater. Once I got my bearings, one of the dolphins swam right up to me as if it was saying hello.
This was such a special moment and I could barely contain my joy at watching the dolphin twist and turn right in front of me. After a few minutes, both of the dolphins dove down to the ocean floor. While they hovered near the sandy bottom, we also spotted a guitarfish gliding over the sand. Within a few more minutes, the dolphins returned to the surface, and one of them had caught a fish during their dive. The dolphin circled around us with the fish in its mouth as if it was showing off its catch. Then the pair swam off, vanishing into the blue water.
After this first interaction with the dolphins, we went to a nearby reef for a quick snorkel, and then we got back on the boat to start riding back to the beach. Along the way, we spotted another pod of dolphins, and our captain asked if we wanted another drop.
Of course we did, so he positioned the boat, and we all hopped back into the water. This pod was traveling, and weren’t in the mood to stop and interact with us like the first two dolphins had been. But one of them swam by me, coming so close that I could have reached out and touched it if I weren’t dutifully keeping my non-camera hand behind my back like we’d been instructed to do. I looked directly into the dolphin’s eye as it passed by me, and joined its family as they swam into the haze.
With our second drop used up, it was time to head back to the beach. When we landed a white dog ran up to us for pets, and one of our tour guides told us her name was Maya. She ended up hitching a ride back to the dolphin center with us on the tractor trailer, and after returning our wetsuits and fins, Vince and I rushed off to Gozo Azul for one last dive.
This time we went out to a new dive site called Fish Basket. The site is actually so new, that our captain had a bit of trouble finding it, but the water was as clear as glass that afternoon, and he was eventually able to spot the reef from the surface. This was a small, shallow reef, and everyone on the dive was at least Advanced Open Water certified, so I immediately had the feeling that this would be a very chill, and somewhat independent dive. Our divemaster had given us the goal of finding both a lacy scorpionfish and a leaf scorpionfish. Both of these species are camouflage masters, so we would really have to scour the reef to find them.
We descended to the ocean floor amidst a kaleidoscope of different kinds of fish. Sunlight illuminated them all in brilliant, shining colors, and the water was so clear that it almost felt like I was floating in air. The entire reef was easily visible, so our group was able to spread out, keeping close to our buddies, while still keeping tabs on everyone else as well.
It didn’t take long for someone to locate a lacy scorpionfish and signal for everyone else to come check it out. It looked a lot like a purple soft coral, or a frilly piece of seaweed, and it tumbled back and forth with the surge as we checked it out. Someone also spotted a leaf scorpionfish nearby. I’ve seen these fish before, and they are really cool, but they are impossible to photograph with a GoPro. They are just too small for the wide angle lens to focus on them, but they look exactly like a tiny leaf, as their name would suggest.
Now that our main objective was accomplished, we got to enjoy a nice, relaxing dive. I was actually shocked at how many awesome creatures we were able to find at such a small reef. There were lots of huge lionfish–it seemed all of sea life in Ponta was 10-20% bigger than their counterparts I’ve seen in other places.
There were also more potato bass hovering nearby, another octopus, an adorable little boxfish, and a family of three spot domino damselfish occupying and anemone. An hour flew by in the blink of an eye, but I made one last discovery before we surfaced. There was a honeycomb moray eel poking its head out of a hole. I watched as it tried to take a bite out of a little fish that swam above it. It opened its jaws wide, and clamped them back down way too late to catch the fish though.
Then it was time to return to the surface, where I was saddened by the realization that this was me and Vince’s last dive of the trip. I would have loved to do a few more, but we needed to leave enough time for all of the nitrogen to offgas out of our bodies before our flight home the next day.
After settling up payment and returning our rental gear back at Gozo Azul, Vince and I met back up with Caleb and Anna. One our guides from the Dolphin Centre had mentioned that the South African border was just down the beach a ways, so the four of us decided to try to walk to South Africa. Barefooted, we hit the beach, and along the way we ran into Maya and couple of her friends. They followed across the sand until we reached a rocky outcropping at the end of the beach.
I thought they would probably part ways with us here, but instead they trotted along beside us as we picked our way over and increasingly jagged landscape of sea stacks. We followed a jagged trail lined with fixed ropes we could hold onto, as waves battered the shoreline, sending their salty spray flying skyward.
Eventually the terrain became too rocky to continue barefoot, and Vince saved the day by running back to the hotel to grab all of our shoes. That made the hike a lot easier and soon we stepped down from the last rock and onto a wild and windswept beach that stretched on for miles. We walked and walked, feet sinking into soft sand until we all came to the realization that South Africa was farther away than we’d anticipated. Tide was coming in, and we didn’t want to get trapped on the south side of the sea cliffs, so we decided to turn around. We made our way back over the rocks, and our dutiful trio of dogs followed along until we were back at the safety of the Ponta beach. Then they parted ways with us, as it they just wanted to make sure we made it back ok the whole time.
The rest of our day was spent laying out in the sun, and attempting to swim in the breaking surf along the shoreline. By dinner time, I was voraciously hungry. Once again, the day had been so busy that we hadn’t had time for a meal yet. So we wandered over to a beachside restaurant, that happened to have a wooden swing. Caleb triumphantly sat on the swing, finally redeeming himself after his Malagasy swing catastrophe.
That was the last evening of what had been a totally epic trip. It had been such an adventure traveling through five different African countries over the span of just a few weeks. From sampling fantastic coffee in Addis Ababa, to hanging out with lemurs in Madagascar, to our search for the big five in Kruger National Park, and finally exploring Mozambique’s underwater world, every step of this journey had been a dream come true. As we packed up to fly home, I felt equal parts sad to leave, but ready to get back to my loved ones. But in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder (as always) where our next adventure would take us!
You can see more details of this amazing destination on my YouTube channel!
birdsoftheairtravel.com 