2/2/2011

Up early so that me and Jack could get to Umkomaas on the coast. We jumped on a shuttle to Underberg where only Jack paid and then we hitch-hiked to Ixopo. First of all a white South African gave us a lift to the junction near Bulmer where we hopped in a group of black guys' car. They took us a bit further to Donnybrook where another black guy took us to Ixopo in his Golf. We had to pay the group a couple of quid but we were doing well!

At Ixopo, we had no luck apart from some guy who took us a bit further down the stretch where we had to wait a while for a minibus-taxi to take off. It cost 45 rand but we had done well for the day. At the junction for Umkomaas they threw us out and we got another small taxi to get us to Aliwal Dive lodge.

Having booked with another company, Jack said the guy on the ohone was rude and his price was similar so we stuck with the place we were currently sat at. They gave us a slight discount but for a baited shark dive, a night's accommodation and breakfast they charged £170.

We did a bit of shopping and filled up with some food and I had my first Bunny Chow and it was great!

We needed a nap so after a few hours sleep, I fetched us a big bottle of Spar-letta whilst we kept our diaries up-to-date sitting on the not-so-picturesque balcony.

I began reading the 2005 dive magazine about Aliwal saying about how many shark attacks have occurred and what to do in a presence of a Tiger shark and it wasn't sounding too good to us!

Spurs were playing Blackburn at ten so I made Jack come to the pub where we had a few games of pool and watched Spurs win. It wasn't convincing but that's a sign of a good team winning when they aren't playing their best! Lennon is too much like Walcott at the moment, he still needs to develop his end game it's annoying me, and Palacios is crap.

The owner of the pub was chatting to us all night and even tried sorting us a cheaper shark dive but hadn't realised we had already booked one. He was from Scotland but had lived in England for ages and now in SA. He annoyed the hell out of us though with his piercing, cackling laugh and constant use of the word 'ay'! He was a nice chap though, bought us a coffee-tequila and then, he started on some young guy telling him to get out the bar. This kid had apparently been hitting on his Asian barmaid but was then saying that Speedy (the owner) was a homophobe, so claiming he was gay! It was all a bit mad and because Speedy is a small fat guy, his South African mate had to step in.

After the football though, he whacked some porn on the big-screen TV in his small bar for everyone to see and he shouted: "This is a bit better than Tottenham, ay?" It was time for us to hit the bed as the screen fun was making the atmosphere a bit awkward with the old perv.