2. Tank, the mermaid yeti!

Great news, my luggage was successfully delivered to Dar es Salaam airport only 24 hours after I arrived there. Good work from KLM. However, that is where the good work ends … it has seemingly remained at terminal 3 (the international terminal) since its arrival at 11pm on 14th December. On the morning of the 15th, a phone call was made to my hotel manager (Simon) to inform them that my luggage had arrived and the next thing that needed to happen was finding someone to transfer it to terminal 1 (in the same airport, roughly the size of Havant Park (excellent localised, childhood reference!)) so it could be flown to my little island. 48 hours on, none of that plan had been carried out, the airport baggage services have now stopped picking up the phone to Simon and no further progress seems to have been made. KLM, whose responsibility it is to get my luggage delivered directly to where I am now, since they ballsed up their original goal of flying so it accompanied me, have said they understand my frustration and ask for my patience. That ran out around the time I learned they’d not managed to successfully make the transfer on the route they sell, in good faith, to unsuspecting passengers who have the naivety to trust that they can actually perform the services that they charge a high price for.

I think Simon is more annoyed and cross with them than I am. Perhaps previous experience and little faith in the airline industry means I have given up hope and shall just manage with the fortunately adequate supplies in my hand luggage. I’ve rented dive gear, borrowed a couple of cables and dive accessories from a very kind guide who works here and have the basics. Tomorrow I shall undertake the rinsing and drying of my underwear supply task while also assuming that my current look of slight yeti is all absolutely fine given that I don’t have a hairbrush or any conditioner with me. Africa just provides a bar of soap in as far as toiletries go!

Aside from the luggage woes, I have otherwise been terribly busy reading my book, brewing and drink tea, eating and diving! I was considering a walk up and down the local beach but today is a bit of a rainy one. I was already with my little bag for shells for a beach walk when the tropical rain arrived. It’s torrential when it falls and each time it looked to be clearing, more arrived. Reading my book under my shelter while pondering the sky and the potential clearing was so exhausting that I had to retreat back inside for a -still morning - nap. On my second attempt at an outing, I was just venturing outside when another downpour whizzed along so I scuttled over to the bar and seating area with my book, tablet and tea and have landed here for an hour.

It actually is brightening up and I’m off diving in an hour, so that should be better for the photos. The dive guides are all locals who have been training up and given jobs so they know the area well and spot some good stuff. On my first day, it was mostly change over day and very quiet so I had a dive guide all to myself on a 1:1 guide and as much time as I wanted to stop at each thing for photos! In terms of the land life, aside from my dog friend, I have several other terrace visitors including a big crow who comes to drink in the foot wash dish and also ants that the same size as the tip of my pointer finger (which I think might have a different name but I can’t think of it - I mean the one I point with, not the one I sweat with!). Mosquitoes are a bit of a pain but I’ve still got some bug spray left (that went in my hand luggage, thank fully!) and at night, the make you an indoor net tent to sleep bug free too. It’s tricky when you forget about it in the middle of the night to go for a wee and end up battling with some strange flexible fishing net ghost!

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Luggage update …. It’s arrived! No thanks whatsoever to the KLM (they are still asking for my patience while they try and look into it all) or the Tanzanian airport staff (they’re still refusing to pick up the phone while waiting from someone to take it to terminal 1). Simon. The lovely hotel manager has sorted it all out. He has made endless phone calls to the airport and KLM and also some of their staff who live on the mainland. In the end, he paid someone to go and collect my bag (which was an ordeal as despite all the info, photos and papers I’d send, it seems the airport staff were not happy to give up the bag (presumably they wanted it as a key part of the baggage fort they are busily constructing). What seems to have been many messages, scans of paperwork and official letters and a lot of time, the man was able to pick up my bag, transported it to terminal 1 and then argue it onto one of the toy planes to be flown to the island where it was picked up by another member of staff. I’ve covered all the costs and given the hotel manager a decent tip too as he has been so good and tireless trying to help me and get my bag. He was waiting for me when we got out the sea after diving today so he could show me my bag as the fruits of all his labour!

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Luggage drama aside, another afternoon of good diving. I the first dive, me and my guide ‘EM’ got dropped off near the outer bay to go looking for big stuff in current. We saw all sorts including some huge travelly, cobia (which I thought looked like reef sharks but aren’t!), a massive grouper and various other fish. I didn’t get a chance to photograph most of them as we whizzed by - although got a much more distressing opportunity with the cobia later in the day! At times the current was absolutely ripping along though so it was all I could do keep my position, avoiding hitting stuff and trying to turning my head sideways into the current as it pushed water into my regulator (breathing tube!) and pushed my mask round and made it leak!

The second dive was much more civilised and more poking your head into little holes to find pretty things! Had a 1:1 guide with EM again today, he’s told me that my name in Swahili (the native language here) means ‘tank’. Ooh, like a cool strong powerful army tank? I asked. But no, like the type of tank your store fuel in. Or as I like to think, a potential bomb! Either way, he now calls me Tank!