Don't worry folks, I haven't lost my marbles, I'm afraid it's just that I'm a terrible old softie at heart and stuff like sunrises and sunsets do it for me everything. They are simple, free, and usually stunning! Plus any troubles you may have simply melt away when watching 'em. It takes a hard heart not to appreciate such beauty. Okay, enough now...
Three figures emerged along the shoreline, Tony, Lu and Geoff were also up and about. They planned on heading for long 5km walk along the beach, however I was conscious that we are leaving early and I really want to get in a sneaky swim in the infinity pool so I declined their offer to join them.
Back up to the lodge I go, Pete is in the car park gathering breakfast supplies from the Navara. I help him setup and discover that eggy-bread is on the menu this morning!!!!!!!! Get-in! (Basically eggy-bread is french toast by another name).
Grabbed a towel and headed to the pool, it's ridiculously early so I have it all to myself. Yes it's only 7am, but the sun is shining and it is hot!! Pool is not though, oooh in fact, that's a bit chilly. Still, get down quickly and put in a few short laps. Spent about half an hour just resting on the ledge overlooking the ocean. Hmmm, definitely wouldn't mind have one of these in the back garden - shame we don't have the weather (or the views) that needs to accompany it though. Few more laps and then time to get out as fingers are going a bit pruny. Make for the sun lounger and simply chill, relax and let the sun's warm rays soak in. Quick look at the time (8:30am!) and I figured I'd better head for breakfast, otherwise all the others will have scoffed all the eggy bread!!
We congregate around the bench on the porch overlooking the ocean and watch whales spouting and breaching in the distance. One little tidbit that I learned is that whales actually don't spray water out of their blowholes. Thirty-three years and I'm only just learning this. Well I'll be! Every day is a school day on this trip.
(Just in case anyone is curious or was similarly oblivious: when a whale resurfaces, they have to release the used air back into the atmosphere. The air inside the whale is quite warm, so when this moist, warm air hits the cooler temperature outside air, it becomes a vapour and this is what you see when the whale spouts!)
Using Jim's binoculars I get a better view of the action, wow, they are really quite active at this hour of the morning. What a vista to wake up to every day. Oh yes, sun is shining, sky is blue, I've been for a swim and am now sitting on a porch watching whales while eating eggy bread - life does not get better than this folks! C'est incroyable...
A short drive to Tofo is on the cards today. On the way we pass lots of Cashew and Monkey Nut trees - just not quite what you are thinking. Along the side of road young budding entrepreneurs have bagged up different varieties of nuts, placed them in plastic bags and attached them to bare trees. It's quite a sight to see. We stop and make some purchases. Mmmm roasted cashews are awesome.
Tofo is a stunning eight kilometer stretch of sandy beach, and claims to be have some of the best diving in the world. We rock up mid-afternoon and the divers sign up to their first lot of dives. Lunch is had at "Dino's Bar", Tofo’s main hangout. We are staying at Casa Michelle, just two doors down. Kirsten and Pete head off to meet the owner and get the keys. On their return Kirsten appears quite flushed, the reason being she is embarrassed about how ridiculous the accommodation is. We even have three staff whom we are under strict instructions to keep busy. No self-laundry or washing-up will be employed while staying here for fear of incurring the wrath of the home-owner.
After lunch we descend upon the house. Oh. My. God!! Tis a friggin' palace. The place is HUGE. The bedrooms are HUGE. The bathrooms are HUGE. So before I start hyper-ventilating again at the thought of it, let me tell you that the house, ahem palace, consisted of six bedrooms (four of which had sea views), seven bathrooms, a special brie inside the house, a stunning terrace with sun loungers, shaded seating and a plunge pool, a huge, fully equipped kitchen, two lounges, a large BBQ area outside the front of the house and ridiculously luxurious and modern furnishings. Plus we are right on the beachfront. Seriously, this is SICK!!! (and I mean that in the best possible way). Can we just stay here indefinitely pretty please, can we, can we??
Sue and Jim had a quick dip in the ocean, where unluckily Sue got stung by a jellyfish when its tentacle wrapped around her wrist. She's got an incredible purple mark after it. Hmmm, I might just stick to our pool here if there's jellyfish afoot. I'll get a proper taste of the Indian Ocean tomorrow when I go snorkeling.
Nearly forgot to mention that today Lu officially retired from the workforce! She's extremely giddy about it - although to be fair if you knew Lu then you might not notice the difference as she is always giddy (Love you Lu!). Herself and Tony offered to treat us all to dinner in celebration. A incredibly magnanimous gesture that was fondly appreciated by all. Back to Dino's for a few cheeky cocktails and (in my case, as I'm not a seafood fan) incredible pizza! Early start tomorrow for the divers so sensibility prevailed and an early night was called for.
Returning back to the house it took Sue, Jim, Francois and myself a silly amount of time trying to figure out how to turn off the hall lights. Since it allowed people see into the house from the roadside we were anxious not to leave it on all night. Tried every single light switch on the ground floor, with the most obvious switch doing absolutely nothing thus making us think perhaps it might be a combination switch. Totally bewildered I accepted defeat and headed to bed. Jim and Sue went upstairs and in their travels located the switch on the landing - completely unintuitive, but at least we could rest a bit easier now that the house was in darkness. There's definitely a joke in there somewhere; how many people does it take to turn off a light-bulb...
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