19-Sept: South Africa - Umkomaas (Umkomaas Guest House)

A leisurely 08:30 breakfast, fueling up with a full English, scoffed down with some homemade brown toast with smatterings of nuts and seeds, plus melt-in-the-mouth maple syrup muffins. Piggishly I even went for a second muffin! God they were good.

Driving down to Umkomaas this morning; it is renowned for the superb diving opportunities created by the Aliwal Shoal, a volcanic reef about 5km offshore. Ragged-tooth sharks (raggies) can be found here and the guys are hoping to dive with them.

Found a nice little cafe, Waves, in Umkomaas for lunch. From there we could sit on their sheltered veranda and look out onto the sea. Whales were spouting and breaching in the distance. Yip, I'll never get bored of that sight. While eating lunch everyone sitting facing the sea was treated to an up close breach by a small young humpback whale (he looked to be not even 300m from the shore). Woooah!!! The whale then proceeded to flick and slap the water with his tail repeatedly. He must have done five or six slaps consecutively which I found most unusual, as usually we have witnessed just one.

We are staying in Umkomaas Guest Lodge, run by Mick and Thanga. Rocked up to the guesthouse to discover that it had two arched-gated entrances, nothing too unusual there, all the residential housing in South Africa are heavily secured with walls, gates and even wires. Our issue was the height of the arches, that looks exceedingly low; will the minivan make it through? It would be very close if it did. A huge crack in one of the arches suggested that someone else had tried (and possibly failed) to enter. Since the minivan was rented Kirsten was exceedingly anxious. Plus leaving it outside overnight was not an option.

Thanga came out to greet us but looked a very concerned when she saw that we were attempting to enter the premises in the van. Everybody stay in the van, we need all the weight we can to keep this baby as low to the ground as possible. Kirsten remained outside to monitor our progress; Thanga is still hesitant about letting us in. Inch by inch we move slowly forward. Kirsten runs up and keeps hold of the antenna not wanting to damage it. Inch by inch we continue to creep forward, Pete's eyes constantly on Kirsten, who keeps nodding slowly. At one point she looks very worried and we stop. She takes a closer look, shows Pete that he's got about half an inch to play with, and we continue forward. Finally, 10 painstaking minutes later we are in!!! Phew, don't want to do that again in a hurry.

Accommodation at the guest lodge is again incredible. I'm staying the Lion room, and even my towels and bed sheets are embroidered with the room name. Little touches but oh so cute! There is a swimming pool, a swing-seat (yaaaaay!! Next best thing to a hammock), a bar, a pool-table, a brie, and a tantalizing glimpse of the Indian Ocean where you can hear the crashing waves. Sorted!! There is also a lot of pets about: two terriers (Robbie and Jack), a cockatoo, and a parrot called Lou-Lou.