Day 11 - Mtunzini Sun 26th December

Up again very early for the final instalment of what turned out to be one of those "24hr tummy bugs" I've heard so much about. Later in the morning we took the boat down to the lagoon for another bout of messing about. This time we towed a 7'6" surfboard behind the RIB with the intention of wakeboarding but none of us could pop up so we resorted to kneeboarding the surfboard. A lot more responsive than the softer bodyboard. At one stage I nearly lost a couple of knuckles behind the bád. I came off and began to retie the handle (a stick of wood) onto the towrope using a tried and tested slipknot. Unfortunately Adriaan Snr was in a rush to get going after some verbal abuse from a nearby fisherman, so he floored it assuming I was ready. My fingers were in the slipknot at the time however, not the baton, so I was dragged behind the craft for a spell, forefinger and middlefinger first. Glub glub glub. Very painful, but no lasting damage save for some missing skin.

Back ashore I took it relatively easy on the Zamalek as the tummy was still giving me the evil eye, though I sensed it was improving. We amused ourselves for sometime watching Adriaan Jnr fashion a small sailboat (something akin to an Arabian trading dhow or even a White Nile reed coaster) out of an old cuttlefish bone, a solid twig and a fresh green leaf of some sort. Waist deep for an hour he finaly got the thing running downwind for a few steady metres. Thrilling viewing actually, kind of like watching children erect a colossal sand fortress just inside the limits of the tide.


Tharrr she blows. Finally.

Again the heat drove us back home at around lunchtime. The recovery of our craft up the local slipway was delayed due to livestock cluttering up the car park. In any Irish slipway the offenders are usually hordes of sheep, cattle or D4 children. On this occasion we couldn't manage to shift a stock of bored looking zebra(s?) from by the trailer.


Warning. Zebra Crossing ahead! (hyuk hyuk!)

Back home for lunch. I'm assuming we braaid something - the memory's already waning. After a quick siesta Christiaan and I went to the beach for a bit of a splash in the pleasantly large, strong and warm waves of the Indian Ocean. A great ould splash, and a good beach to boot. Was a nice change from the placid waters of the lagoon of the past few days. After some time gleefully swallowing sand and saltwater we headed home for a spot of supper. Indulged in a healthy number of Richelieu and flat Cokes as digestifs - was keen to stay off the fizzy beers for a spell longer. Dinner wrapped up early and all six of us spent a good long night shitehawking around the table and solving imminent world issues, as must be done after so many Cape to Rios.