Scuba Diving at Port Elizabeth

It was another early day for Phillipe and me today as we had to be at the meeting point by 8 am or so and we had time to grab a quick bite before heading down. We had signed up for a single dive with Pro Dive (http://www.prodive.co.za/)  at a dive spot outside PE and this meant that some time would be spent moving to the dive site by boat.

The meeting point was a red windmill structure that we had walked past several times though the actual office was located at the boardwalk itself, complete with dive gear and accessories. It was a very busy place today compared to the previous days with divers fixing on gear, drawing out dive suits and tanks and others preparing to shift down to the sea.

The two of us were rather lost in all the movement that was going on primarily because we were heading out with a regular sunday dive group while we were the two newbies. It definitely wasn't hard to get help though and the staff did prompt us if we needed to speed up and where to head to.

Phillipe had spent some time diving and completing his rescue diver course in SA but for me it was a whole new experience heading to dive in an inflatable craft. Having dived always in warm tropical waters, the cold water would be a new experience as well. Pushing off the inflatable craft into the sea, my first challenge was getting on-board using the side rope handles over the slippery side. It was then time for a bumpy ride punctuated by the occasional jump on the side as the inflatable sped along, slowing down for the occasional high wave.

The barber and me 

Falling into the cold waters outside the bay pretty much woke me up and I remember taking some time to get used to the cold. It definitely didn't help that due to tide movement, the visibility was rather bad. Our divemaster definitely did a good job keeping the group together though due to the cold, my oxygen lasted only 20 minutes, after which I had to surface. Phillipe had surfaced after 5 minutes due to the cold and I joined him on the inflatable as the rest of the group slowly surfaced. It was the shortest dive I had done and it was great that we could spot a pod of dolphins on the way back to shore.

Inexpensive and really filling lunch at PE

Returning the gear and heading back, we were surprisingly ravenous and decided to take a cab down for lunch. I had to get a haircut as well and stopped by Queen Latifah's hair saloon before having lunch at the shop just beside. We had never eaten at any of the shops frequented by the locals and this was something new as well. Lunch was surprisingly filling and returning back to the lodge, it was time to pack up and wait for the driver, Farnie to drive us back to ADDO elephant national park.

The rest of the day was spent travelling and learning of the plans for the next week and I had an early night.

Another week in South Africa had just flown by.