BEE Certificate
|
Blog
Wednesday 13 June :
3 HUMPBACK whales and about 60 Common Dolphins
AND .....WHAT a ride it was with captain Bennett - (( I can hear them over
the radio as well whilst sitting in the office and AM I %$#@ jealous for not
being able to also be on the boat and on the beach !!!!!!)) -loads of
educational information given to eager clients .....
*** just some extra news tit-bits - Danie says after those enormous waves we
had the 2nd of March there is very little left of the Jolly Rubino ***
If any of you have 11 minutes to spare , pop into the WHALE SHOP and ask
Nicky to play one of the Whale Watching dvd's .....it's awesome to see just
HOW much the clientele enjoy it , just leave enough space in the shop to
jive on Johnny Cleggs' backround drummmmm music!
Groete vir vandag !
cheers until next e-mail ....
|
|
|
AGAIN we couldn’t go to churh this morning as it’s
too busy in the office , BUTTTTTTTTTT , we have the glory and the beauty of
what GOD has made ALL AROUND us !
( ek klink soos n predikant vanoggend ) ….
But , I think we can daily be SO privileged to see what we
do , and what ‘’tough’’ job we have to be between the
whales , hippos and crocs everyday (ha ha ha – someone has got to do it !
)
Herewith just quickly wishing June from Zulani a happy
birthday for her b’day on Friday the 13th of July ! She had
her ‘’present’’ this morning , were on the 06h30 Whale
Watching trip and WHALES A PLENTY ALL AROUND the boat to also wish her a happy
birthday !
Although the swells have been a little high the last 2 days
, we have BEAUTIFUL days and WHALES WHALES WHALES WHALES , splashes , breaches
, inquisitive whales ‘’watching’’ our clientele on the
boat and not visa versa …..but the entire experience just leaving the
clientele in awe of what they are seeing !
PLEASE JUST ALWAYS REMEMBER TO BRING ALONG THOSE WARM
JACKETS , nevermind HOW hot the sun is shining on the beach , it’s
always cool in the wind on the boat - there is also ADVANTAGE rain- and fleese
jackets for sale at the WHALE SHOP….and remember to tell the clientele we
make a personalized DVD of each and every trip which the can buy at the WHALE
SHOP after the boat .
Then …so far for the season I think our notice board
outside of the Whale Shop stands on 336 Humpback Whales spotted and counted on
the trips that did go out . ( Obviosuly there is MORE whales , but on certain
days due to bad weather we couldn’t go out , so that is just our count
that we documented for the Marine and Coastal Management research team ) .
On certain days Danie have come across schools of about
200-300 Dolphins , species varying between the Common Dolphins and Humpback
Dolphins .
Just a little bit of news on the Hippo/Croc tours on the
Estuary , I’m skippering more and more trips myself again ….ALL the
trips are SO good , we OFTEN ( almost daily now ) get the Hippo’s out of
the water , our ‘’winter’’ months is so awesome ,
temperatures not tooooo warm , so not as in summer as when the hippos are
submerged in the water the entire day .
IF YOU ARE A KEEN PHOTOGRAPHER the Hippo/Croc Tours at the
moment has photographic opportunities aplenty …!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll keep you updated throughout the course of the
week again on exciting news …In the meantime if you don’t hear form
me , it’s because I’m on the boat a lot and enjoying the trips …
|
|
|
MAN !!!!!!! Dammit shhhh**ttt….!!!!!!
SORRI in advance for the horrible word above , BUT
I’ve been OFFLINE for the last couple of days without even knowing it !
You know when you try and ‘upgrade’ your
business and think you are getting bigger and better and quicker connections
– and then in the meantime my cute IT manager (sorri Douw ) doesn’t
‘’import’’ my addresses to my new program , and
I’m sending out e-mail after e-mail after e-mail and it’s not going
through …….!!!!!! As AS I click on the group list , the group list
doesn’t exist anymore but is totally empty !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But that
took me 4 days to figure out – someone walked in here yesterday and asked
if I’m cross with them and deleted them off my mailing list , and I said
noooooo , I HAVE been sending e-mails (((((((jaaaaaaaa….to an empty
address list )))))))
Nou ja , Douw has just been here to import the addresses
again …..thanx Douw !
There ‘s been L*O*T*S of WHALES the last couple of
days , I don’t know when last you got an e-mail from me , but we’ve
been off the water due to strong winds yesterday , business as usual
again today , between 11 – 15 Humpbacks WHALES spotted per trip and
PLENTY Dolphins .! There will anyway be more and more whales coming through
seeing that the sardines is close to shore as well !
I’m not in the office so much anymore to send e-mails
anyway , as I’m skipping and guiding my boat more again like I used to do
in the past . Dave has decided to move to Pretoria
to be closer to his children and will be leaving soon . Berno is on the ocean
side helping Danie with the Whales , so I’m the new designated captain on
board , and thanx in advance for anybody offering their services to take
Dave’s place , but I really enjoy being back on the boat and for the time
being I really don’t need a relief skipper . (( Anybody who anyway
replaces Dave is going to have to be an excellent Skipper and Guide , and
I’ll never employ anyone that doesn’t have the right attitude
towards our clients , high personal and business ethics and sober habits
….SOOOOOOOO ….for the moment it’s ME back on the boat as I
fulfil all those high standards , and as you’ll rightfully know ,
it’s very difficult to find a qualified skipper-cum-guide that has all
the other attributes ….jisssssssssie …apologies if THAT sounded if
I think I I’m the cats whiskers , but although I’m not computer
literate I AM a good skipper and guide , and your clients are in excellent
hands when they’re with me on the Hippo/Croc boat ! I’ve been
‘’grounding’’ myself over the last 3-4 years behind the
computer in the office to give my skippers more time to earn a sustainable
income , but it’s SOOOOO nice to be back on the boat myself and between the
new born Hippo Calfs and Mangrove Kingfishers .
Douw also says I’m ‘’naughty’’
and using tooooooo many kilobites(ha)megabites(ha)gigabytes(ha ha ) WHATEVER se
byte bite bight ….so if you’re staying in St lucia and want photos
, rather pop into the office and we’ll cut you a cd …e-mailing
photos is just toooooooo expensive …..he’s billing me doubly extra
this month !
PLEASE REMEMBER that the WHALE WATCHING trips are NOT
limited only to 07h00 …..it’s just practicalities …..VERY
difficult to tow the tractor and boat down to the beach if we have to only
launch with 2 or 4 passengers , so that is why we try and fill each tour with
at least 10 passengers before the next trip will go out ,
BUT…..we’ll depart every 2 hours if the demand is there ! AS from
end of June when it gets busier , we’ll anyway again do much more than
one trip per day ….So don’t think if 07h00 is full you can’t
book for 09h00 or 11h00 , as you’re more than welcome to .!
Please let me know if ever you have any questions whatsoever
!
|
|
5 Youngsters set off from Piet Retief for the day , 3 young
guys (ranging 20 - 23 ) , and 2 girls , the one couple celebrated their 3month
wedding 'anniversary ' .
Getting to St
Lucia they put up a little gazebo on the
beach and enjoyed the beautiful sunfilled day .(( with all the ''commotion'' I
forgot to ask everybodys' names ))
One of the friends , Carl went in for a swim , he
went too deep and the rip current got hold of him , the other 2 friends swam in
to go and help and all 3 of them got into trouble .
Between the 3 of them they ( by the mouth of Helmut , the
one friend ) saw that there was no way that they could survive , they were just
too exhausted to help ons another , and they decided amongst themselves it
was now every man for himself .
Carl was the closest into the ocean , behind the
breakers , fortunately Danie from the Advantage Charter boat was just
behind the backline coming back from the whale watching trip - Shane
Chudleigh from Paw Print was on the beach with his family and saw the whole
would be drowning and phoned me at the office to send Harry with the jetski
.
Danie and the Advantage crew managed to get Carl into the
Advantage Charter boat behind the backline , shouting to him to swim towards
the boat and not to try and fight the current and swim back to the beach
, by the time Danie and Wiseman helped Carl onto the boat he was utterly close
to collapsing and
unconsciousness .
Both Helmut and the 3rd friend were absolutely exhausted
when they got to the beach , and we got the KZN Wildlife bakkie to take them to
Dr Combrink . Dr Combrink started treating them immediately and giving oxygen
etc .
The 5 youngsters travelled back to Piet
Retief yesterday afternoon after Dr gave the okay .
Now this is only part of a story that could have been
another tragedy today - according to Doc had it been 5 minutes later all
3 could have drowned! We should all just be made aware of the very strong rip
currents that we do have along our beach and warn all visitors not too swim too
deep .
I know it is an unprotected beach , and it's actually
everybody's own responsibility to take care of him / herself , but its always
SO sad whenever we have another drowning on the beach .
The other very important factor is to
NEVER swim if you have consumed any alcohol at all !
Please just pass the message out to all visitors , friends
and famliy to take special care of the rip currents along the coastline !
|
|
iSimangaliso
South Africa's first World Heritage Site, the
Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, has been renamed in an effort to give
the park a name that better reflects its unique identity and sense of
place.
The new name is
iSimangaliso Wetland Park, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister
Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced on Sunday.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
| | << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next > End >>
| | Results 64 - 71 of 71 |
 Go to top
|
|
Blog 
