THIS POOR CREATURE NOT HAVING A WHALE OF A TIME

The call went out around midday September 19th to save a stranded Dwarf Sperm Whale Kogia sima – identified from photographs by marine expert Mike Meyer - that had beached near the slipway in Britannia Bay.

MCM inspectors and volunteers worked to stabilise the animal, which was still breathing, keeping it upright and cool. Other than a few scratches, caused probably when rolling in over the shallow reef, it appeared to be unharmed. Meyer explains that the so-called pool of blood in which the animal was swimming was in fact a cloud of reddish-brown faeces that the creature releases when frightened at the surface.

It was dragged back into the water where it rolled and floundered for a couple of hours before washing up once more. Again it was pushed back into the sea, but it considered unlikely the creature will survive and anyone coming across the animal is asked to call Bernie Pols on 083 425 7678.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Dave and Ena had stayed with me before, but on this occasion Ena's daughter, Cheryl, and friend Matthew also spent two nights at Dolphin B&B+S/C, theIR intention: to see Cheryl's newly built house - all done via email from her career home in Saudi Arabia. Now that's what I call project management and with an excellent architect and local builder Steve Misplon (Pride's Buildings) the result is simply stunning.

Cheryl has every reason to be proud of what she's achieved and says she was like a child under a Christmas tree opening the boxes of personal effects that will adorn the shelves of her new West coast home.

Welcome to this very special part of the world, Cheryl; lovely to have you as a neighbour, which is essence means I also get to see more of the Hiblings too.

LIFE IS ANYTHING BUT A BIND

Long-time friends Christel Borck and Barbara Meyer, from Germany, enjoyed a surprisingly warm winter's day having brunch on the deck overlooking Britannia Bay.

We talked about their respective careers and agreed that retired life is wonderful, as it allows one to dabble in all manner of interesting pursuits, Christel's being book-binding.

Here she's used the inner tube lining of her bicycle tire to cover her diary and the postcards are simply corrugated cardboard cut to size which she decorates with something indicative of the country she's travelling through. In our case I guess it could have been JuJu's picture adorning the cover, but taste ruled and her friends back home instead will see the Big Five and labels from product bottled at Klein Zalze Wine Estate. Much better than Malema, don't you think?

I TALK TO THE TREES

John en Teresa Tree (glo my of nie maar hulle is pure Afrikaners) het by my vir ‘n week kom bly en op Saterdag was dit weer die Koffie Kan in St Helenabaai. Dié uitstappie is bedoel vir ons wat oor vyftig is en is ‘n geleentheid om bymekaar te kom, te gesels en lekker te eet. Dis geinspireer en gemotiveer deur Menita Paxton (voor), lid van NG Kerk, maar is bedoel vir almal wat in die dorp woon.


Bo en behalwe die feit dat Teresa ook ‘n prys in Bingo gewen het, het hulle my vriende - insluitend my dierbare vriendin Susan – ontmoet en saam met ons gekuier.


Van daar af was ons tot oo op Britannica Heights om die Uitsig vanaf Elandsbaai tot Cape Columbine buite Paternoster te geniet en waar ek die blomme kan identifiseer om ‘n berig vir toerisme doeleindes te skrywe.

Gawe mense, maar ek sê weer: al my gaste is uitstekend. Lief hulle almal.

BALI ... HI

It's called Island of the Gods - Bali, that is - and I'm about to find out why.

First I'll spend seven nights at Mediwi Bay Retreat in Negara (north-west of the mainland) after which I join one of Intrepid's adventures (I've used them before and will continue to do so to countries where language and culture can be a barrier) for a 15-day intensive tour ending up on one of the small islands off Lombok: Gili Meno Resort, in the heart of one of the world's biggest natural bird sanctuaries. (I can do bird-watching lying on my back soaking up the sun, binos pinned to my beadies!)

But, no, fellow-bloggers, you'll have to wait for mid-June when I return and write up my travel tales. For now be content with a taste of what's to come.

Bon voyage, I say!

MAN'S INHUMANITY

I was alerted to the fact that there was a dead dolphin washed up on Golden Mile's stretch of beach in Britannia Bay. What I saw was in fact the evidence of some callous brute who had shot the creature.

I called MCM senior researcher Mike Meyer and, at his behest, had the carcass (of what he told me was a sub-adult common dolphin) moved to the deepfreeze of a friend until he could arrange for it to be collected (for DNA and further study).

This beautiful, innocent creature had likely been targeted by pelagic fishermen as it is wont to rush at the netful of fish being hauled aboard a fishing vessel.

Lee knelt down beside the body and stroking it murmured, "I've never touched a dolphin before".

Sad, eh?

WHO'S HAD A HARD DAY AT THE ORIFICE?

Robin and Sylvia Gibbs broke their long-standing tradition (seven years in a row) of spending the Easter weekend here at Dolphin B&B+S/C by choosing instead to travel to Kgalagadi National Park, but in their stead I hosted the stay of a most delightful family: Denise and Hannes Meyer and their daughter, Salome Hoogendijk and her husband Frits.
Other than the fact that they were just darned nice people, what made their stay stand out for me was one of these coincidences that is a reminder of how miniscule we are in the greater plan of things.
Having established that Salome is a dentist and Frits a maxilla-facial surgeon, both practising in Pretoria, I asked whether by any chance they knew my cousin Boetie who passed away tragically in 2009. Not only was the response positive but, when chatting to Hannes, who has a dental practice in Thabazimbi - is this keeping it in the family or wot? - Denise chips in to say that she and Boetie were in the same class at school together. You can't talk about anyone and it will get back to them!
Incidentally, I've seen some seriously good camera equipment in my time but their clobber was to-die-for, although let's give credit where it's due: I suspect it's their dedication to get that perfect shot rather than their Nikons that made the results of their work so extraordinary.