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The day
started with yet more snorkeling. It is a great feeling to be able to
snorkel for twenty minutes, in nothing but swimming trunks, and not get
cold.  The
fish that first and foremost stands out is the Ventralis from Isanga.
It’s bright blue color makes it recognizable from far off. These
magnificent fish sit in the water, with about two meters between each of
them, desperately trying to get the attention of the female fish. Their
color and constant making aware of themselves should make them the
perfect target for the predator fish, but it seems that they manage to
avoid these without to many problems.
After
breakfast we went to Chituta og Isanga with Edvin, our Zambian one man
boat crew and diving instructor. Edvin has earlier had problems with his
health due to diving (quite serious), and now he only does snorkeling,
at which he is very good.
 When
we came to Chituta we were supposed to see Gnathochromis permaxillaris,
Benthochromis tricoti and Xenotilapia sp. “red princess”. Visibility was
horrible though, and I couldn’t see a thing when I reached the bottom at
30 meters. I went back to the surface, following a 45 degree angled
stonewall. After having looked for some gobies at three
meters depth, I chose to save my energy for diving at Isanga. The most
interesting thing I saw this day at Chituta was the small monkeys on the
beach.
Despite the
fact that Isanga is situated only five kilometers from Chituta,
visibility here was much better. Since the depth was shallower here, the
scene was set for a good dive, and we weren’t disappointed. But before
we got startet I had to start my unlucky period. First, one of the
buckles on my UW-house broke. Luckily I had brought an extra one
with me to Africa, but it was of course back at Toby’s house. I chose to
dive in to the water with my harpoon, to perhaps catch a Boulengerrochromis microlepis for dinner. After about fifteen minutes I
discovered a gillnet that had been left at a depth of about ten meters.
I stuck the harpoon under the belt and commenced rolling the net up.
 Now
I’ve always been the romantic type, so of course I freed the fish that
were stuck and seemed able to be rescued. Suddenly I felt a pain in my
left thumb, and I saw a several day old Synodontis multipunctatus stuck in my thumb. I
tried first to pull it gently out, but it wouldn’t let go. Then I really
tried pulling on it, but it still didn’t help anything, only difference
was the skin on my finger looked like tipi and it hurt. Finally I really
pulled on it and was freed of the sheatfish.
 Now
the net was rolled and partially covered with a stone, and I could
continue the hunt. But like I said I had an unlucky day, and now
discovered that my harpoon was gone. I had though a pretty good idea of
where I could have dropped it and started looking. As soon as
I had started
my search my diving computer started beeping, and since I didn’t know
the equipment so well yet I decided to stop the dive although I still
had sixty bars left. I surfaced about a hundred meters off shore, and
tried to memorize the surroundings in order to find the harpoon later.
As if these accidents were not enough, I fell and hurt my right arm
while pulling up the anchor.
 Back
home over a late lunch Toby forbid me to do more that day, so all I did
for the rest of the day was look in Toby’s ponds and snorkel a bit in
the harbor, to the Oreochromis that live there. During dinner I noticed
a strong smell of smoke, and shortly after we could see that it was
burning on the mountain behind
Toby’s lodge.
Toby was astonishingly calm and told us that a few weeks ago he had
burned a circle around the lodge, so the fire on the mountain side
shouldn’t give any problems. After having ate we went to the bar and
tasted the birthday gift that we had given Toby, as we also tasted
Kennet’s vodka and tyrkisk peber(Danish candy) mixture. Need I say what
tasted the best? |
