Some of us were eager to get down to Sodwana and so left Jhb on Thursday afternoon scheduled to arrive in Sodwana at 20h30 on Thursday evening. The trip was right on schedule until Francois mistakenly took a cow for a speed bump about 40km outside Ermelo on the way to Piet Retief.

Luckily no one was injured – well apart from the poor cow and Francois bakkie. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, the police and the tow truck arrived and we had the car towed back to Ermelo. Hardy already in Pongola turned around and came rushing through to Ermelo to asses the damage. But even Hardy couldn’t fix the car this time. Determined not to spend the night in the twighlight zone of Ermelo we packed 7 people, 7 people’s luggage, bedding, dive gear and 12 cylinders into JP’s little Cleo and Hardy’s Hyundai. The stuff we couldn’t fit into the car was tied to the roof of Hardy’s car. Once again we left Ermelo and headed for Sodwana. After leaving Jhb at 14h15 on Thursday afternoon we arrived in Sodwana at 03h30 on Friday morning.

The rest of the weekend ran very smoothly.

Two dives were done on Friday by those that arrived at a reasonable time on Thursday evening. The rest of the group arrived in drips and drabs on Friday and most of the ladies arrived on Friday with Paco – the Latin lover.

The first dives on Saturday morning was the 1^st sea dive for most of the 1* group. The dives went off with no hiccups and a good dive was had by all.

The second dives of the day were a little more challenging as the wind and the current had picked up. One of the divers on the 1* boat lost their weight belt and had her arms and legs wrapped round her instructor, holding on for dear life determined not to pop to the surface. The weight belt was retrieved and the rest of the dive went on without any hiccups. The other dive group had a challenging dive and battled through strong currents, but never the less the dive was a successful one.

Julius Caesar and Brutus Maximas made a guest appearance on Saturday night to graduate the one stars. After much begging and groveling by the one stars and much discussion by Julius and Brutus, all the one stars at Sodwana graduated. Hail WUC.

Another two amazing dives were done on Sunday. Both these dives went smoothly apart from a burst power inflator hose, which thanks to Peter Assman and the skipper was a minor set back. The highlight of the weekend for the divers on the last dives of the weekend was the hammer head and white tip reef sharks and snorkeling with the whale shark.

Overall a great weekend was had by all.

A big thanks to everyone that helped with lifts, lending us bedding, and carting equipment back to Jhb. We really appreciate it.