97 . . . 98 . . . 5.28/29

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The countdown is on, with two remaining dives to reach a tidy 100 in the past ten months, most with my second family at Nautilus on Plage N'Gor.

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Playing Hookey: Mid-Week Dives to Tiwa & Seminol 5.24

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Photos (top to bottom): photos 1-12: on the wreck Tiwa (no details found in a web search); photos 13-17: Seminol.

I'd heard about Seminol often in the past year, and had been hoping to see it before leaving Senegal. The site did not disappoint. Seminol felt more vibrant and wilderness-like than the dives closer to N'Gor, both for its depth and clarity, the bottom-scape (basalt columns running along ridgelines), and the number and variety of marine life. There were certainly more eels, and a greater variety of eels, than previously seen, even in Cape Verde.

Too short, was my impression. It deserved multiple dives over days. Alas, it's located a couple of kilometers beyond Ile de Madeleine, and thus a serious boat ride from N'Gor.

Note the clip filmed during the 40 m descent to the wreck Tiwa.

Period of Transition 5.21

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Time passes, activities wrap-up, and there continues a process of sorting, both material and psychological.

My calendar is compressed with events. This week:

dinner and interview with Colin & Merrian, the first in a series of videotaped interviews with couples who have spent their careers abroad working in humanitarian/aid projects;

videotaped conversation with Paul Seigel, a marine biologist with the World Wildlife Fund, who has spent decades working on marine issues in Africa;

dinner with friends and colleagues Santha & Gayathri Kumar, whose daughter, Mahima, was in my 6th grade class last year;

Tuesday dives to the wreck Tiwa and Seminol, two premiere sites along the Dakar coast, both deep dives, the first with Nitrox;

the end-of-year concert for grades 4-8 Tuesday evening in the gym.

Meanwhile, here at home, all of my belongings are being placed (the word implying care and strategy) into eight boxes and bags for shipping to San Jose, flying out in about two weeks.

In four weeks I'll arrive at Heathrow, then catch a taxi to my hotel in Bloomsbury, ten minutes from the British Museum. I'll arrive, set down my bags, take a breath and reflect: I am no longer in Africa. This is London.

Weekend Dives 5.21-22

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Tour of Chateau Kadija For Megan 5.6

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Amadou Is a Bad and Daniela Is Mean 5.6

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