No Nets

Our drive from Swaziland towards the coast would be a long one. After driving for a few hours through the quaint countryside of Swaziland and back in South Africa, we knew that we had to choose a place to stop before landing in Durban. Taking a look on the map there was a big city dot called Richard’s Bay, so we headed there. En route I looked up Richard’s Bay in our guide and literally read “there are better places to spend your time.” Noted. We took another look at the map and made a last minute decision to pass by Richard’s Bay and head towards a tiny dot on the map called Mtunzini. When we arrived the sun was setting and it was beginning to get dark and we didn’t have a place to stay. Mtunzini was a small place that had signs for several B&Bs along the main road so we headed to the beach to put our feet in the Indian Ocean for the first time ever, then find a place for the night. It has been since Portugal, then Italy, that we have actually enjoyed the sight of the ocean….way too long. Once parked, Jason and I walked on the pathway over the dunes to a big, vast, magnificent beach. The beach was vast, deserted, and so so quiet. The swell was in and the waves were rough and building. The water was a greenish-brownish color (or “chocolate” as the locals call it) and the sun’s setting was leaving the day’s overcast clouds behind. I have to admit it was a little eerie and I was a bit intimidated. It was time to find a place to stay for the night.
After driving around and following arrows and street signs for B&Bs that didn’t exist, we drove up to a home with an open gate that had a 3-star hotel sign out front. We drove to the end of the driveway and a woman and her puppy came to greet us. Her and her husband rent out their old garage/cottage as a guesthouse. They had converted and furnished the house very nicely and we decided to stay for the night. The cottage was perfect, cozy, and bigger than our last place at home. It had two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a table in the garden where you can see monkeys play. Jason and I dropped our stuff off and headed out for some food. It had been a long, but productive, day of traveling.
Since we have now officially made it to the coast, in the morning our first line of business is to find Jason a surfboard to buy and carry throughout the rest of South Africa. If we are successful with our plan, we should be able to sell it once we reach Cape Town in a few weeks.
The morning came and we headed out for a jog. It has been a while since having some good jogs and with having the car rather than walking everywhere like in Europe, we are going to need to keep it up or our waistlines are going to start growing. The woman, Isabelle, greeted us in the morning and told us some nice paths to run on, where we could go, etc., and to watch for snakes. “Excuse me? Ummm, Garden snakes or …what kind of snakes?” She replies with her Belgium accent, “ ooh, uglee wones. Cobras. Keep your eye out, eh, if you see one, just make loud noise with your feet, they go eway.” Oh, ok, sure – let’s not run that way. We decided to run down the road to the beach that we had visited when we arrived so that Jason could also look at the waves. The waves looked good, strong, not as big as yesterday, a little inconsistent. The water is a murky color and there is no else around as far as we could see. On the run back we stopped at an internet café (not realizing this would be the last internet stop for some time) and looked up the surf spot at Mtunzini to see what others had to say. It turns out the break is good if the tide is in, but the water is usually “sharky with no nets”. It continues, “don’t go out in chocolate water, don’t be bleeding.” How very reassuring. I know that Jason was contemplating going out in the surf anyway and my anxiety levels start to rise. When we returned from our jog we spoke to Isabelle again and asked her about surf shops and surfing the area. She said the closest shop to the area was in Durban but that we could borrow her surfboard while we were in Mtunzini. She said the surfing was up to Jason, people go out regardless of sharks. I guess if you think about the sharks, you don’t end up surfing, and for surfers, NOT surfing is NOT ok.
To ease my anxiety and perhaps some tension starting to build between Jason and me over snakes and “sharky water”, we had to strike a deal. If there are no nets, then there is no surfing if 1) alone, 2) bleeding, or 3) in chocolate water. Agreed. We took Isabelle up on her offer for the board and drove around to different beaches looking for surf. We ended up finding a small, quiet beach, with surf, nets, and lifeguards…whew. It was a beautiful day and this water was clear and warm. It ended up being a good first day on the coast. Since surfing took up most of our day, we decided on spending one more night in Mtunzini and head for Durban the next morning.
After another jog, some nice showers, and a self-cooked breakfast, we said goodbye and thank you to Isabelle and we were on our way to Durban; which we would find to be a different sort of Africa. At this point Jason and I haven’t felt too out of place in our surroundings, but Durban would be a whole other story.

Days Traveled: 42
Distance Traveled: 30,546km
Countries Visited: 15